Dynamics CRM Modules Explained - Episode 3

Recap:

So far i have tried to explain the basics of each module of Dynamics CRM and we have got a chance to read through Marketing and Sales Module. if you directly got here then i recommend you to read the first two series of blogs Episode 1 & Episode 2 before going to this.

Service Module

Service module in MS CRM deals with maintaining post sales service of the business, so when you get a product (e.g. Television) you will get a warranty,which will be dealt by the service personnel in the product company upon repair or troubleshoot installation as per the agreed warranty. Exactly the same is what the service Module is dealing with.

Service module has few main entities and concepts as below:
Case entity, is the main entity of the Service module around which all the functionalities are built.

When a customer calls to a call center or walks to a service center then want to rise a complaint on the product/service he purchased, Service center agent can rise a complaint (Case) in CRM. Case Table consist of details like customer, case description, and previous similar cases, subject and Articles that related to this subject. Entitlement that is available for the customer. Any ongoing other cases for the customer. Let us take a look deep into the case.

Entitlement/Contract

Any warranty or service maintenance agreement between the seller and customer is mainly maintained in Entitlement/contracts, so basically entitlement says something like how many cases solved/ how many hours can be spent on solving in a given validity of the agreement. when a case is created for the customer based on the configuration of the entitlement the remaining number of cases/hours of service is reduced accordingly.

Queues

When multiple Sales person working on the service center, Queue helps to assign/pick up cases from it once the service personnel is available. A case can be routed to a queue automatically based on configuration in MS CRM.

Articles/KB Articles

Articles are the known issue resolution guides which can be updated when a new issue is encountered and tagged to a particular subject. Thus when a similar case arises from future then the resolution can be used to solve the same. Article can be self help guide which can be emailed or can be published in the self help portal in MS CRM. New Articles entity supports html formatting and rich content editor.

Services

Service is the type of service package that is offered and it explains what will be covered in the service and terms of the service offered. for example when we buy a New mobile the warranty usually goes like this phone is 12 months warranty for internal part failure and manufacturing defects, any issues occurring with manual handling will not be covered. Thus the mobile warranty service is a Type of service that will cover only manufacturing faults and internal part failure within the stipulated time.

Service usually need resources, like to repair a mobile we need resources like Service person, Tool set, Repair station which need to be scheduled. In Dynamics CRM service offered by company can be configured and required resources can be added to it. thus it will help in scheduling the service which will take up and schedule required resources.

Rest of the service module in next post!! 

Till then cheers!!