Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

Chapter 25. Managing Queues

According to the dictionary, a queue is a line of people waiting. Queues in Microsoft CRM are collections of information waiting for action, such as activities and cases waiting for processing. Activities are tasks, appointments, calls, and e-mails. (See Chapter 14 for more about creating and managing activities.) Cases are service support tickets. (See Chapter 22 for more about working with cases.) Processing means assigning and accepting activities and cases. Queues are handy not only for providing centralized lists of outstanding activities and cases, but also for sorting tasks by subject matter or assignment.

Queues are ways to route issues and cases to departments without having to assign them directly to individuals. Issues requiring third-level support (that is, the people in your organization who know how to fix anything) can simply be assigned as such to the queue. The people responsible for providing third-level support monitor their queue and, when they're available, take over the case. In some organizations, an individual has the responsibility for issue routing monitoring the various queues and assigning the cases to people based on skill sets.

Cases or issues can be assigned to more than one queue but not at the same time. Perhaps a customer calls with an issue that is handled by a level 1 customer service representative (CSR). If that person can't solve the problem, the level 1 CSR escalates the issue to a level 2 CSR. That CSR does most ...