A case moves through the steps its case type defines. This walkthrough completes one step. It does not close a case.
The Next step card is the whole answer to "what is this case waiting on". It names the step, says what kind of action it needs, and says whose it is — held by a person, or offered to a role for anyone in it to pick up. A step owned by a role is that role's job: being the case's assignee does not inherit it, and the button will be unavailable if it is not yours.
Not every step is "mark it done". Depending on how the case type was built, a step may need an acknowledgement to pick it up, an approval (with the option to send it back), a form — submitting it completes the step when the step names a template, otherwise you link the form you filled in and mark the step done — or a hand-off to someone outside. The card tells you which in plain words.
The countdown is how long that step has left, and the line under it names who gets told when it runs out. That is the escalation plan attached to the step doing its job.
Complete the step when the work is actually done. The case then moves on: a new step, and a new owner.
Step 1
Open the case
From the queue. The case detail opens on what it is waiting for.
Step 2
Read the Next step card
What the step is, what kind of action it needs, and whose it is — a named person, or a role anyone in it can pick up.
Step 3
Check whether it is yours
A step owned by a role belongs to that role. Being the case's assignee does not give it to you, and the action will be unavailable if it is not yours to do.
Step 4
Do the work, then mark it done
The button is a record that the work happened, not the work. Complete it once the thing itself is actually done.
Step 5
Check what followed
A new step, and a new owner. Finishing a step is not closing the case.
Step 6
Read the countdown
How long the step has left, and who gets notified when it runs out. That is the escalation plan on the step doing its job — and it is worth knowing that escalating hands them the work, not just the news: everyone on a level is notified and every one of them can complete the step. So a step that escalates past you has not stopped being possible for you to do; it has become possible for more people.
Step 7
What happens when a step runs late
The countdown is a deadline on the STEP, not on the case, and it is the step's escalation plan that decides what happens at the end of it. Level one is told the moment the step is overdue — it has no wait of its own. Each level's wait is the gap before the next one fires, not a delay before that level, which is the part people read backwards; the last level's wait does nothing at all, because there is nothing after it to schedule.
A step with no escalation plan is not silent: it falls back to a single overdue reminder. And nothing about escalating takes the step away from whoever had it — it adds people who can also do it.
Step 8
Not every step is marked done
A step may instead need acknowledging to pick it up, approving (or sending back with a note), or a form filled in — and for a form step, submitting the form completes it when the step names a template; when it doesn't, you link the form you filled in and then mark the step done. The card says which applies, in plain words, before you go looking for a button that is not there.
Step 9
Skipping a step
A step can be skipped where the case type allows it, and that is recorded like any other transition. Skipping is a decision that goes on the case's record — it is not the same as the step not having existed.
Keep reading
Tutorial
Raise a case
Report an issue manually, link the relevant client and verify the case reference and active step.
Mobile appTutorial
Explore cases
Read the case queue, and open one to see what it is waiting on.
Web dashboardTutorial
Configure an escalation plan
Build an escalation plan: the deadline, who hears first, how long before the next person, and how to read it back.
Web dashboard