Getting Started: Case Intake Channels
This article will go over a high level overview of the different case creation methods. The target audience for this article are new staff learning to use the system, who want to know the different methods of creating a new case for citizens, or for internal use. If you are looking for articles on how to set up and administer the different channels, please see the following article: Inbound Channels.
Web Form
The web form is the main customer facing intake channel that will be used to capture new citizen issues. The categories that are available to citizens when reporting a concern is decided by the administrators of the system. The following screenshot shows a demo view of the web form. Keep in mind that the colors, required fields, and style of the form will be changed based on your organization.
To report a concern in the web form, the following must be provided:
- Citizen name and at least one method of contact information (often email is marked as required)
- Category (Reason), along with Summary and Details of the issue
- Filling the Captcha
Address and attachments can be added by the user at the time of submission, to assist with issue resolution, but this is not required. Note that any intake forms set up by administrators will appear in the Details section if the proper category is picked. For more information on Intake forms, see the following article: Case Office Templates. Based on the assignment rules established by the administrators, once the report is submitted the case will be assigned to the proper staff member, and if the citizen included an email address they will receive a confirmation of the request.
Email Intake
The second method of getting new cases into the system is by using email intake. Again, for information on setup and administration of these channels, see the article on Inbound Channels.
Email addresses are setup and configured by administrators of the system. There could be one, or many, and each individual email address is going to be linked to a specific case category. The following example shows how the email channels may be set up in your organization.
With this setup, if a citizen emails you or your department directly with a concern, you can forward that email to one of the addresses that your organization has set up, and a case will automatically be added into the system based on the information contained within the email. The original sender will be listed as the Contact within the case, and the information included in the original email will be added as a note to the case. As you can see in the following example, a citizen has submitted an email about the pothole on Main Street. The staff member can forward that email to the proper address, add an important note that will be kept internal among staff members, and a case will automatically be created under the Potholes case category.
Another benefit of utilizing email channels is that you are able to respond to the citizen through email, and all correspondence will automatically be added as additional notes to the case, allowing a seamless view of the conversation back and forth between citizen and staff.
Talk to your administrator for a full list of email channels, if they are being utilized by your organization.
Note: Unless otherwise specified, only internal email address will be allowed to forward emails. External emails (such as a gmail address) cannot forward emails into the system in order to create a case.
SMS Intake
SMS intake is very simple. Phone numbers are set up similar to email addresses, with a number assigned to each department / category. When a citizen spots an issue they wish to report on, they simply send a text with a small bit of information to the pre-defined numbers, and the case will automatically be created.
Once the phone numbers are set up, there are no steps required by staff to create or modify these cases. If you want more information on setting up and using SMS Intake, please see the Inbound Channels article.
Staff Case Creation
There will likely be a time when you as a staff member will need to enter a new case from scratch. In this situation, you can head to the Case Create menu within the system, where you will be presented with all options relevant to creating a new issue. To navigate to case create, from your Home page simply click on Create a Case.
From here, you will be presented with the case creation menu.
This menu is split into a number of sections. At the very top you will find the Status, Priority, Due Date and Opened Date. These fields are automatically set with a default, based on the settings of your organization and case category.
For the rest of the fields, the only required fields are Summary, Category, and Contact. Provided your organization has not set up a required custom field, these are the only three fields you will need to create a case. However, you may choose to include more information, based on the situation of the issue.
Attachments
The Attachments section allows you to add any relevant attachment. These include photos, videos, documents, audio files, and more. Please note that the maximum file size is 10MB, and anything larger will fail to upload.
Notes
The Notes section allows you to add additional notes with information about the case. Notes can be set as Public, Internal, Secure, or Standard. Any defined intake template will also populate here as a note, and can be filled out by the staff member during issue creation.
Tasks
Tasks allow staff to create a list of jobs necessary for the completion of the case. For example, repairing a pothole may include Inspection, Repair, and Report. All tasks can be assigned to different staff members, with dependencies and due dates as required.
Location
Location lets you add the GPS location of the issue. By default, the location will pin to the address of the Contact reporting the issue, but this can be changed in a number of ways:
- Pin drop: Simply click on the map and a pin will appear. You can drag that pin around as necessary
- Address Search: Click look up location and type in an address or point of interest (i.e. a public park). If found, the map will pin to that address.
- Crossroads Search: If the issue lies at a crossroads between two roads, you can search for the location where the roads intersect by typing both road names separated with an '&'.
- Location Description: If there is no specific GPS location, you can instead type in a description of the location.
The map can also be configured with ArcGIS information, allowing staff to link assets or other GIS information to the case. If you are an administrator looking on setting up ArcGIS information in your case office, please check out the following article: Using ArcGIS
Other Section
You may notice another section in your Case Create form. In the screenshot above, this is called "Programs Fields", although yours will most likely be named differently. This section is where Custom Fields are located, and can capture any extra information not included with the base system. These fields can be text fields or dropdown, and may or may not be required when creating or closing a case. Speak to your administrator if you have questions about a specific custom field.
Note that choosing a category will often pre-load some default values. These pre-defined values are configured by an administrator, so it will be up to you and your organization whether you require more information other than what is loaded when selecting a category.
As soon as you have entered all the required information into the Case Create window, press save at the bottom right and the case will be submitted.
If you would like a more detailed look at the case creation process, check out the Creating a Case article.
Communication
Regardless of the method used to submit a case, unless otherwise specified, the Citizen who reported the issue will automatically receive email notifications during the following events:
- When the case is successfully created
- If there are any public notes
- When the case is closed
Staff will automatically receive an email when a case has been assigned to them. Administrators can also configure the system to email a staff member when some or all case fields are updated. For more information on setting up email communications, check out the following article: Case Office Templates
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