During an incident, a Major Case gives you two ways to reach everyone affected without opening each case. Both need the MSO Team or MSO Manager role.
Copy a note to child cases | Send customer update | |
Use it for | Progress notes the people working each child case should see | Telling affected customers what's happening |
Where | Cascade to child cases box when adding a note to the Major Case | Send customer update button in the Major Incident section |
On each child case | A copy of the note, internal or customer-visible as the original | A customer-visible note |
Emails | None to the child cases' contacts or watchers | One email to each contact and watcher on every child case |
Copy a note to every child case
When you add a note to a Major Case on the Case Management Screen, there's a Cascade to child cases box next to Visible to customer and Notify watchlist.
It's ticked by default. Untick it to keep the note on the Major Case only.
Each child case, open or closed, gets a copy that starts Cascaded from Major Case [reference], posted in your name.
The copy keeps the original's visibility. An internal note stays internal. A note marked Visible to customer is customer-visible on every child case.
No one on the child cases is emailed. Notify watchlist only notifies the Major Case's own watchlist.
Under the note on the Major Case you'll see, for example, Cascaded to 6 child cases. Copies are made in the background, so this can take a moment to appear. It counts the copies that were made, so a lower number means some child cases weren't reached, usually because you don't have access to them.
Check both boxes before you save. Because cascading is on by default, a note you mark Visible to customer appears on every affected customer's case.
Send a customer update
On the Major Case, in the Major Incident section, click Send customer update.
Write the update in Update to the affected customers. Say what's happening, what's being done and when the next update will be. It's customer-facing. Plain text is fine, and paragraphs are kept.
Check Recipients and Not included below it.
Click Send to [number] recipients and confirm.
You'll see, for example, Update posted on 6 cases and emailed to 14 recipients.
What's sent
Each child case gets a customer-visible note: Update from Major Case [reference] posted by [your name]: followed by your text.
Each customer contact gets one email about their own case, with the subject Update on your case [their case reference]: [their case subject]. The email body contains your update.
Staff watchers get an email with the subject Update: [Major Case subject] ([Major Case reference]).
The Major Case gets an internal note with the text and how many cases and recipients it went to.
Who receives an update
From each child case: its primary contact, its additional contacts, its watchlist contacts and its staff watchers.
From the Major Case: its staff watchers only.
Each email address gets one email, even if the person is on several affected cases. If someone is both a staff user and a contact, they're treated as staff. The list is checked again at the moment you send, so it picks up any changes made while the dialog was open.
Why someone is not included
Reason shown | How to include them |
No email address / Email address is not valid | Add or correct the email address on the contact, or on the staff user. |
Opted out of service emails | Check the contact's email preference in the Email column of the customer's contacts. A preference that's never been set counts as yes. |
The case's category (or sub-category) is set to Internal Only, so its contacts are not emailed | Contacts on cases in an Internal Only category are never emailed. Change the case's category, or untick Internal Only on the category if that's right for your business. Staff watchers on the case are still emailed, and the note is still posted on the case. |
No contacts on this case | Add a contact to the case. The note is still posted on it. |
On the watchlist from [date] / Came off the watchlist on [date] | The contact's watchlist dates don't cover today. Change the dates on that case's watchlist. |
Watching from [date] / Stopped watching on [date] | A staff watcher is included from their Start Date until their End Date. Change them in Case Watchers on that case. |
Notifications are switched off for this user | Switch notifications back on for that user. |
Someone left out on one case but emailed through another isn't listed under Not included.
Good to know
The email to a customer names their own case, not the Major Case. The note posted on their case does mention the Major Case's reference, and customers can see it on the portal.
You can still send an update after the Major Case is closed. It's sent as an update. The resolution note is sent when you close the Major Case, see Close a Major Case.
Updates and copied notes go to every child case, including any that are already closed.