Create an Escalation Rule

Follow Along with Trail Together

Want to follow along with an expert as you work through this step? Take a look at this video, part of the Trail Together series. 

(This clip starts at the 11:26 minute mark, in case you want to rewind and watch the beginning of the step again.)

Introduction

Noah wants his team to take care of product support cases quickly. He has asked that his product support tier 2 agents take ownership of cases that remain unresolved after 4 hours. Also, Noah wants to be notified automatically when these case escalations occur. You can accomplish this by creating an escalation rule.

An escalation rule automatically reroutes a case and can notify a user if the case remains open after a certain period of time has passed. With an escalation rule, you can: 

• Choose to escalate a case to a queue or to another user.
  
• Configure the rule to automatically notify a user.
  
• Configure rule entries to define the order, criteria, and escalation actions.
  

Create Case Queues

Before you set up the rule, create two queues for support agents. These serve as holding areas where Salesforce routes case records to await processing by a member of the support team. 

1. From Setup, enter Queues in the Quick Find box and select Queues.
   
2. Click New.
   
3. For Label, enter Product Support Tier 1.
   
4. Select Case from the Available Objects list and click add  to move it to the Selected Objects list.
   
5. Hold down the Control or Command key, select your name and Noah Larkin from the Available Members list, and click add  to move the names to the Selected Members list.
   
6. Click Save.
   
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 and create a queue called Product Support Tier 2.
   

Create a Standard Case Escalation Rule

Now create a standard case escalation rule.

1. From Setup, enter Escalation Rules in the Quick Find box and select Escalation Rules.
   
2. Click New.
   
3. For Rule Name, enter Case Escalation.
   
4. Ensure Active is selected.
   
5. Click Save.
   

Create a rule entry and escalation action.

1. Click the Case Escalation link.
   
2. Under Rule Entries, click New.
   
3. For Sort Order, enter 1.
   
4. In the Run this rule if the picklist, ensure criteria are met is selected.
   
5. Fill in the criteria for the rule entry.
   
   • Field: Case: Case Record Type
     
   • Operator: equals
     
   • Value: Product Support
     
6. Select Set business hours.
   
7. Click and select Default.
   
8. Select When case is created.
   
9. Click Save.
   

Now enter escalation action details.

1. Under Escalation Actions, click New.
   
2. For Age Over, enter 4.
   
3. Under Auto-reassign cases, select Queue from the picklist.
   
4. Click in the same section and select Product Support Tier 2.
   
5. For Notification Template, click lookup and select Support: Escalated Case Reassignment.
   
6. Under Notify Users, click next to Notify This User and select Noah Larkin.
   
7. For Notification Template, click and select Support: Escalated Case Notification.
   
8. Select Notify Case Owner.
   
9. Click Save.
   

Test the Case Escalation Rule

Finally, verify that the case escalation rule works: Create a case and monitor the case escalations.

1. Click the App Launcher and select Cases.
   
2. Click New.
   
3. For New Case, select Product Support for record type.
   
4. Click Next and fill in the case details.
   
   • Case Origin: Phone
     
   • Product: Choose any product on the list
     
   • Type: Electronic
     
   • Case Reason: Performance
     
   • Subject: Laptop Power
     
   • Description: Laptop doesn’t turn on when the power button is pressed
     
5. Click Save.
   
6. From Setup, enter Case Escalations in the Quick Find box and select Case Escalations.
   
7. Click Search to view the time in the Escalate At column, indicating when the case is scheduled to be escalated according to the new standard escalation rule.
   

By setting up processes, creating record types, and making an escalation rule, you’ve given the customer support team a workflow that promotes efficiency—and you’ve made Noah Larkin, the new VP for services, very happy. Check this off your Awesome Admin to-do list and move onto the next task.