Siebel Public Sector Guide > Managing Tax Cases >

About Working with Tax Case Files

Cases in Public Sector can be created either manually or automatically. When creating a case manually, a tax case worker navigates to the Cases screen and creates a new case record with pertinent details (such as the associated contact). Alternatively, the user can navigate to the Contacts screen and create a case record for the contact.

When a case is created, its status automatically defaults to Active. The agent can scan a document such as a tax return to create an attachment record in the system. The agent also can associate a case record with previous scanned documents that are available in another document management system. For example, if the tax agency electronically stores tax returns in a document management system such as File Net™ or Documentum™, then documents from these systems can be associated with the case records as attachments.

Case records can also be automatically created based on events in external systems, with the help of a configured workflow. Additionally, case records can be loaded in bulk using Oracle's Siebel Enterprise Integration Management (EIM) or Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). For more details on using EIM and EAI, see the Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide and the appropriate Siebel Business Application Integration document on Siebel Bookshelf.

Creating Multiple Case Records

A tax case worker may be required to create multiple cases for the client. For example, a corporate client might have an open case for the tax period because of a pending inquiry into the filed tax return, and the tax case auditor has opened another case for a new tax period. To meet this type of requirement, the tax case worker can create multiple case records for the client.

Assessing Tax Cases

Tax cases may need to be periodically evaluated to help case workers determine the next course of action. Public Sector provides a case assessment tool to help case workers in making these decisions, resulting in more uniform decision processes across the tax agency. Users can work from predefined assessment templates, which can be triggered automatically with the help of a workflow at different stages in the case's lifecycle.

Administrators or managers at the tax agency can define or modify the assessment templates. The predefined assessment template has attributes in the form of simple questions with weighted values for each question. Each response has an associated score. Completing the assessment provides an overall score for the given case that can help the case worker make the appropriate decisions.

See the Siebel Applications Administration Guide for more information about creating or modifying an assessment template with associated attributes. See Assessment of Benefits Using Templates and Activities for more information about working with an existing assessment template.

Routing and Assigning Tax Cases

A tax case can be routed to the next available agent or to an agent who has previously served the client by setting appropriate assignment rules. The case agent can escalate a case to a manager in the legal or appeals division who is primarily responsible for coordinating assessment activities.

Cases can be assigned manually by adding another user to the Case Team field and selecting that user as primary, or by setting up an assignment rule, based on various criteria of the case record. For more information on setting up assignment rules and workflows, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

Managing Case Correspondence

When correspondence is generated using Oracle's Siebel Correspondence, an activity record of type correspondence is automatically created and associated with the client record. For example, a tax agency employee might use Siebel Correspondence to mail a reminder notice with a tax return form to a client who has not filed a tax return for the tax period.

For more information on using Oracle's Siebel Correspondence, refer to the correspondence topic in Siebel Correspondence, Proposals, and Presentations Guide.