Configuring Case Management in the Customer Portal: Implementation Activity

In the following implementation activity, you will configure the case management functionality in the MYOB Acumatica Customer Portal.

Story

Suppose that you are Kimberly Gibbs, a system administrator at the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company. You need to configure the case management functionality in the SweetLife Customer Portal to give customers the ability to submit and track cases.

Configuration Overview

For the purposes of this activity, the following tasks have been performed:

  • The MYOB Acumatica application instance with the U100 dataset preloaded and the Customer Portal application instance have been deployed in the same database.
    Tip:
    These instances must be deployed in the same database. This deployment is outside of the scope of this training.
  • In the U100 dataset, on the User Roles (SM201005) form of MYOB Acumatica, the Portal Admin role has been assigned to the gibbs user account. The role provides full administrative privileges in the Customer Portal. The user account is associated with Kimberly Gibbs, the system administrator in the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company.
  • On the Contact Classes (CR205000) form, the STORE contact class has been created.
  • On the Case Classes (CR206000) form, the DELIVERY and JREPAIR (repair of juicers) case classes have been created.
  • On the Cases (CR306000) form, the Cleaning and maintenance of juicers case has been created and assigned to Jeffrey Vega.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

  1. In MYOB Acumatica, on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, you will enable the features needed for case management.
  2. On the Portal Preferences (SP800000) form, you will specify the basic settings for case management. You will then select a notification template that the system will use for sending email notifications to the case owners about new comments in cases.
  3. You will verify that the Customer Portal has been correctly configured by creating a case.
  4. In MYOB Acumatica, you will verify that a case owner receives an email notification about a new comment in a case.

System Preparation

Before you start configuring case management in the Customer Portal, do the following:

  1. Launch the MYOB Acumatica website with the U100 dataset preloaded and sign in as a system administrator by using the gibbs username and the 123 password.
  2. In MYOB Acumatica, for the STOREHUT business account on the Business Accounts (CR303000) form, make sure that the STORE business account class is selected in the Class box.
  3. Make sure that you have performed the following prerequisite activities:
    1. Configuring the Customer Portal: To License the Customer Portal Instance
    2. Configuring the Customer Portal: To Specify the General Settings of the Customer Portal
    3. Managing Access to the Customer Portal: To Create Roles for Employees of a Customer
    4. Managing Access to the Customer Portal: To Create User Types for the Customer Portal
    5. Managing Access to the Customer Portal: To Create a User Account for a Contact
Attention:
Synchronization of the MYOB Acumatica and Customer Portal instances may take some time. To be sure that the needed workspaces, forms, reports, and dashboards will be available in the Customer Portal, before completing the activity, add the following key to the web.config file located in the folders of the MYOB Acumatica and Customer Portal websites.
<add key="IsMultiSiteMode" value="true" />

You should also reload the webpages of the MYOB Acumatica instance and the Customer Portal.

Step 1: Enabling the Needed Features

To enable the features needed for case management, do the following:

  1. Open the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Modify.
  3. Make sure that under the Customer Management group of features, the Case Management check box is selected.
  4. Under the Customer Portal groups of features, select the Case Management on Portal check box.
  5. Make sure that the Financials on Portal check box is selected.
  6. On the form toolbar, click Enable to enable the features.

Step 2: Specifying the Basic Case Management Settings

To specify the basic settings for case management in the Customer Portal, do the following:

  1. Launch the Customer Portal website with the U100 dataset preloaded, and sign in to the system as a system administrator by using the gibbs username and the 123 password.
  2. Open the Portal Preferences (SP800000) form.
  3. In the CRM Settings section of the General Settings tab, do the following:
    1. In the Default Case Class box, select JREPAIR (the case class defined for cases for the repair of juicers). This class will be inserted by default when a user creates a new case, but the user can change the case class.
    2. In the Priority box, make sure that the Medium is selected.
    3. In the Default Contact Class box, select STORE. This class will be inserted by default when a user creates a new contact, but the user can change the contact class.
  4. On the form toolbar, click Save.

Step 3: Setting Up Email Notifications About a New Comment in a Case

You can set up the Customer Portal so that each time a user creates a new comment in a case, an email notification will be sent to the case owner (an employee of your company).

To set up these email notifications, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Portal Preferences (SP800000) form, in the Case Activity Notification Template box, select New Case Comment from Portal. This template will be used in an email to a case owner if a new comment has been added to the case.
    Tip:
    This template is among the predefined notification templates that are provided with MYOB Acumatica.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Save.
  3. Sign out of the Customer Portal.

Step 4: Verifying That a User Can Create a Case in the Customer Portal

To create a case in the Customer Portal for testing purposes, do the following:

  1. Sign in to the Customer Portal as Ray Newman by using the ray.newman@storehut.example.com username and the 123 password.
  2. On the main menu, click Support to open the Support workspace.
  3. Click New Case.
  4. In the Summary area of the New Case (SP203000) form, which opens, do the following:
    1. In the Priority box, select Medium.
    2. In the Class ID box, select DELIVERY.
    3. In the Subject box, type Delivery of the missing 5 jars of apple jam.
  5. On the Details tab, in the text area, describe the issue, as shown in the following example:

    Hi! The order of 15 jars each of pear, plum, and apple jam was not delivered in full because only 10 jars of apple jam were provided. Please deliver the missing 5 jars of apple jam.

  6. On the Attributes tab, in the Value column of the only row, select Apple jam 32 oz.
  7. On the form toolbar, click Submit. The system saves the case, closes the New Case (SP203000) form, and opens the Case Details (SP203010) form with the case selected.
    Tip:
    You use the New Case (SP203000) form only when you enter and submit a case; once the case has been submitted, you view the case and its information on the Case Details (SP203010) form.

    On the Case Description tab of this form, you can see the details of the case you have created.

You have verified that a user can create cases in the Customer Portal.

Step 5: Adding a Comment to a Case

To add a comment to the Cleaning and maintenance of juicers case, do the following:

  1. On the main menu, click Support. The Support workspace opens.
  2. Click Open Cases. The Open Cases (SP204000) form opens.
  3. In the Selection area, clear the Me check box. Now you can see all the cases created by the employees of Storehut.
  4. In the row with Cleaning and maintenance of juicers in the Subject column, click the link in the Case ID column. The case opens on the Case Details (SP203010) form. Notice that in the Assigned To box of the Summary area, Jeffrey Vega is specified.
  5. On the form toolbar, click Add Comment.
  6. In the New Comment dialog box, which opens, do the following:
    1. In the Summary box, type Appointment.
    2. In the text area, type your comment, such as the following:

      You can come on Monday or Tuesday, anytime from 9 AM to 4 PM. Thanks!

    3. On the dialog box toolbar, click Save & Close.

    The system has added your comment as an activity of the Note type on the Activities tab of the form. Now you can verify that Jeffrey Vega, a technician at SweetLife and the owner of the case, has received an email notification about the new comment in the case.

Step 6: Verifying Receipt of the Email Notification About a New Comment in the Case

To make sure that the case owner Jeffrey Vega has received an email notification about a new comment in the case, do the following:

  1. Sign in to MYOB Acumatica as a system administrator by using the gibbs username and the 123 password.
  2. On the Cases (CR306000) form, open the Cleaning and maintenance of juicers case.
  3. On the Activities tab, notice that a row with the Note type has been added to the table.
  4. Open the All Emails (CO409070) form.
  5. On the All Records tab, open the New comment on Case #000014 email, and verify that it contains the text defined in the previous step of the current activity.
    Tip:
    The case number may be different depending on the number of cases you submitted.