Managing Service Requests

Service Requests are customer requests submitted either by a back-end user or a Contact via an app or portal. CRM.COM helps you log, track and manage your customer’s requests quickly and efficiently.

Navigate to CRM > Service Requests

Select the queue to view the Service Requests for. Service Requests are visible in either Kanban view or List view, switch between the views using the icon in the top right-hand corner.

Creating a Service Request

When a Service Request is being created it’s mandatory to provide the queue, relate it to a Contact and provide a description of the issue.

A service request can be created through a self service platform by the contact itself. See Configure Application settings for explanation of how the service request shall be created when created via Self service.

Contact Services

If the contact is a subscription service member, and the Service Request is being raised for a particular service, then select the +Add Services option to specify the service.

Charges

Any applicable charges can be stated on the Service Request, the Contact will only be invoiced for these charges once the Service Request has been closed and marked as resolved.

It is only possible to add Physical goods, expenses and one time service type products as Charges.

Ad hoc Discount

It is possible to apply a discount on the total amount of charges applicable to a service request. This discount can be applied on the total - it will be distributed equally between the charges in the service request. It can be based on a percentage or an amount.

Assign Owner

The owner is the person (a system user) to whom the Service Request will be assigned to, search and select from the list provided. If not assigned, then the Service Request will by default be assigned to the logged-in user.

Assign Priority

The priority of a service request will be based on the impact and urgency selection and calculated based on the priority matrix set up in settings.

Linked Service Requests

It is possible to link a service request to another if the service requests are related.

Handling a Service Request

Select a Service Request from the Summary screen.

All values of a service request are editable except the Contact and the Queue associated to a service request.

Progressing & Regressing a Service Request

To progress a Service Request simply select the next stage in the queue. A service request can only progress to the next status following the current status. Alternatively the service request can simply be closed.

To regress a Service Request select the previous stage in the queue, the user will have to provide a reason for regressing. The history of regression of a service request shall be displayed below the progress bar.

Closing a Service Request

Close a Service Request by selecting the Close button either from the summary screen or from the Service Request screen itself. The user will be prompted to specify if the request has been resolved or not, if resolved, then the Contact will be billed for the itemised charges on the Service Request, if not resolved then no charges will be applied.

Progressing and regressing a Service Request can also be done from the summary screen using the hamburger icon to drag-and-drop the request to the desired queue stage.

Service Request Settings

To configure Service Request settings click on your logged-in user name in the top right-hand-corner of the screen > Settings > CRM > Service Requests.

Queues

Queues define the stages that a Service Request will progress through until it’s closed. Multiple queues can be defined, and one of these must be assigned to each Service Request when it’s created.

The New and Closed stages exist by default and it’s not compulsory to define any additional stages if not required. The New stage will be automatically assigned to a Service Request upon creation, and Closed is always the final stage where a request terminates. A description and colour code must be provided for each status.

Once a Queue has been saved, 3 additional options are available to the user:

Edit alert times for queue
Edit completion times for queue
Configure application settings

Edit alert times for queue

Configure alerts to notify users when a Service Request has not progressed from the New stage yet. The alert times can vary depending on the priority of the Service Request.

Notifications for overdue progression will appear as below on the Service Request.

The will also display on the Service request card in the summary screen.

Edit completion times for queue

Set how long a Service Request should take to be completed from time of creation based on it’s priority.

Closure dates are calculated and shown as below on the Service Request.

Configure application settings

If you will be allowing your Contacts to create Service Requests themselves for this queue (using another platform such as an app or portal), then you will need to enable the Self Service is feature and complete the following information:

Classification - define the classification option available to Contacts to select for their request. Upon creation the service request will be created in the Queue that related to the classification selected by the contact.
Resource - set the system user to whom the requests of this queue will be automatically assigned to
Default priority - set the impact and urgency to calculate the priority of requests assigned to this queue
Default tags - select the optional tags to be assigned to all requests of this queue

Numbering Schemes

Select the numbering format for Service Requests. Each new Service Request will be assigned a sequential number based on the given format.

Priorities

Set up the model to be used by the system for prioritising Service Requests. Select the priority based on impact/urgency combination.

Impact - represents how important the request is for the customer
Urgency - relates to how quickly a resolution must be provided

Closure Reasons

Setup the closure reasons that will be available to the select from, if a Service Request is closed without being resolved.

Reference Material

You may also find it useful to refer to the following manuals for further reading in relation to Service Requests.

Contacts

Activities

TABLE OF CONTENTS