Case and reference numbers vs tracking with tokens

Hello,

Since the lack of documentation available, I would like someone to tell me
if I understand the behaviour of CRM 3.0 services from webcrm:

1. I have a 'support' mailbox with a 'system' maibox which converts my
e-mails into activities.

2. When a cutomer sends an e-mail to the 'support' mailbox, it is converted
in an activity by the 'system' mailbox but I can't convert it automatically
to a 'case' (available with a third party extension or sdk coding with .net)
. From the open e-mail window, I select 'new -> case' and I manually create a
'case' for this issue.

3. Once it is saved, I have a workflow rule that sends an e-mail to the
customer that there is an open case on his/her issue assigned to an 'owner'
with a 'request' number on the subject line 'CRM:xxxxx' and a case reference
number in the body 'CAS-xxxx-xxxx' (all this from a template already
available).

4. The e-mail window is still open so I attach the newly created case with
the 'Regarding' drop down list, save and close it, and then to remove it from
the queue, delete-it (it is now stored in all activities with a reference to
the case).

My questions are:

- Do these steps make sense so far?

- From point 3, the customer has received an e-mail from the 'owner' of the
case and not the 'support' e-mail. If he replies back to this e-mail, it will
go into the owner mailbox only. To be treated by the crm system it needs to
be sent by (and reply to) the 'support' user! How can I modify this without
having the client to create a new mail to 'support' and placing the token in
the subject line instead of replying to the owner ?

- In the e-mail of point 3, the 'request' number is used by the crm server
which is on the subject line for tracking purposes but I can find where to
use it in the system to do a search on a case (no association). I need to use
the 'case' number to track down a case in the system... If I understand, to
reply by e-mail, the client needs to use the 'request' number and if he
calls, he needs to use the 'case' number?

- How can a CSR be alerted when a e-mail is sent back with a token and
attached to a case without having to look in the associated activities of the
case?

I apologise for the lenght of the post but I would really appreciate your
opinions on how I proceed.

Many thanks

Claude R.

Jon
Fri Apr 14 08:04:09 CDT 2006

Claude,

Have you gotten anywhere with this? We are facing the same situation and I
am not sure how to address those questions.

Thanks
Jon

"Claude R." <ClaudeR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E2964403-0BF8-4C86-9051-DB62049C0FD5@microsoft.com...
> Hello,
>
> Since the lack of documentation available, I would like someone to tell me
> if I understand the behaviour of CRM 3.0 services from webcrm:
>
> 1. I have a 'support' mailbox with a 'system' maibox which converts my
> e-mails into activities.
>
> 2. When a cutomer sends an e-mail to the 'support' mailbox, it is
> converted
> in an activity by the 'system' mailbox but I can't convert it
> automatically
> to a 'case' (available with a third party extension or sdk coding with
> .net)
> . From the open e-mail window, I select 'new -> case' and I manually
> create a
> 'case' for this issue.
>
> 3. Once it is saved, I have a workflow rule that sends an e-mail to the
> customer that there is an open case on his/her issue assigned to an
> 'owner'
> with a 'request' number on the subject line 'CRM:xxxxx' and a case
> reference
> number in the body 'CAS-xxxx-xxxx' (all this from a template already
> available).
>
> 4. The e-mail window is still open so I attach the newly created case with
> the 'Regarding' drop down list, save and close it, and then to remove it
> from
> the queue, delete-it (it is now stored in all activities with a reference
> to
> the case).
>
> My questions are:
>
> - Do these steps make sense so far?
>
> - From point 3, the customer has received an e-mail from the 'owner' of
> the
> case and not the 'support' e-mail. If he replies back to this e-mail, it
> will
> go into the owner mailbox only. To be treated by the crm system it needs
> to
> be sent by (and reply to) the 'support' user! How can I modify this
> without
> having the client to create a new mail to 'support' and placing the token
> in
> the subject line instead of replying to the owner ?
>
> - In the e-mail of point 3, the 'request' number is used by the crm server
> which is on the subject line for tracking purposes but I can find where to
> use it in the system to do a search on a case (no association). I need to
> use
> the 'case' number to track down a case in the system... If I understand,
> to
> reply by e-mail, the client needs to use the 'request' number and if he
> calls, he needs to use the 'case' number?
>
> - How can a CSR be alerted when a e-mail is sent back with a token and
> attached to a case without having to look in the associated activities of
> the
> case?
>
> I apologise for the lenght of the post but I would really appreciate your
> opinions on how I proceed.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Claude R.

ClaudeR
Thu Apr 20 10:44:02 CDT 2006

Hi Jon,

Well...I am still doing all what I have written. See my comments below.

"Jon Poploskie" wrote:

> Claude,
>
> Have you gotten anywhere with this? We are facing the same situation and I
> am not sure how to address those questions.
>
> Thanks
> Jon
>
> "Claude R." <ClaudeR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E2964403-0BF8-4C86-9051-DB62049C0FD5@microsoft.com...
> > Hello,
> >
> > Since the lack of documentation available, I would like someone to tell me
> > if I understand the behaviour of CRM 3.0 services from webcrm:
> >
> > 1. I have a 'support' mailbox with a 'system' maibox which converts my
> > e-mails into activities.
> >
> > 2. When a cutomer sends an e-mail to the 'support' mailbox, it is
> > converted
> > in an activity by the 'system' mailbox but I can't convert it
> > automatically
> > to a 'case' (available with a third party extension or sdk coding with
> > .net)
> > . From the open e-mail window, I select 'new -> case' and I manually
> > create a
> > 'case' for this issue.
> >
> > 3. Once it is saved, I have a workflow rule that sends an e-mail to the
> > customer that there is an open case on his/her issue assigned to an
> > 'owner'
> > with a 'request' number on the subject line 'CRM:xxxxx' and a case
> > reference
> > number in the body 'CAS-xxxx-xxxx' (all this from a template already
> > available).
> >
> > 4. The e-mail window is still open so I attach the newly created case with
> > the 'Regarding' drop down list, save and close it, and then to remove it
> > from
> > the queue, delete-it (it is now stored in all activities with a reference
> > to
> > the case).
> >

You need to do this with the web client (the 'X') on the menu bar. If you do
it with Outlook (delete e-mail on the menu), the e-mail will be completely
deleted from the system and no longer available as an activity attached to
your Regarding object...

> > My questions are:
> >
> > - Do these steps make sense so far?
> >
> > - From point 3, the customer has received an e-mail from the 'owner' of
> > the
> > case and not the 'support' e-mail. If he replies back to this e-mail, it
> > will
> > go into the owner mailbox only. To be treated by the crm system it needs
> > to
> > be sent by (and reply to) the 'support' user! How can I modify this
> > without
> > having the client to create a new mail to 'support' and placing the token
> > in
> > the subject line instead of replying to the owner ?
> >

When the client replies back to the e-mail (actually the owner as mentionned
above) it goes into the oultook mailbox of the user (owner). At that point,
the user presses 'Track in CRM' and it is automatically attached to the good
object in CRM. We need to do this because we are still using a POP mailbox
from an outside provider. E-mails don't go through Exchange automatically
(only the support user/mailbox as an automatic POP connector on the server).
The only drawback is that the e-mail then goes into the Assigned folder of
the user in CRM and the user then needs to Accept it and delete it with the
web client to remove it from there. We will try to program something to get
rid of these last steps.


> > - In the e-mail of point 3, the 'request' number is used by the crm server
> > which is on the subject line for tracking purposes but I can find where to
> > use it in the system to do a search on a case (no association). I need to
> > use
> > the 'case' number to track down a case in the system... If I understand,
> > to
> > reply by e-mail, the client needs to use the 'request' number and if he
> > calls, he needs to use the 'case' number?
> >

Try differrent tests with all the numbers and only works for us the way it
is described above...

> > - How can a CSR be alerted when a e-mail is sent back with a token and
> > attached to a case without having to look in the associated activities of
> > the
> > case?
> >

So far, when someone creates an activity for someone else's case, after
attaching it with the 'Regarding' to the related case he must assign the
activity (change the Owner) to the current owner of the case. For a phone
call, I have a workflow rule that checks if the receiver is different than
the owner and if yes, send a notification to the owner that a new activity
has been created for his case. Not brilliant though. I have to program
something that just checks when a new activity has been attached to an open
case and send a notification...more simple.

> > I apologise for the lenght of the post but I would really appreciate your
> > opinions on how I proceed.
> >
> > Many thanks
> >
> > Claude R.
>
>
>

Hope this helps.
Claude R.