Depending on the complexity of the customer request or issue, it might take a customer service representative just a few minutes to resolve a case, whereas more complicated cases might take days or even months before they are resolved. Because the workload of a customer service team is subject to the requests and support issues created each day, it’s important for teams to continuously resolve issues and track progress on new issues as they are logged.
For example, the catalog request example in the previous section has a straightforward resolution: The customer service representative will create a task for the fulfillment clerk to send a catalog to the customer, and after this has been completed, no additional follow-up is required with the customer.
Many requests require more research, either internally or with the customer. After submitting an initial warranty claim for a malfunctioning stereo system, a customer might be asked to speak to a service representative on the phone several times and schedule an appointment at a service center before the stereo is fixed. And if it can’t be fixed, the customer might be asked to ship the broken stereo to the manufacturer for replacement.
For customer service managers, tracking the steps taken during a case provides a way of identifying the best solution to frequently logged issues and managing the amount of time each representative spends on a case.
In this exercise, you’ll log a follow-up activity for the case created in the previous section, creating a task activity to track time spent on the service request.
See Also
For more information about activities, see Chapter 4.
Note
USE the Product Catalog Request case created in the previous exercise.
BE SURE TO use the Internet Explorer Web browser to navigate to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web site, if necessary, before beginning this exercise.
On the form toolbar of the Case form, click the Follow Up button to create a follow-up activity.
In the Form Assistant pane on the right side of the form, ensure that Task is selected in the Activity Type field.
Tip
Activities can also be created from the Activities view accessed in the left navigation area of the Case form. For more information, see Chapter 4.
Enter the following in the Subject field: Send catalog to customer.
In the Due field, select a date three business days from today’s date.
Click the Save and Open button to create the follow-up task and view the new record.
Set the Duration field on the Task form to 15 minutes. (The duration is the anticipated time the task will take to complete.)
Click the Save as Completed button to mark the task as completed.
After the status of the task is updated to Completed, the Task form automatically closes.
