Chapter 10: Working with Cases

In the Internet world, online Customer Support became an integral part of the organizations' business process. Customer Support is becoming an important activity in retaining all types of products and service industries. In general cases (trouble tickets) are used to capture the customer feedback on various types of problems arises after purchasing product/service from your company. Some times customers may provide some good feature requests, which can be useful during future product/service enhancements.

Typical Case Management Process

1. Customize the fields in Case page according to your organization Customer Support process (You may use the existing fields, disable some of the fields, or add new custom fields).
2. Setup case generation process by filling the Case form, importing cases data from external sources, or capturing cases directly from Website using Web-to-Case form.
3. Assign cases to the correct users using the workflow rules.
4. Follow-up cases till resolutions are sent to the customers.
5. Once the resolution is working fine, add the solution to the publicly accessible Solutions module for future reference.

In the Zoho CRM system, cases can be generated through telephone, E-mail, or Website. In addition, you can also generate cases from customer specific E-mails in Microsoft Outlook using the Zoho CRM Outlook Edition. Refer to Chapter 28: Working with Outlook Edition.

The Cases home page contains,

• Cases List
• Case Reports
• Tools, such as Import, Export, mass transfer, and delete cases
• Quick Create pane
• Search
• Alphabetical Search
• Custom Views
• Change Owner
• Delete
• Page Navigation

You can perform the following operations in Cases module:

• Navigate cases
• Search cases (Alphabetical or advanced options)
• Create List views
• Create cases (Form filling, quick create, or duplicate options)
• Associate cases with other records
• Import cases (individual/Organizational)
• Change case owners (individually or in bulk)
• Export cases
• Print cases details
• View case reports
• Delete cases (individually or in bulk)
• Customize cases
• Capture cases from Website (using Web-to-Case form)
• Track cases through Email

Navigating Cases

(Access Privilege: Read permission)

You can navigate cases available in the Cases List.

To navigate cases

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases Home page, go to the Cases List section and select one of the views from Select View drop-down list to display the list of Cases according to the priority of the Case (For example, Low, Medium, High, and others).  
3. In the Cases List section, click the Start, Previous, Next, or End link to access the respective list of cases. 

Searching Cases

(Access Privilege: Read permission)

You can search the cases alphabetically or filling the required information in Search box.

To search cases

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases Home page, under Case Search section, do one of the following:
3. • Specify the search criteria in Search box and click the Go button. Or
   • Select one of the alphabetical search links.
3. In the Case List page, a list of cases is displayed as per search criteria.

Creating List Views

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

In the Case List you can create/modify/delete the custom views, sort columns in the list view (ascending/descending order), search the records available in the current list view. In addition, you can modify some of the columns in standard list views. By default, the following standard list views are available in the Cases module:

• All Cases
• My Cases
• Today Cases
• Open Cases
• Closed Cases
• Escalated Cases

Note: User created list views are displayed under User Created Views category in View drop-down list.

To create custom views

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases Home page, under Case List section, click the Create View link.
   
   

   Note: Under the Case List section some of the standard list views are displayed. You can only rearrange the order of columns and more columns.

3. In the Create New View page, do the following:
   • In the View Information section, specify name of the custom view in the View Name (mandatory) field. The custom view name appears in the View drop-down list. You can also set the custom view as a default list view by selecting the Set as Default View check box.
   • In the Specify Criteria section, specify the filter criteria. For more details refer to the Specifying List View Criteria section.
   • In the Choose Columns section, select the columns to be displayed in the List View. For more details refer to the Selecting List View Columns section.
   • In the Accessibility Details section, select the users to whom custom list view has to be enabled. For more details refer to the Enabling View Access section.
4. Click Save. The custom list view is displayed in the View drop-down list.

Creating Cases

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permissions)

In the Zoho CRM system, you can create cases by:

• Entering data manually into case details form
• Importing cases from external sources
• Capture cases from Website through Web-to-Case form
• Adding customer-specific e-mail message as case from Microsoft Outlook to Cases module

In the Case: Edit form, you need to specify the case-related information. The following table provides descriptions of the various fields in the form.

List of Standard Case-related Fields

To create cases

1. Click the New Case link.
2. In the Case: page, enter the details.
   
   Note: Case Title is a mandatory field. Refer to the List of Standard Case-related Fields section for more details.
3. Click Save to save the Case details. Case details are displayed in Case: <Case Name> page where you can perform the additional operations. Refer to the Associating cases with Other Records section for more details.

To create cases instantly

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In left hand-side under the New Case section, specify the mandatory details, such as Status, Case Origin, and Subject.
3. Click Save. Case details are displayed in the Case: < Case Name> page where you can update the additional details or perform the additional operations.

To create duplicate cases

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Case List view page, select the Case to be duplicated.
3. In the Case: < Case Name> page, click the Clone button.
4. In the Edit: < Case Name> page, modify some of the Case-related details.
5. Click Save. Case details are displayed in the Case: <Case Name> page where you can perform the additional operations.

Importing Cases

(Access Privilege: Data Import permission)

You can import cases from other Help Desk and CRM applications to the Zoho CRM system for a better integration of your organization-wide sales and customer support processes.

To import cases from external sources

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page under Case Tools section, click the Import My Cases button.
3. In the Import My Cases Wizard page, browse the Cases-related data (CSV/XLS format) and then click the Next button.
4. In the Fields Mapping page, map the CSV/XLS column header with case fields in Zoho CRM.
5. Click the Import button. It will take a few seconds to complete the importation.
6. In the Cases: Home page, imported cases are displayed under the Cases List section. You can continue the importation further or complete the operation.

Associating Cases with Other Records

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permissions)

You can create a 360-degrees view of the Case to display all the associated details, such as potentials, cases, open activities, history of the completed activities, attachments, and notes.

To associate cases with other records

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases Home page, under the Case List section, select the required Case.
3. In the Case: <Case Name> page, you can perform the following operations:
   • Edit the Case details.
   • Create activities, such as events and tasks related to case
   • Attach documents and notes
4. Close the case page once all the required information is updated for the case.

Exporting Cases

(Access Privilege: Data Export permission)

Occasionally it is very useful to export the cases from Zoho CRM to Spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice, and others for further data analysis.

To export cases to external sources

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page under the Case Tools section, click the Export All Cases button.
3. In the File Download pop-up dialog, Click Save to save the cases details in CSV/XLS file format.

Changing Case Owner

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

You can change the owner of an individual case or a group of cases to other users.

To change owner of cases individually

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, select the case.
3. In the Case: <Case Name> page, click the Edit button.
4. In the Case: <Case Name> page, change the case owner from the Case Owner lookup field.
5. Click Save to update the case owner.

To change owner of cases in bulk

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, go to the Case List section and select the check boxes corresponding to the cases. You can also select all the cases.
3. Click the Change Owner button.
4. In the Cases: Change Owner page, select the user from the Select New Owner pick list and click the Update Owner button to change the owner of the cases permanently.
   
   Note: Cases ownership will be changed to another user, irrespective of its existing owner. Use this operation carefully, otherwise cases belonging to different users will be changed to new user. To overcome this problem, first you may search the cases with a required owner name then change the owner in bulk.

Printing Case Details

(Access Privilege: Read permission)

You can view a printable form and print the Case details using browser's Print function.

To print case details

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, under the cases List section, select the required Case.
3. In the Case: <Case Name> page click the Printable View button.
4. In the Case: <Case Name> page, click the Print Page button to print the document.

Viewing Case Reports

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

You can directly access some of the standard reports pertaining to cases from the Case Reports section. By default, the following reports are displayed under Cases module:

• Cases By Origin
• Cases By Status
• Cases By Priority
• Cases By Comments

To view case report

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, go to the Case Reports section.
3. Click the required report link. The report is displayed in Reports page, which can be further customized as per your requirements.

For more details about reports customization refer to Chapter 19: Working with Reports.

Deleting Cases

(Access Privilege: Read/Write/Delete permissions)

Rarely, you may need to remove the unnecessary cases, which are not tracked further. This will help you manage your cases in a better way. You can delete cases either individually or in bulk.

Note: The deleted cases are temporarily stored in Recycle Bin. If required you can restore the deleted cases again. But if you delete cases from Recycle Bin, you cannot restore again.

To delete cases individually

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, select the Case to be deleted.
3. In the Case: < Case Name> page, click Delete.
4. In the Confirmation dialog, click OK to delete the case permanently.

To delete cases in bulk

1. Click the Cases tab.
2. In the Cases: Home page, under the cases List section, select the cases to be deleted using the Select check box (first column).
3. Click the Mass Delete button.
4. In the Confirmation dialog, click OK to delete the selected cases permanently. 

Customizing Cases

(Access Privilege: Customize ZohoCRM.com permission)

Customization of the cases module includes, renaming the tab name, modifying the pick list values in standard fields, adding new custom fields, modifying case page layout, and show/hide the related list views according to your Case management process requirements.

For more details, refer to Chapter 24 Customizing Zoho CRM

Capturing Cases from Website (Web-to-Case form)

(Access Privilege: Customize ZohoCRM.com permission)

Using Web-to-Case form your organization can allow Website visitors submitting cases directly to the Cases module. All the cases captured through Website are first assigned to the Customer Support Administrator, which can be reassigned to the corresponding Support persons.

Important Points

• Anyone visiting your Web site can submit cases and submit any type of information. Hence you cannot control the Spam.
• All the cases are first assigned to the User selected in Web-to-Case settings page. The Customer Support Administrator can change the case ownership to other users.
• Contacts are automatically created if you have enabled Web to Contacts option in the Web-to-Case settings.
• To send automate replies to visitors select the required e-mail template from the Web-to-Case settings.
• The generated Web-to-Case form contains only Web form related tags. You have to customize the generated case form further to suite your Website requirements.
• Test the complete workflow of Web-to-Case form, before publishing in the Website. 

To create Web-to-Case form

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Settings Home page, under the Case Settings section click the Web-to-Case link.
3. In the Capturing Cases from Website page, do the following:
4. Enable Web-to-Case option for your organization: Refer To configure web-to-case settings section.
5. Set up Custom Case Fields in Web-to-Case form: Refer To add custom case fields in Web-to-Case form section.
6. Generate HTML page as per your fields in the Web-to-Case form: Refer To generate HTML page for Web-to-Case form section.
7. The generated HTML page contains only the web form objects and minimal HTML tags. Customize the web page according to your Website layout requirements.
8. Publish the Web-to-Case form in your Website. Your Web site visitors can submit cases/feedback, which will be routed to Cases module. All the cases captured through web form are assigned to the Owner selected in Web-to-Case settings page.

To configure Web-to-Case settings

1. In the Capturing Cases from Website page click the Web-to-Case link.
2. In the Web-to-Case Settings page do the following:
3. Enable Web-to-Case: Select the check box the enable the Web-to-Case form.
4. Return URL: Specify the URL of the page to be displayed after visitor submits the case (For example, Thanks page for submitting the information)
5. Default Case Owner/Creator: Specify the Zoho CRM user to whom the case has to be assigned.
6. Web to Contacts: Enable this option to create contact upon submitting the case. Contact Name and Email are mandatory fields, which are added to Web-to-Case form.
7. Default Response Template: Select the automate e-mail response template, which is used for sending an e-mail to the person submits the case.
8. Click Save. Again Capturing Cases from your Web Site page is displayed. Next go to Next Step.

To add custom case fields in Web-to-Case form

1. In the Capturing Cases from Website page click the Setup Custom Case Fields link.
2. In the Case Fields section add the custom fields to be added. For more details, refer to Chapter 24: Customizing Zoho CRM
3. Once you have completed the field customization, click the Web-to-Case link under Case Settings section.

To generate HTML page for Web-to-Case form

1. In the Capturing Cases from Website page click the Generate the HTML link.
2. In the Generating HTML for Web-to-Case page, do the following:
3. Select Web Form Fields: Select the case fields to be displayed in the Web Form.
4. Confirm Password: Specify your password (User who creates the Web-to-Case form) to authenticate your Account from the Zoho CRM on-demand service.
5. Click the Generate HTML button.
6. In the Copy Generated HTML page, copy the HTML content and paste to your favorite HTML editor and click Finish button.
7. Customize the Web-to-Case form (HTML page) to suite your Website requirements and publish in your Website.

Managing Email-bases Cases

With the rapid growth of Internet and related technologeis, Email has emerged as one of the most important media for the customer support. Email-based case management helps Zoho CRM customers is easy to use and track all the customer-speicific cases in a consolidated

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are all the various sources of cases?

Ans: In the Zoho CRM system, cases can be generated from different customer touch-points, such as phone, e-mail, and website. You can create a case based on telephonic conversation with your customer, add the customer-specific e-mail message as case from Microsoft Outlook Mail client using Outlook Edition, or capture from the Website using Web-to-Case form.

2. Is it possible to send replies to the customer queries from the Cases module?

Ans: You cannot send replies to the customers from Cases module.

3. I have published Web-to-Case form for my organization. But my cases submitted by my Website visitors are not captured in Cases module. Why it is happening?

Ans: You may not be able to capture cases properly if:

• Password is changes after publishing the Web-to-Case form.
• Removed some of the necessary Web form action entries in your HTML page while customizing the Web-to-Case form.