# How Eligibility, Coverage, And Evaluation Timing Work

## Definition

A category's automated QA policy makes three decisions in order: **eligibility** determines which conversations are in scope, **coverage** determines how many qualifying conversations are selected, and the **evaluation trigger** determines when a selected conversation is evaluated.

## Context

Open a category in [Categories](https://wfm.zenops.cx/service/categories) and select **QA Analysis** to see these controls under **Automated QA**. A category must be enabled and connected to an active published scorecard before automation can run.

## Attributes

- **Eligibility:** Only conversations classified in the open category are considered. Choose channels and, when needed, narrow by brand, group, ticket form, included tags, or excluded tags. Values within a filter can match; different filters must all match. An excluded tag vetoes inclusion. Status is determined by the evaluation trigger rather than a separate eligibility control.
- **Coverage:** **All** selects every qualifying interaction, **Percentage** selects a share, and **Fixed monthly** caps the number selected in a month. Selection is deterministic, so reducing coverage does not randomly change an interaction's eligibility.
- **Evaluation trigger:** You can evaluate on the first final state, on Solved, on Closed, after an inactivity period, at a daily company-time schedule, or only through manual action. The trigger determines when work is ready; it does not bypass eligibility or coverage.
- **Required system checks:** Every interaction still needs an enabled category, an active published scorecard, at least one public customer message, at least one public staff response, and an attributable Zendesk staff identity. These checks are not optional policy filters.
- **Start of automation:** Enabling a policy does not automatically grade older completed tickets. Use a ticket test or bounded batch to inspect historical work during setup.

For the setup procedure, see [How To Configure Automated QA For A Category](/help/articles/qa-how-to-configure-automated-qa-for-a-category/). If no evaluations appear, check [Investigate Why A Category Is Not Ready For QA](/help/articles/qa-investigate-why-a-category-is-not-ready-for-qa/).

> Canonical page: https://zenops.cx/help/articles/qa-how-eligibility-coverage-and-evaluation-timing-work/
> Audience: For quality managers and reviewers
> Summary: Understand how automated QA filters, selects, and times evaluations.