How to Manage Cases in Dynamics 365 Customer Service: Create, Track, and Resolve
- Alfredo Iorio
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
A case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service represents one incident of service, a complaint or a request that needs a resolution.
A single customer can have multiple open cases at the same time, and each one is tracked independently. The case record holds the customer's details, the history of interactions, any entitlements that govern what support they're owed, and the current status of work in progress.
What is a case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service?
A case records in Dynamics 365 Customer Service contains detials about the incident, the customer, the current status and more.
Key fields on the case form and what they control
The fields on the case form determine how the record is categorised, routed, and measured.
Field | What it controls |
|---|---|
Case Title | The summary of the issue; appears in queues, dashboards, and reports |
Customer | Links the case to a contact or account; pulls through entitlement, history, and account details |
Subject | Categorises the issue topic; used by routing rules to send the case to the right queue or agent |
Priority | Indicates urgency; can trigger SLA timers and threshold alerts if a case sits too long at a given stage |
Case Type | Classifies the nature of the request. The out-of-the-box values are Question, Problem, and Request. |
Description | Free-text field for the initial issue detail; appears in Copilot case summaries to give agents quick context |
Product | Links the case to a product record; used to identify warranty or service issues and to report case volume by product. |
How cases relate to contacts, accounts, and activities
When you link a case to a customer, the system pulls through that customer's full history: previous cases and any service entitlements attached to their account. An entitlement tells you what level of support the customer is contracted for, such as hours remaining, case limits, or warranty coverage, so you can calibrate your response before you start work.
Activities are the individual interactions tied to a case. Each activity you log becomes part of the case timeline, building a chronological record of everything that happened. That timeline is the primary tool for handover. When a case moves between agents or teams, the timeline removes the need for verbal briefings or chased emails.
How to create a case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Cases can be created manually by an agent, or generated automatically by record creation and update rules that process incoming activity, for example converting an inbound email into a case without agent intervention. For manually created cases, the Customer Service Hub is the primary working environment.
Creating a case manually from the Customer Service Hub
When you create a case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service from the Hub, you are opening a new case form and completing the fields that define what the case is, who it belongs to, and how it should be handled. Select the customer first. Once you link a contact or account, the form pulls through their entitlement information so you can see immediately what support they are entitled to.
Complete the subject field before saving. Subject drives routing rules; if your organisation has configured automatic routing, an incomplete subject field means the case may land in a default queue rather than reaching the right team. Priority can also determine which SLA applies, because SLAs are matched on conditions that often include it. Once an SLA applies, its timer starts from the field set in the SLA's Applicable From option. When that is Created On, the common setting, the timer starts as soon as the case is created.
Using the business process flow to move through case stages
The business process flow sits at the top of the case form and shows you which stage the case is currently in, typically moving from identification and categorisation, through research and resolution, to closure. Each stage contains specific steps you are expected to complete before advancing.
The current stage tells you exactly where you are and what is required before you move on. It also creates a measurable record of how long the case spent in each stage. Managers use that data to find where cases stall.
How to track case progress in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
The timeline on a case record is the running log of every interaction and update connected to that case. Emails sent and received, phone calls logged, notes added, appointments booked. All of it appears in chronological order. For an agent picking up a case mid-resolution, the timeline is the first place to look.
Queues organise cases that are waiting to be picked up or processed. A case in a queue is visible to the agents or teams assigned to that queue, and it stays there until an agent takes ownership and begins working it. Routing rules determine which queue a case enters based on its fields, such as subject, priority, and case type, so the queue an agent works from reflects the category of issue they handle.
Logging activities and notes on the case timeline
Every time you interact with a customer in connection with a case, log it. A phone call logged as an activity on the case creates a timestamped record of what was discussed. A note captures internal context: what you tried, what you found, what the next step is. Both appear on the timeline and both are visible to any agent who subsequently opens the case.
This matters when cases span multiple days or shift changes. An agent who picks up the case can read the timeline and continue without calling you. Copilot case summaries also update as interactions accumulate, so the AI-generated snapshot stays current rather than reflecting only the initial description.
Case status reasons and what each one means
Status reason tells you and your team exactly where a case stands in its lifecycle. The status itself (Active, Resolved, or Cancelled) is the broad category, but the status reason is the specific condition within that status. Understanding the differences helps you choose the value that fits the situation.
The out-of-the-box status reasons map to the three statuses. Active covers In Progress, On Hold, Waiting for Details, and Researching. Resolved covers Problem Solved and Information Provided. Cancelled covers Cancelled and Merged. Status reasons do not carry SLA timers individually. The one built-in SLA effect is pause and resume: when a case moves to a status your administrator has designated as on hold in Service Configuration Settings, an enhanced SLA pauses, and it resumes when the case comes off hold.
What the source material does confirm: status reason transitions are a deliberate part of case lifecycle management, and organisations can configure custom transitions to enforce which status reasons are valid moves from any given state.
The practical effect for an agent is that the system may restrict which status reasons you can select depending on where the case currently sits. You cannot necessarily jump from any status reason to any other. If a transition is not available in your interface, that is a configuration option that can be enabled.
How to resolve and close a case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Resolving a case in Dynamics 365 Customer Service ends the active lifecycle of that record.
When you resolve a case, the system records the resolution and moves the case out of active queues. It is no longer open for new activity, and SLA timers stop. By default the Resolve Case dialog shows just two fields: Resolution Type and Resolution.
The resolved case becomes part of the customer's history, and the next agent will read it as context for the new interaction.
If the issue recurs or the customer disputes the resolution, the previous case remains accessible. A new case can be opened and linked to the original, so the full history stays intact.
For complex issues that require coordinated work across teams, parent and child cases let you manage the overall situation at the parent level while tracking discrete workstreams on separate child cases.
You create a child from the case form, through Create Child Case on the command bar or the Child Case section of the Case Relationships tab, and you can attach an existing case the same way.
The hierarchy is one level deep: a child cannot have its own children, and a parent cannot become another case's child. A parent can hold up to 100 child cases. How closure works is an admin setting: parent and child can close independently, the parent can be blocked until all children are closed, or closing the parent can close every child with it.
Merging is a different scenario: when two cases turn out to describe the same issue (for example, a customer who contacted support twice about the same fault), merging combines them into a single record so the resolution is applied once.
You pick which case the others merge into; that case is the one kept. Each merged case has its state set to Cancelled and its status set to Merged, and its activities, emails, and attachments move to the case it was merged into. You can merge up to 10 cases at once, and the merged cases are listed in the Merged Cases section of the surviving case's Case Relationships tab.
Common Dynamics 365 case management scenarios
The standard case lifecycle covers most situations, but several specific scenarios come up regularly and each calls for a different action.
Scenario | When to use it |
|---|---|
Parent/child cases | One customer issue requires coordinated work across multiple teams or workstreams; create a parent case to track the overall situation and child cases for each team's work |
Merging cases | A customer has contacted support more than once about the same issue and two separate case records exist; merge to consolidate history and avoid duplicated resolution effort |
Entitlement check before proceeding | A customer's requested support falls outside their contracted entitlement; review entitlement details on the case before committing to work that may not be covered |
Routing to a different queue | The case subject or type falls outside your team's scope; update the relevant field and re-route so the correct team receives it |
Linking a knowledge article | You find an article that addresses the customer's issue; link it to the case to record the solution used and share it with the customer if appropriate |
Reopening after resolution | A customer returns with the same issue after a case was resolved; you can reactivate the resolved case, which restores it to Active and keeps its history, or open a new case linked to the original if you prefer to leave the original closure intact. |
If your team is using Dynamics 365 Customer Service and needs structured, role-based training on case management and the full agent workflow, enquire about our Corporate Training Services for Customer Service, built around your processes and system configuration.
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