Case vs Incident Management

[Mahira]

Hi all,

I would like to understand why case management is used in Customer Service Management. What is the senitiment of using case instead of incident?

All   that can be achieved using case can also be done using incident management as well in my opinion.

Could some one help me in understanding this better?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Tagging danreinhardt

Regards,

Mahira

Message was edited by: Mahira Rahman

[Goran WitchDoc]

Great example, but why not use the Service Desk Call for that? Or can we say that calls are the older version of case? 😃

//Göran

[Dan Reinhardt]

Hi Mahira —

I would add on to the previous comments:  

In a customer service context, the use of a 'case' object is just a more generalized label with a less specific connotation than 'incident'. While both can allow you to define work in terms of a resolution and then manage the tasks, people, content etc. associated with achieving the desired outcome, using a 'case' versus an 'incident' allows for a broader set of use cases. For example, in a financial services context a case might be defined as a trade inquiry, or an address change, or a corporate action inquiry; in an insurance context a case might be defined as an auto claim with sub tasks containing a related medical claim and a related property claim.

Using 'case' as a task object allows the ability to address work that may not specifically be classified as an 'incident'. So to the previous poster's point, we're removing the specificity of an incident and allowing for a more generalized definition of what is really just 'work'. Does that make sense?

[Mahira]

Hi Dan,

Yes it does makes sense.

But I am still not clear from a service desk agent point of view, how can the agent make a decision to create a case or create an incident?

Could you please share your thoughts?

Regards,

Mahira

[Mahira]

Another question that pops up in my mind is how does incident management come into picture in Customer Service Management.

Is there a point of linking between a case and incident/incidents. I do not see this linkage Out of the box .

However I do see a link between Case and Problem and Change ,out of the box.(There are reference fields to these two tables on the case form ).

Is this an indication that case is somehow to be used instead of Incident?

My question is mainly because as we all know we cannot completely do without incident management in ITSM. There is so many other factors like monitoring, availability reports etc which depends heavily on Incident Management data.

So again ,When Case and When Incident?

danreinhardt

Regards,

Mahira

[bostrow]

Mahira,

Did you find an answer to your last question:

"Is there a point of linking between a case and incident/incidents. I do not see this linkage Out of the box ."?

I'm trying to configure CSM as a POC for my organization and this was one of the first things I noticed.

-Brian