Structure of a case

The case is the request of the contact which the user works on. This can be an incident, a service case, or any other request. For each request, a case is created. The users work on the case, which means that they carry out the necessary steps as defined in the business process. The progress, including internal and external communication, is documented in the case. The business process can involve several users and different teams. When the request is solved, the case is closed. Closed cases are not lost, but they represent a powerful archive and knowledge base.

A case is divided into sections. There can be up to nine different sections:

• Header
• Details
• Contacts
• Additional assignees
• Related cases
• Calendar
• Related resources
• History
• Attachments

The availability of the sections, their order, their headlines and whether they are collapsed or expanded by default depend on the individual configuration of your CM system. The number in brackets next to the section headline indicates how many data entries this section contains.

Header

The section headline may be Case, Case, or similar. The case header is always the first of the case sections. The case icon is displayed in the left corner. Next to the case icon you see the case subject. Below the case subject, the basic case data is displayed, e.g., the current process, scope, assignee, and creation date. Further case data is configured by your CM administrator using case fields. The right corner contains links for editing, cloning, and printing the case (see Updating cases).

If the case was archived, the section headline includes (ARCHIVED).

Case icon

The case icon can have different colors, symbols, and overlays. Their usage and meaning depend on the individual configuration of your CM system. The following example illustrates this feature:

Figure 43: Case icons with different colors and symbols and an overlay

• Colors:
  Usually, case icons follow a color scheme. Each color represents the value of a certain parameter in the current process. For example, for Customer Services the colors could represent the priority of a case (red = high priority, yellow = medium priority, green = normal priority) and for Sales they could represent the probability of closure (red = low, yellow = medium, green = high).
• Symbols:
  The case icon always shows a symbol indicating the scope of the business process (i.e., the workflow) the case currently is in. For example, an in-box might indicate the scope New case and a wheel might indicate the scope In Progress.
• Overlays:
  Overlays are little symbols which are added to the case icon after specific events happened. For example, the email overlay might indicate that a new email has been received for a case. The overlay usually disappears once you have carried out an action on the case.

Details

The section headline is usually Details. This section contains additional case fields with case data. Each group has its own tab allowing you to access the case data. Click the plus icon (displayed when you hover over the group name) to expand the group. Click the minus icon to collapse it. To edit the group data, click the Edit link on the right (see Editing case data).

Contacts

The section headline may be Contact, Person, or similar. This section contains contact data for the main contact and additional contacts of this case. The available fields are configured by your CM administrator using contact fields. The process determines if the cases have contacts or not. If the contact is mandatory, a case always needs to have exactly one main contact, who gave the reason for creating the case. In addition, the case can then have any number of additional contacts, but they are not mandatory. Additional contacts often have roles indicating the reason why a contact is added as an additional contact.

Both main and additional contacts show a contact icon (chosen by your CM administrator) in front of the name of the person or company. The customer group which the contact belongs to is indicated next to the contact's name. You can set the visibility level to determine how much information you want to see about each contact. Please see Working with contacts within cases for further information about contacts.

You can also show a relation graph in this section.

Additional assignees

The section headline is usually Additional assignees. This section shows the additional assignees that are attached to the case. If there are additional assignees as well as an assignee, the assignee is also shown here. The assignees’ icons can feature additional elements, e.g., a little soccer ball indicating that this is the case assignee. There are further possible icons that can be attached to the icon, see Approval processes. The additional assignees are grouped by their function, e.g., Supervisor. The function indicates the role/task of the assignee in the business process. The available functions depend on the configuration of your individual CM system. Please see Additional assignees for further information.

Related cases

The section headline is usually Relations. This section shows cases which are related to the current case. It shows the case icon, name, and subject of each related case. The related cases are grouped by the kind of relation they have with the current case, e.g., referenced by. Please see Case-case relations for further information about the available relations. You can set the visibility level to determine how much information you want to see about each related case.

You can also show a relation graph in this section.

Calendar

The section headline is usually Calendar. This section shows the integrated calendar. It depends on the configuration of your individual CM system if the calendar feature is available. You can add an appointment or refresh the calendar using the links provided on the right. The calendar can be useful when you communicate with a contact regarding the case: You see your own availability at a glance, so you can quickly schedule a phone call with the contact. Furthermore, you can directly add it as an appointment to your own calendar.

Related resources

The section headline is usually Related Resources. This section shows the resources linked to the case. Resources are objects which are managed in CM/Resource Pool. These can be IT assets, products, or any kind of object related to the business process. It depends on the configuration of your individual CM system if resources are available. You can set the visibility level to determine how much information you want to see about each related resource. Please see Case-resource relations for further information about working with resource relations.

You can also show a relation graph in this section.

History

The section headline is usually History. This section contains the case history which shows all entries and actions for this case. This can be communication like emails and comments, changes to the case data (e.g., an entry stating that a specific user changed the priority of a case including date and time of this change), or executed workflow activities. You can set the visibility level to determine how much information you want to see about each entry. In addition, you can choose which entries should be displayed and you can sort the entries. The history section also contains editors for comments and emails, which you can quickly access by clicking the entry field above the history entries. On the right, you find several links which allow you to add a Comment, Email, Attachment, Document or Time booking. Please see Communication for further information.

Attachments

The section headline is usually Attachments. This section contains all files (documents or images) which were added to the case. You can filter the attachments according to the chosen filter criteria. Please see Attachments for further information about working with attachments.