Creating Cases from the Service

The following steps describe how to open a new case in Aptify from the Cases service (as opposed to using the New Case wizard, described in Creating Cases from the Wizard):

1. Open a new record from the Cases service.
   
   • This service is located under the Case Management application.
      
2. Enter a name for the case in the Title field.
3. If this case is part of a broader case, enter that broader case in the Parent field.
4. Select the current status of the case from the Status drop-down list.
   
   • This field shows records from the Case Statuses service. See About the Case Statuses Form.
      
5. Select the priority for the case from the Priority drop-down list.
   
   • This field shows records from the Case Priorities service. See About the Case Priorities Form.
      
6. Select the case category from the Category drop-down list.
   
   • This list displays records from the Case Categories service. See About the Case Categories Form for more details.
      
7. Select the case type from the Type drop-down list.
   
   • This list displays records from the Case Types service. See About the Case Types Form for more details.
      
8. Enter the name of the company who submitted the case in the Company field.
   
   • This field links to the Companies service.
      
9. Enter the name of the person who submitted the case on the behalf of the company in the Contact field.
   
   • This field links to the Persons service.
      
10. Enter a high-level summary of the case in the Summary field.
    
    
11. Specify the source of the case (such as internal, external, or other) in the Source field on the Cases record's General tab.
    
    • •  This field links to the Case Reporters service. See About the Case Reporters Form.  
    •  

    Later if this case is reviewed by another employee before it is closed, that employee can specify his or her name in the Reviewed By field (which links to the Employees service).

12. Complete the Manager field. This is the name of the employee who oversees and is responsible for the case. This field is required to save the record.
13. Complete the fields in the Timeline section of the General tab as necessary:
    
    • Date Reported: Date that the customer submitted the case. This field automatically populates with today's date for new records.
    • Est. Start Date: The estimated start date for the case.
    • Date Started: The date when work on the case actually started. This field automatically populates with today's date for new records.
    • Est. Completion Date: The estimated end date for the case.
    • Date Closed: When a case is later closed, an employee enters the date that the case was actually closed in this field. See Closing Cases and Tracking Customer Satisfaction.
       
14. Complete the fields in the Assignment section of the General tab to assign the case to an employee or to an external partner, contractor, or consultant:
    
    • Type of Assignment: Select the type of assignment. By default, this is set to Not Assigned (meaning the case is currently unassigned). If being assigned internally, select Internal. If being assigned to an external partner, select External.
    • Date Assigned Internal: If the case is being assigned to an internal resource, specify the date when the case was assigned internally.
    • Primary Internal Assignee: If the case is being assigned internally, specify the employee who has been assigned the lead role in handling this case.
    • Primary Assignee Role: If the case is being assigned internally, select the primary internal assignee's role with respect to this case from the drop-down list. This list displays the options from the Case Roles service. See About the Case Roles Form.
    • Date Assigned External: If the case is being assigned to an external resource, specify the date when the case was assigned externally.
    • External Company: Specify the external company to which the case has been assigned if the Type of Assignment is set to External.
    • External Contact: Specify the contact person at the external company if the Type of Assignment is set to External.
      
      

    

15. Click the Details tab.
16. Select a Case Report Method from the drop-down list.
    
    • This field specifies how the case was reported. This drop-down list displays records from the Case Report Methods service. See About the Case Report Methods Form .
       
17. Specify your name in the Recorded By field.
    
    • This field specifies the employee who created the Cases record. It links to the Employees service.
       
18. Complete the other fields on the Details tab as necessary.
    
    • Date Recorded: Enter the date and time the case was recorded. This field defaults to the current date for new records. For new records created using the New Case wizard, this field includes the time as well.
    • Date First Responded: Date and time that the first response or acknowledgment of the case was sent to the customer. Users can add a Response Time field to a list view of Cases that automatically displays the response time in minutes to this case (by comparing the Date Recorded with the Date First Responded). See Reviewing Case Statistics.
    • Alternate Contact Name: The name of an alternate contact person.
    • Phone: The phone number for the alternate contact.
    • Description: Enter a detailed description of the case.
    • Special Needs: If applicable, enter any special requirements for the case.
    • Did Not Know #: If your organization is tracking data concerning customers' knowledge of appropriate customer numbers and the current customer did not know his or her number, select this option.
      • This option can track whether a customer did not know his or her customer number when submitting a new case. This option is useful for tracking statistics on how frequently a customer does or does not know the customer number.
        
        

    The Auto Updated Manager, Auto Updated Primary Assignee, and Auto Updated External options are reserved for future use.

    
    

19. If the case requires assistance from other employees beyond a primary assignee, specify those employees on the Assignees tab.
    
    • See Creating Additional Case Assignees for more information on the Assignees tab.
       
20. If tracking costs associated within processing cases, enter cost information on the Costs tab.
    
    • See Managing Case Costs for more information on the Costs tab.
       
21. If this case references existing issues encountered by other customers, specify those issues on the Related Issues tab.
    
    • See Specifying Related Issues for more information.
       
22. If this case requires an on-site visit to the customer, specify information about the customer's location on the Location tab. This tab includes the following fields:
    
    • Closest Cross Street: The closest cross street for the customer's location.
    • Specific Location: The exact destination for the field representative when visiting a site.
    • Restricted Access To Property: This field stores additional information for the field representative of things to be aware of when visiting the site.
    • Customer Availability: This field stores any additional comments about the customer's availability to meet the field representative.
       

23. Enter any additional information the case on the Comments tab.

    Information is entered on the Satisfaction tab after a case has closed and the organization has surveyed the customer. The Summary tab contains a set of read-only fields that analyze the cost and time spent on this case. See Closing Cases and Tracking Customer Satisfaction.

24. Save the Cases record.

• If enabled, the system can automatically generate and send an email with the case summary to the contact person and primary assignee. See Sending an Automatic Notification to Customers and Primary Assignees.
• Once enabled, the following additional tabs become enabled on the Cases record:
  • Contact Log Tab: This tab lists any contact logs related to the case. Contact Log records opened from this tab automatically link to the Cases record. See Managing the Contact Log Service for information on using Contact Log records in Aptify.
  • Tasks Tab: This tab lists any tasks related to the case. Tasks records opened from this tab automatically link to the Cases record. See Managing Tasks for information on using Tasks in Aptify.
  • Sub-Cases Tab: This tab lists all sub-cases related to the Cases record. A sub-case has the current case listed as its Parent.
  • Attachments Tab: This corresponds to Aptify's standard attachments control. A user can attach any document to this record. See Working with Record Attachments for information on working with attachments.