The successful pattern: design the layout around the agent's actual workflow, fill the utility bar with the right shortcuts, populate the Highlights Panel with the fields that matter at a glance, validate by shadowing real agents. The failed pattern: configure defaults and hope.
- Shadow agents on the current console for a day
Watch what they click, what they switch to, what they look for at the top of records. The observations drive the Highlights Panel and utility bar design.
- Open the console app in App Manager
Setup, App Manager, find the Service Console or custom console app, click Edit. The console-specific settings appear.
- Configure the utility bar with productivity items
Omni-Channel widget, Macros, Voice softphone, Knowledge widget. Pin the always-needed items; pop-up the occasional ones.
- Define Compact Layouts for the Highlights Panel
Per object, set the Compact Layout to show the fields agents actually need at a glance. Status, Priority, Owner are common; org-specific fields too.
- Configure sidebar components on the Lightning Record Page
Open App Builder, edit the record page. Add Related Lists, Knowledge Article Recommendations, and any org-specific Lightning components to the sidebar region.
- Test with a pilot agent group for a week
Five to ten agents, explicit feedback collection. Real workflow surfaces issues lab testing misses.
- Iterate on Highlights and sidebar based on feedback
Agents tell you what they wanted to see. Adjust Compact Layouts and sidebar components, redeploy.
Console (multi-tab) or standard. The choice drives whether Console Layout settings apply.
The always-available shortcut bar. Configure with the agent's most-frequent actions.
Per-object compact field set rendered at the top of every record in the console.
Lightning components rendered alongside the main record area.
Different layouts per record type for multi-record-type objects.
- Console Layout settings only apply to console-type apps. Standard apps ignore them; assign agents to the console app explicitly.
- Highlights Panel content comes from Compact Layout, not from Page Layout. The two are separate constructs that admins regularly confuse.
- Utility bar items have load impact. A utility bar with 10 always-visible components slows the console; pin only the truly-needed.
- Per-record-type layout variants multiply configuration. Document which record type uses which Highlights Panel and sidebar to avoid drift.
- Sidebar components are configured on the Lightning Record Page, not in App Manager. Layout debugging requires touching both surfaces.