Case and account escalation

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated March 27, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Case and Account Escalation

    The escalation feature in ServiceNow Customer Service Management enables users to highlight critical cases or accounts to raise awareness of important customer issues. Escalating a case or account helps increase attention, facilitates communication, and enables tracking of progress toward resolution.

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    Users assigned the escalation requester role can initiate escalations via the “Escalate Case” related link on case or account forms.

    Key Differences Between Case and Account Escalations

    • Case Escalations: Managed by customer service agents who work directly on the escalated case to resolve the issue.
    • Account Escalations: Managed by escalation managers and can involve multiple associated cases. Details are recorded in an escalation record.

    Configuration Tasks

    System administrators can configure escalation management using guided setup in Customer Service Management. Key configuration steps include:

    • Setting up escalation management for cases and accounts.
    • Creating escalation templates that define how escalation requests are processed, including optional approval workflows.
    • Defining escalation severity levels with color-coded indicators (e.g., red for high severity, orange for medium) to visually highlight escalated cases and accounts in the interface.

    User Tasks

    • Escalate Cases or Accounts: Users with the escalation requester role can escalate cases or accounts, creating an associated escalation record.
    • Manage Escalations: Customer service agents and escalation managers handle escalated cases or accounts using escalation records, with severity levels visually indicated by colors.
    • De-escalate Cases or Accounts: Users with the de-escalation requester role can remove escalations once issues are resolved.
    • Optional Approval Process: An approval step can be configured so escalation requests require approver review and approval before creating escalation records.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This escalation functionality helps customer service teams prioritize urgent customer issues, ensures clear communication and accountability during issue resolution, and provides visibility through severity indicators and tracking records. The optional approval process adds governance for managing escalation requests effectively.

    Use the escalation feature to highlight specific cases or accounts and raise awareness of important customer issues.

    Escalating a case or an account provides the following benefits:
    • Increases attention about a customer issue.
    • Facilitates communication about that issue.
    • Provides a way to track progress toward a resolution.

    Users with the escalation requester role can escalate a case or an account by selecting the Escalate Case related link on the case or account form.

    Case and account escalation differences

    While the escalation process is similar for cases and accounts, there are some important differences to note.
    • Case escalations: A customer service agent typically manages a case escalation and works directly with the escalated case to resolve the issue.
    • Account escalations: An escalation manager typically manages an account escalation, which can include multiple associated cases, and records details in the escalation record.
    For more information, see Case and account escalation differences.

    Configuring case and account escalation

    The following table includes an overview of case and account escalation configuration tasks. Users with the system administrator role can perform these tasks.

    Table 1. Case and account escalation configuration tasks
    Task Description
    Configure escalation management Configure case and account escalation using Customer Service Management guided setup.
    Create a case or account escalation template Escalation templates determine how an escalation request is processed, including the type of escalation and an optional approval process.
    Create a case or account escalation severity Create definitions for different levels of escalation severity and select color indicators to highlight escalated cases and accounts in the user interface.

    Using case and account escalation

    The following table includes an overview of case and account escalation user tasks.

    Table 2. Case and account escalation user tasks
    Task Description
    Escalate a case or an account Escalate cases or accounts, either on behalf of customers or for internal purposes. Escalating a case or account creates an associated escalation record.

    Role required: escalation requester
    Manage an escalated case or account Manage a case or account through the escalation process using the escalation record. The system identifies cases and accounts on lists and forms with color indicators that correspond to the escalation severity: red (high) or orange (medium).
    Role required:
    • Customer service agent
    • Escalation manager
    De-escalate a case or an account De-escalate cases or accounts when the cause of the escalation is resolved.

    Role required: de-escalation requester
    Use an optional escalation approval process Include an optional approval step for approvers to review a request and either approve or reject an escalation.

    When using the optional approval step, the system creates the escalation record upon approval and associates it with the case or account.