REFERENCE · CONVERSATION MODEL
A guide for the team

The three layers of every Atender conversation.

A guide to how conversations are structured in Atender. The model has three layers, each answering a different question: resolution state (is this still in play?), system status (where is it in the workflow?), and — where relevant — a flag (who are we waiting on?).

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A note on terminology.
“System statuses” are the four hard-set states an Atender conversation can be in: Active, Snoozed, Done, and Archived. Everything else on this page — Unresolved, Resolved, Engaged, Pending — is a concept layered on top of those statuses. These concepts make conversations easier to reason about and power the relevant statistics we report on.
Resolution state

Unresolved

The conversation is still in play. It sits in one of three system statuses and carries a flag that tells us who has the ball.

1System status — one of the three hard-set states below
●
Active
In the inbox, needs attention
◐
Snoozed
Hidden until a set time
✓
Done
Marked handled, not yet archived
Each of the three above also carries one of these two flags ↓
2Flag — who are we waiting on?
Engaged ball is with the customer

We’ve replied substantively

The most recent substantive message in the thread is from us — a real agent reply, not an auto-response. The customer has the ball, and we’re waiting on them.

Pending ball is with us

The customer is waiting on us

Either the customer’s message is the latest substantive entry and we owe a reply, or a handover (typically from the AI agent stack to a human team) just brought a new agent into the loop. Auto-replies, system notifications, and internal notes don’t change this — only a real agent reply does.

Resolution state

Resolved

The case has been confirmed resolved — either by inactivity, or by a manual action after customer confirmation. No flag is needed here.

Resolved conversations are definite. The system status is locked to Archived, meaning the conversation is closed and filed. There is only one system status in this bucket, because once a conversation is resolved there is no ambiguity left to flag.
1System status — only one possibility here
▣
Archived
Closed and filed — the only system status for resolved conversations
2How a conversation reaches Archived — the two paths in
Path A

Automatically, by inactivity

The system archives the conversation after a configurable window of no activity (set per tenant in conversation_resolution_settings — days, hours, minutes). No one needs to touch it; silence itself is the resolution.

Path B

Manually, after customer confirmation

An agent closes the conversation and marks it resolved — typically after the customer has confirmed the issue is handled.

At a glance

How the three layers fit together

Every Atender conversation rolls up through the same structure: the resolution state determines if it’s still in play, the system status pins it to a specific state, and — only for Unresolved ones — a flag says who has the ball.

Atender conversation
Unresolved still in play
System status
Active Snoozed Done
Flag — who has the ball?
Engaged · with customer Pending · with us
A conversation here has a status and a flag at the same time — e.g. Active + Pending, or Snoozed + Engaged.
Resolved confirmed closed
System status
Archived
Flag — not used
— no flag —
Reached via inactivity (automatic) or agent action after customer confirmation (manual).