Method CRM Help Center

As we mentioned in the overview of the Cases section, a case is a great way to keep track of interrelationships with everyone associated with your business: from leads and customers to vendors and your own employees. The information you include in a case can help to build a trail of breadcrumbs that details the entirety of the interaction, including any activities you feel are pertinent to associate with it. This section will detail how to create a new case in Method, as well as provide a screen overview of all the pertinent fields and other elements on the screen.

How to create a new case

In Method, go to Cases > New Case.
Choose a Method user to Assign the case to by clicking on the Assigned to drop down menu.
Choose a Status to assign to this case by clicking on the Status drop down menu. You can also create your own status (please see Case statuses for more information).
Choose an Origin for your case by clicking on the Origin drop down menu. You can also create your own origin (please see Case origins for more information).

TIP: If you wish, you can include a Subject of this case by typing one into the writable field.

Choose whether this case refers to a new or existing lead, customer, vendor, or employee by selecting one of the clickable circles. Depending on which you choose, a new sub-screen will be generated:

If you choose the "existing" circle, you will be presented with the Existing lead/customer/vendor/employee sub-screen. From here you can choose a contact from the drop down menu. This will auto-fill the fields below, as well as the Contact information section, with any pertinent information associated with that contact.
If you choose New Lead or New Customer, the sub-screens generated are identical to the New lead and New customer screens found in their respective tabs. (Please see the relevant documentation for details.) Creating a new lead or customer will input them into your Method CRM and associate this case with that record.
If you choose New Lead (Vendor) or New Vendor, the sub-screens generated are identical to the New lead screen found in the Leads tab. (Please see the relevant documentation for details.) Creating a new vendor lead or vendor will input them into your Method CRM and associate this case with that record.
If you choose None, the case will be created without referencing an existing contact within Method.

TIP:

The above fields are the only required fields on this page and represent the minimum amount of information Method needs to create a record of this Case. However, the more information you provide, the more useful your Case record will be! For more information on the remaining fields on this page, please see our Screen Overview below.

Clicking Save at the bottom of the page will save all information you've inputted into the above fields. This case will now appear in your Cases List. Click Save & New to save the information and clear the fields, and click Save & Edit to save the existing information but allow you to continue working on the case.

Screen overview

The following is a breakdown of the New case screen. We'll take a closer look at each element of the screen (drop down menus, buttons, etc.) so you know exactly what each element does. We hope this will be a useful "glossary" of sorts for new users!

Main fields

Assigned to: This drop down menu includes all contacts, employees and vendors in your Method CRM.
Status: This drop down menu allows you to assign a status to the case:

Closed: This case has been successfully dealt with.
Escalated: This case requires additional attention or to be pushed to the next step in a process (for example, in tech support cases in which an issue has not been resolved the first time it was addressed)
In progress: This case is currently underway.
On hold: This case has been suspended.

You can also create your own (see Case statuses for more information).

Subject: This writable field allows you to essentially "title" your case.
Origin: This is where this case originated. Out of the box, Method includes Email, Phone, and Web as options, but you can create your own (see Case origins for more information).
Internal comments: This field is there for you to include any comments related to this case that you feel are relevant or that contribute to the trail of breadcrumbs that will help you identify the particulars of this case later on.

Check boxes

Add additional info: Clicking this box will generate a sub-screen with the following options:

Priority: This drop down menu allows you to assign a priority to this case - by default, the options are High, Medium, and Low, though you can create your own (see Case priorities for more information).
Type: This drop down menu allows you to assign a type to this case - this helps you determine what kind of steps need to be taken to resolve it. Out of the box, the options are Billing inquiry, Complaint, Feature request, Problem, and Question, though you can create your own (see Case types for more information).
Reason: This drop down menu allows you to assign a reason to this case - this could be an existing reason for the issue in question as taken from the default options, or you can create your own (see Case reasons for more information).

New activity: Clicking this check box will generate a sub-screen that is identical to the New activity screen found in the Activities tab. Please see our documentation on new activities for more information. Saving the case after creating a new activity will cause the activity to show up in your Activities list and be associated with this case.
Email case notification to user when saving: Clicking this check box will generate an email (based on the default email template) that will be sent to the Method user to whom this case has been assigned.

Buttons

More actions: This button allows you to Choose an email template for the case notification, Clear / New which clears the fields without saving, Delete case which cannot be undone, or Spell Check - Internal Comments.
Save: This button saves your changes to Method CRM.
Save & New: This button saves the changes and clears the fields.
Save & Edit: This button saves the changes and allows you to continue editing this case.

Video tutorial

Created on	Sep-19-2013
Last modified on	Sep-17-2015