Actionable Window Settings for Lead Routing and Action Plans

Summary

The Actionable Window defines the daily hours when lead routing timeouts and automated workflows are active. This article explains how the window affects lead distribution and Fully Automated Action Plans, how to change it, and how to keep automated texting compliant.

Table of Contents

1. Why This Feature Matters
2. How the Actionable Window Works
3. Actionable Window and Lead Routing
4. Actionable Window and Fully Automated Action Plans
5. Change the Actionable Window
6. Texting Compliance Considerations
7. Best Practices
8. Troubleshooting Common Issues
9. FAQs

Why This Feature Matters

• Respond to leads during the hours they're most likely to engage
• Prevent automated texts and calls from reaching clients (and agents) in the middle of the night
• Keep claim timeouts running only when agents are actually available to claim
• Reduce compliance risk by controlling when automated messages can send

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How the Actionable Window Works

The Actionable Window is the block of hours each day when time-based automation in your Sierra account can actively operate. It governs two things:

• Lead routing timeouts — the countdown used by "Claim with Time Out" distribution
• Automated workflows — including message timing in Fully Automated Action Plans

Default Hours

Every account starts with an Actionable Window of 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM in your local time. You can adjust these hours in Global Site Settings (see Change the Actionable Window below).

⚠️ The Actionable Window applies account-wide and uses the same hours every day. It does not support different hours for different days of the week. If you need day-specific behavior (for example, adjusted Sunday timing), use the plan-level scheduling settings inside each individual Action Plan, which let you shift an activity that falls on a Sunday to a business day earlier or later.

What Happens Outside the Window

• Leads registering outside the window (for example, at 1:00 AM) are immediately auto-assigned to the next agent in rotation, no claim delay occurs.
• Claim timeouts that would extend past the window's end are bypassed, and the lead is auto-assigned. Example: a lead registers at 8:56 PM with a 5-minute timeout. The timeout would push past 9:00 PM, so the system skips claiming and assigns the lead automatically.
• Instant Call with No Delay calls that begin before the window closes but extend beyond it result in the lead being auto-assigned.

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Actionable Window and Lead Routing

If a Lead Routing Rule on your site uses Distribution Type: Claim with Time Out, the timeout period only counts down during Actionable Window hours. Outside those hours, the claiming step is skipped and leads are auto-assigned so no lead sits unrouted overnight.

Example: A lead registers at 2:00 AM. Rather than starting a claim timer no one is awake to answer, the system assigns the lead directly to the next agent in your rotation.

For details on configuring distribution types, see Configuring Lead Routing Rules for Your Team and First to Claim Lead Distribution: Instantly Assign Leads to the First Available Agent 

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Actionable Window and Fully Automated Action Plans

When you build a Fully Automated Action Plan, you choose how the system handles messages triggered outside the Actionable Window.

Choose How to Handle the First Message

You'll be prompted to decide whether the plan's first message can send outside the window:

• Send First Message Outside the Actionable Window — the message sends immediately, even overnight
• Wait Until the Window Opens — the message holds until the window's start time

Then Decide What Happens to Day 1 Messages

If the first message is held, you'll also choose how the plan treats the rest of Day 1:

1. Send all Day 1 tasks when the window opens
   
2. Skip Day 1 entirely and move to Day 2's schedule

⚠️ Action Plan edits are not retroactive. When an Action Plan is applied to a lead, all of its activities are scheduled at that moment. If you later edit the plan (for example, to reschedule Sunday sends), those changes do not apply to leads already on the plan. To apply your edits, remove the Action Plan from the lead and re-add it.

For more on building these plans, see Scale Your Lead Follow-Up with Fully Automated Action Plans

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Change the Actionable Window

You can adjust the Actionable Window hours in your admin settings:

1. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner.
2. Select Global Site Settings.
3. Scroll to the Lead Distribution section.

   

4. Choose your preferred Start Time and End Time.

For a full walkthrough of this settings area, see Global Site Settings: Leads, Permissions, and Compliance

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Texting Compliance Considerations

Automated text campaigns must comply with the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and with stricter state-level "mini-TCPA" laws, which can vary by start time, cutoff time, day of week, and holidays. Because state laws change, confirm current requirements with your broker or legal counsel.

General guidelines for staying compliant across state lines:

• Use a conservative sending window. A window of 9:00 AM–8:00 PM local time, Monday through Saturday, clears the strictest common state requirements.
• Watch for day-of-week restrictions. Some states restrict or prohibit sends on Sundays, and some require a later Sunday start time. Because the Actionable Window uses the same hours every day, use plan-level Sunday settings in each Action Plan to shift Sunday activities to a business day earlier or later.
• Suppress sends on legal holidays. Several states prohibit telemarketing on certain holidays. If you operate nationwide, the safest practice is to pause automated sends entirely on legal holidays.
• Treat texts as calls. The TCPA treats text messages as calls, and many state laws do the same, meaning the federal 8:00 AM–9:00 PM window is the minimum baseline, not a safe harbor everywhere.

⚠️ This article is not legal advice. Time-of-day rules vary by state and are subject to change. Verify your obligations for the states where your leads are located.

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Best Practices

• Align the window with your team's working hours so someone is available to claim or follow up when timeouts are active.
• Hold Day 1 automations until the window opens to avoid messages landing while leads are asleep.
• Review your window quarterly to keep it in sync with seasonal business hours and staffing changes.
• Use auto-assignment intentionally — outside-window auto-assignment gives you clean round-robin distribution when no one is on call, so build your rotation with that in mind.
• Set a texting window narrower than your Actionable Window if you send automated texts to leads in states with stricter rules.

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

• Leads are being auto-assigned instead of going through the claim process.
  Check whether the leads registered outside your Actionable Window, or whether the claim timeout would have extended past the window's end time. In both cases, auto-assignment is expected behavior.
• Action Plan messages are sending overnight.
  Open the Fully Automated Action Plan and check the first-message handling setting. If it's set to send outside the Actionable Window, change it to wait until the window opens. Remember to remove and re-add the plan for leads already enrolled.
• You edited an Action Plan's Sunday settings, but leads are still receiving Sunday messages.
  Edits don't apply retroactively. Activities are scheduled when the plan is first applied. Remove the Action Plan from affected leads and re-add it to pick up your changes.
• You need different Actionable Window hours on different days.
  The Actionable Window applies the same hours every day. Use plan-level Sunday settings within each Action Plan to shift day-specific activities.

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FAQs

• What are the default Actionable Window hours?
  8:00 AM to 9:00 PM in your account's local time. You can change these in Global Site Settings under Lead Distribution.
• Does the Actionable Window stop leads from being assigned overnight?
  No, leads are still assigned. Outside the window, the claim step is skipped and leads are auto-assigned to the next agent in rotation.
• Does the Actionable Window apply to individual agents or the whole account?
  The whole account. It's a global setting, though individual Action Plans have their own scheduling options for day-specific handling.
• Can I set different hours for weekends?
  No. The window uses the same hours every day. For day-specific needs, use the plan-level settings inside each Action Plan.

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