5.2 — Escalation & Ambiguity Resolution

CCAR-F Domain 5 · Task 5.2

What You Need to Know

Three Valid Escalation Triggers

1. Customer explicitly requests a human — honour immediately; no exceptions
2. Policy exceptions or gaps (not violations) — human judges the exception
3. Inability to make meaningful progress — after a genuine attempt

Two Unreliable Triggers (Anti-patterns)

• Sentiment-based escalation — frustration ≠ case complexity
• Self-reported confidence scores — poorly calibrated

Frustrated Customers

• Straightforward issue + frustration → acknowledge + resolve (do not escalate)
• Explicit "I want a human" → escalate immediately
• Customer reiterates preference after offer to help → then escalate

Ambiguous Customer Matching

When a tool returns multiple matches: always ask for additional identifiers. Never pick by "most recent" or "most active" heuristic (privacy risk).

Explicit Escalation Criteria in System Prompts

Add explicit criteria + few-shot examples covering the three valid triggers and when to resolve autonomously. Prompt optimisation before architectural changes.

Key Concept: Valid triggers = explicit human request, policy gaps, inability to progress. Unreliable = sentiment and self-reported confidence.

Exam Traps

• Escalating on frustration/sentiment threshold
• Trusting self-reported confidence for escalation
• Attempting to resolve before honouring explicit human request
• Selecting from ambiguous matches heuristically