Understand how Case Management takes an employee request from first contact through resolution, and how AI, employees, agents, managers, and administrators work together along the way.
Case Management supports the full journey of an employee request. AI can answer straightforward questions, gather information, create and route cases, and help organize the work needed to resolve more complex requests.
This article explains how the main stages fit together.
The Case Management journey
Most requests follow this path:
Not every request becomes a case. Straightforward questions can be answered during the conversation without creating a tracked case.
Intake, deflection, and case creation
Every request starts with intake. Employees can ask for help through chat, email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, the mobile app, a case creation form, or other connected channels.
During intake, the AI Assistant can:
- Clarify what the employee needs.
- Identify the most appropriate category.
- Collect information needed to handle the request.
- Search the knowledge base for relevant information.
When AI-only case creation is enabled, the AI Assistant can also answer straightforward questions and help resolve requests without creating a case. This is known as AI deflection.
Only requests that require tracked HR work continue to case creation. Cases can also be created from a form or by an agent on behalf of an employee.
For more information, see How intake, deflection, and triage work.
Triage and ownership
When a case is created, automatic AI triage determines how the case should be routed.
Triage can determine:
- Which team should handle the case.
- Which agent should work on it, when possible.
- Which categories and flags apply.
- Which priority to assign: Critical, High, Normal, or Low.
After triage, the case is either:
- Assigned to an agent.
- Added to the team's claim queue for an agent to claim.
- Sent for manual triage when the system can't route it confidently.
For more information, see How team queues and assignment work.
Working the case
Agents work cases in the agent workspace. They review the conversation, investigate the request, communicate with the employee, update case information, and collaborate with other team members when needed.
Case plans
When case plans are available for your organization's subscription, AI automatically creates and maintains a case plan using the Autonomous Case Planner.
The planner analyzes the case and creates the tasks needed to resolve it. It can use relevant knowledge base content, including policies and processes, to help determine what work is required. As the case progresses, AI can update the plan and coordinate work between people and AI.
People can also add, edit, reassign, complete, cancel, or reopen tasks as needed.
Note: The Autonomous Case Planner is available on supported subscription plans only. There isn't a setting in Case setup to enable or disable it.
Case plans are available on Standard and higher subscription plans. When your organization is entitled to the feature, the Autonomous Case Planner runs automatically. Organizations on Free and Starter plans don't have access to case plans.
Employees don't see the case plan. They continue to interact through the public case conversation.
For more information, see How the case planner works and About case plans.
Service levels while work is in progress
While a case is active, Service-level Agreements (SLAs) and Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) measure different aspects of the service.
SLAs measure things such as how quickly work is handled and whether time-based targets are met. XLAs measure aspects of the employee experience, such as meaningful progress, understanding, and sentiment.
Agents and managers use service-level indicators to prioritize work, identify cases at risk, and maintain consistent service.
For more information, see Understand case analytics and service levels.
Resolution, close survey, and finalization
When the employee's request has been addressed, the case is marked Resolved.
Depending on your configuration, the employee may receive a close survey before the case moves to Closed.
Most cases then continue through these lifecycle stages:
| Stage | What it means |
| Resolved | The work is complete, but the case remains open for a configurable grace period. |
| Closed | The grace period has ended, or a Case Manager or Case Administrator closed the case early. Employees can no longer reopen it themselves. |
| Finalized | The case can no longer be reopened. Create a new case if additional work is needed. |
Case Setup controls how long cases remain Resolved, how long Closed cases can be reopened, and when cases become finalized.
For more information, see Manage the case lifecycle and Case statuses and lifecycle.
Who does what
| Role | Typical involvement |
| Employee | Asks for help, tracks progress, replies when information is needed, and may complete a close survey. |
| Case Agent | Works assigned cases, claims available team work, communicates with employees, and resolves requests. |
| Case Manager | Oversees team queues, assigns and reassigns work, and handles manual triage when needed. |
| Case Administrator | Configures Case Management, including teams, categories, priorities, service-level policies, notifications, and lifecycle settings. |
Next steps
- How intake, deflection, and triage work
- How team queues and assignment work
- How the case planner works