As you work with your customers, issues will come up for your customers that you need to address and resolve. In NetSuite, these issues are called cases, and the individuals in your company who handle cases are called support reps. Understanding how to set up and use the case management system in NetSuite can strengthen your overall relationship with your customers by streamlining your response to their needs.

Case Management Overview

Before getting too far into the weeds of case management, let’s take a look at the case management process as a whole. New cases enter your system in one of four different ways: the user interface of NetSuite, an online customer form, email case capture, or the customer center. The cases are then filtered through your case routing system and assigned to an appropriate support rep. The support rep then uses the case form to communicate with the customer while working on the case.

Case Routing

Case routing, the process through which new cases that enter the system are assigned to support reps, requires predefined case rules and case territories.

Case Rules

First, you will need to create case rules. To create a new case rule, log in as the Administrator and navigate to Setup > Support > Case Management > Case Rules > New. On this page, choose a field to base this rule on. After selecting a field, you will be taken to the Case Field Rule page where you can set the criteria for the rule. The options you have on this page will differ based on the field that you selected. After setting the criteria for your rule, save the rule. You will repeat this process for as many rules as you need.

Case Territories

After creating the case rules, you are ready to form case territories based on specific case rules. Navigate to Setup > Support > Case Management > Case Territories > New. On this page, you can name the territory, provide a description, and select the rules you want the territory to apply to. You can also determine if you want cases assigned to this territory to match all the rules you’ve selected or whether matching just one rule is sufficient to land a case in this territory.

Once you choose the rules for this territory, you can assign a support rep to it under the Support Assignment tab. When new cases, matching the rules you’ve selected, enter your system, they will automatically be assigned to the appropriate support rep.

Case Types

One way for your support reps to quickly understand the nature of the support need is by the case type. There are three case types that NetSuite provides automatically: concern, problem, and question. When a customer fills out a case form, they will select one of the case types.

You may find that you need different case types than the three that NetSuite provides. To create a new case type, navigate to Setup > Support > Case Types > New. You can name the new case type, determine where it appears in the lineup of the case type dropdown list, and provide a brief description. Once you save the new case type, it will appear as an option on case records.

Case Forms

How do new cases enter your system? Case forms are the basic way for support reps to gather information on new cases.

Creating Online Case Forms

A major way that your customers will report new cases is through an online case form. You can provide a link to the form on your website or in the Customer Center. To create an online case form, navigate to Setup > Support > Case Management > Online Case Forms > New. You can use either the Default Form Template or the Custom HTML Template as your starting point. After selecting which one of these you want, you will be taken to the Online Case Form page where you can name the form and determine the content of the form.

Customizing Case Forms

In a sense, there are two types of case forms—the case forms your customers use to enter new cases, and the case forms your support reps use to enter new cases. To customize these forms, navigate to Customization > Forms > Entry Forms. If you want to customize the support reps’ case form, select Customize next to the Standard Case Form. And if you want to customize the customers’ case form, select Customize next to Standard External Case Form. On either form, you can provide a unique name for the form; hide existing fields, lists, or subtabs; and add any custom fields you need.

Conclusion

Having a smooth case management process is key to developing and maintaining good customer relationships. For more in-depth information on setting up your case management system, see this checklist that the Help Center provides. If this post helped you understand NetSuite better, join the SuiteRep newsletter below to receive future posts directly in your inbox once a week!