Overview of Multiple Case Contacts
The Multiple Case Contacts feature allows you to have Additional Contacts alongside a Primary Contact, to account for the likelihood that more than one party must be kept in the loop through the Case resolution process.
Multiple Case Contacts allows for the easy selection and use of a group of Additional Contacts, ensuring that all relevant stakeholders (including third parties, e.g. suppliers and external helpdesks) are automatically CC'd on all case-related emails, without complicating your workflow.
⚠️ Note: Multiple Case Contacts is a standard feature within The Layer's Service Module, but may require some setup actions depending on your existing configuration. To have it enabled, simply contact your Account Manager who will take care of getting you ready to harness the value that it brings, in terms of streamlined stakeholder communication and optimal customer service provision.
How Does Multiple Case Contacts Work?
The essence of Multiple Case Contacts is that when selected, Additional Contacts, as well as the Primary Contact, are automatically included on all email communication originating from a Case. Whenever you open the Email Wizard whilst working in a Case, you will see the Primary Contact as the 'To' recipient and Additional Contact(s) as 'CC' recipient(s).
You can, of course, still manually remove any Additional Contacts from the CC field, if desired.
❗Caution: please be mindful of the snippets used in your 'Case Notification' email templates. To avoid the risk of sharing Case Notes that were intended for internal/private use only, ensure that 'public' versions of snippets are used (e.g. $$case_publicnotes$$ rather than $$case_allnotes$$).
Regardless of how you create a Case in The Layer, you can leverage the value of Multiple Case Contacts.
How Do I Use Multiple Case Contacts?
Let's take a look at how to work with Multiple Case Contacts in the context of each method of creating a Case.
Manual Case Creation
When creating a Case manually, you can easily select one Primary Contact and multiple Additional Contacts via the respective drop-down menus within the Location And Contact section of the New Case screen:
The Primary Contact and Additional Contacts drop-down menus both present a list of all Contacts that exist on the Customer record and the + buttons allow you to create Contacts on-the-fly (more on that below). Typically, you would select the person who reported the issue as the Primary Contact and any other relevant stakeholders, whom the issue reporter has advised would need to be kept informed, as Additional Contacts.
After populating all other required fields and saving the Case, you will then see the Primary Contact and Additional Contacts in the Summary tab of the Case Editor screen, where further action can be taken, if required.
For example, if you would like to include an Additional Contact on the Case who doesn't currently exist on the Customer record, you can use the + button in the Additional Contacts area to create what is known as a Case Only Contact. By default, such Contacts will exist only on the Case from which they were created.
The Additional Contacts tab within the Case Editor screen shows all Additional Contacts currently selected on the Case, grouped by Case Only and full Customer Contacts. A number of further actions are possible here:
Edit Contact details - clicking on the hyperlinked First Name or Last Name opens the Edit Contact/Edit Case Only Contact pop-up where updates can be made and saved. Please note that more options are available when editing full Customer Contacts.
Create an Email or Call - with full Customer Contacts you can click the icons in the Email and Mobile fields to compose and send an email to that Contact, or create a Phone Call Task.
Promote a Case Only Contact - should you decide that a Case Only Contact would need to be used for future Cases or would like to re-use them for any other reason, they can be promoted to full Customer Contact by clicking the Promote button in the Action column. There is also the option to promote many at once by checking the checkboxes on the left (as required) or clicking the Check All button, followed by the Bulk Promote button.
Delete a Case Only Contact - should you wish to remove a Case Only Contact from the Case, simply click on the X button in the Action column.
✅ Tip: you can track user actions relating to Additional Contacts via the History tab in the Case Editor screen.
Manual Case Creation via Mail Triage
When manually creating a Case based on an email received to your Mail Triage inbox, the sender of the email will default as the Primary Contact and anybody who is CC'd will default as Additional Contacts. This means that everybody who was originally 'in the loop' when the email was sent to your customer service team, will automatically remain 'in the loop' throughout the Case resolution process.
Managing Auto-Created Case-Only Contacts
When people who are not existing Customer Contacts are copied in on an incoming email (e.g. a third party) and, subsequently, created as Case-only Contacts, they will present in the Additional Contacts tab of the Case Editor screen like this:
Clicking on the hyperlinked First Name will open the Edit Case-Only Contact screen where you can make manual amendments/updates:
Otherwise, all manual actions relating to managing your Case Contacts are the same as with fully manual Case creation.
⚠️ Note: Mail Triage is a Premium feature. If you are not currently using this and would like to have it activated, please contact your Account Manager.
For more information on Mail Triage, please click here.
Automatic Case Creation via Mail Triage
If you have functionality in place to automatically create Cases based on emails received to your Mail Triage inbox (via Scriptable Functions or Mail Rules), the same logic as manual Case creation via Mail Triage applies.
This fully streamlined approach minimises manual user intervention in Cases being created, categorized and assigned with all stakeholders kept informed via Case emails through to Case completion.
⚠️ Note: Automatic creation of Cases via Mail Triage is a Premium feature. If you are not currently using this and would like to have it activated, please contact your Account Manager.
For more information on Mail Rules, please click here.
How Does Multiple Case Contacts Differ From Case Watchers?
Multiple Case Contacts is a separate feature from Case Watchers and offers more flexibility to your Service users by:
Enabling Case-Only Contacts to be kept in the loop - you don't have to save Contacts to the Customer record in order to use them.
Allowing attachments to be shared with all Case Contacts - since Email Wizard is used rather than the fixed Watchlist email, your user can choose to include attachments that can be viewed by all Case Contacts.
Allowing 2-way communication for all Case Contacts - Primary and Additional Contacts are able to reply to emails sent via Email Wizard.
You may still wish to use Case Watchers to keep internal contacts informed, but we would recommend using one consistent method for keeping external contacts updated on how the Case is progressing.
For more information on using Case Watchers, please click here.
How Does Multiple Case Contacts Work With SLA Profiles?
When using this premium feature, if SLA Profiles are assigned to Contacts, Cases created for those Customers will only utilise the associated SLA Profile details if the relevant Contact is selected as the Primary Contact on the Case. In other words, if the Contact is listed as an Additional Contact, their SLA Profile will not be taken into account.
For more information on SLA Profiles, please click here.
How Does Multiple Case Contacts Work With Case Sweep?
If Case Sweep is in use in your instance, please be aware that emails received from Additional Contacts as well as the Primary Contact will be swept and actioned, according to your specific Case Sweep Scriptable Function(s). As always, Case Sweep will work on the basis of the Subject line of an incoming email containing a relevant Layer Case reference.
What If New Contacts Are CC'd On Customer Replies?
Throughout the Case resolution lifecycle, any replies received from Case Contacts that feature the Case reference in the Subject will be recognised by Case Sweep. Furthermore, should replies contain 'new' CC'd contacts (i.e. not included at the point of Case creation), these will be automatically selected on the existing Case.
How Do I Set Up Multiple Case Contacts?
As mentioned in the Overview section, no specific setup or customisation actions are required of you or your users. Simply reach out to your Account Manager and they will manage the process of making Multiple Case Contacts available in your Layer instance.