Customer Engagement & Dynamics CRM Forum

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Hi Rosemarie,
I would recommend establishing a 1:N relationship between the case and the user entity. So that the collaborators can go ahead and add themselves in the related section. I would not recommend adding custom fields because the number of collaborators can vary from case to case. In some cases, it might be 2, in some -10. So it wouldn't be a good design to add 10 custom fields in that case. Instead if you just establish a 1: N relationship, that'll do the trick. 
Hope it helps.


------------------------------
Nikhil Rajendran
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Developer
Aha Apps
Glen Allen VA
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Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Hi Rosemarie.
Are the collaborators users or contacts? I assume they are licensed users, but in my suggestions below, you will see that I say "Users (or Contacts)" depending on your implementation.

You have several options, and I offer them ranked from best to worst (IMHO):
1. Create a custom entity called Collaborators and add a N:1 relation to Cases and another N:1 relation to Users (or Contacts). Make a Quick Create form, make the Case field required, and enable it for Quick Create. Then add a subgrid of the Collaborators to the Case form, and you should get a nice fly-out form to add new collaborators. This will give you the flexibility of having as many collaborators per case as you want without having to use N:N relations.

2. Use the OOTB Connections feature - this will require very little effort to configure and it allows you to have many-to-many between your collaborators and cases. Connections allows you to relate almost any entity to almost any other entity. Users will need to be trained to navigate to the Related tab to see the Active Connections Associated view. While it is possible to add a subgrid to the Case form to show the Connections, the subgrid will not let you add new connections - the user will still need to navigate to the Connections Associated View to do that. For that reason, It is not my preferred option. Also, I have seen Connections get over-used and users will often get confused when trying to include it as part of an advanced find.

3. Create an N:N relation between Case and Users (or Contacts) and add a subgrid to the Case form. If all you want is an infinite list of names added to case, this is relatively quick and easy to configure, but as a solution architect, it is my least-favorite option because it has a myriad of shortcomings that have forced me to write plugins to solve. For example, reporting (such as Power BI) is very hard to do, workflows cannot be triggered and rollups do not work.

------------------------------
If this answered your question, please click on the arrow button next to Reply Inline and choose 'Make Best Answer.'
Thanks.
Nelson Johnson, Solution Architect
BroadPoint, Inc., Bethesda MD
Link with me! https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonjohnson/
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Hello Rosemarie,

I would investigate using OOTB connections for this. Here's a decent guide to connections. One word of caution however, it's my experience that people don't proactively maintain connections after they're set up. This may or may not matter to you in your use case.

Alternatively, if you also want to control the permissions users have when they're collaborating on a case, have a look at Access Teams. These are useful when the people working on the case is dynamic, rather than a fixed set of people. An example of access teams in use can be seen in the Stakeholders sub-grid on the out of the box Opportunity form. I also came across this video of using access teams for cases. It's a little old but the concepts are the same.

Best regards,
Andrew.

------------------------------
Andrew Bibby
D365UG UK Leader
Dynamics 365 Project Adviser & Microsoft MVP
Evesham, UK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Thanks for the great ideas! We've actually used the connections and access team options on the sales hub > sales opportunity side to provide visibility across territories and lines of business for the sales team. Connections are working pretty well for that use case, but they are complex for users to query using advanced find as mentioned in the replies here.
I have a follow-up question for both @Nelson Johnson and @Andrew Bibby​​​ on the OOTB connections feature: What advantages does using connections give me over the 1:N relationship @Nikhil Rajendran suggested?​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

What Nikhil proposes will not meet your requirements because if you create a 1:N relation from cases to users, that creates a lookup field on the user - meaning that the user can only be associated with one case. If you use a 1:N from user to case, that creates a lookup on the case, therefore the case can only have one user associated with it. This is why I proposed a new entity called Collaborators because it has the same flexibility of Connections in that it allows you to have a many-to-many relationship between cases and users.

------------------------------
If this answered your question, please click on the arrow button next to Reply Inline and choose 'Make Best Answer.'
Thanks.
Nelson Johnson, Solution Architect
BroadPoint, Inc., Bethesda MD
Link with me! https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonjohnson/
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 08, 2020 12:51 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Thanks for the great ideas! We've actually used the connections and access team options on the sales hub > sales opportunity side to provide visibility across territories and lines of business for the sales team. Connections are working pretty well for that use case, but they are complex for users to query using advanced find as mentioned in the replies here.
I have a follow-up question for both @Nelson Johnson and @Andrew Bibby​​​ on the OOTB connections feature: What advantages does using connections give me over the 1:N relationship @Nikhil Rajendran suggested?​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

I see. Thank you for clarifying! And thank you for the suggestion. I'll test out the collaborators suggestion. Thanks!

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 08, 2020 03:53 PM
From: Nelson Johnson
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

What Nikhil proposes will not meet your requirements because if you create a 1:N relation from cases to users, that creates a lookup field on the user - meaning that the user can only be associated with one case. If you use a 1:N from user to case, that creates a lookup on the case, therefore the case can only have one user associated with it. This is why I proposed a new entity called Collaborators because it has the same flexibility of Connections in that it allows you to have a many-to-many relationship between cases and users.

------------------------------
If this answered your question, please click on the arrow button next to Reply Inline and choose 'Make Best Answer.'
Thanks.
Nelson Johnson, Solution Architect
BroadPoint, Inc., Bethesda MD
Link with me! https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonjohnson/

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 08, 2020 12:51 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Thanks for the great ideas! We've actually used the connections and access team options on the sales hub > sales opportunity side to provide visibility across territories and lines of business for the sales team. Connections are working pretty well for that use case, but they are complex for users to query using advanced find as mentioned in the replies here.
I have a follow-up question for both @Nelson Johnson and @Andrew Bibby​​​ on the OOTB connections feature: What advantages does using connections give me over the 1:N relationship @Nikhil Rajendran suggested?​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR

Original Message:
Sent: Oct 06, 2020 12:35 PM
From: Rosemarie Cordell
Subject: Multiple collaborators on a case record

Our cases maintain one owner from initiation to resolution however there are multiple collaborators within the support department that contribute to case resolution. We want to give the case owner an easy way to see who their collaborators are should they have a follow-up question. Is adding custom fields for the additional collaborators the best way to accomplish this? Or is there an OOTB option that I'm overlooking?

We are using D365 CE and are mostly OOTB in the unified interface (using the customer service hub).

Thanks in advance!

#CustomerService
#Admin​​​
​

------------------------------
Rosemarie Cordell
Business Analyst
NEWBERG OR
------------------------------