Separate module. Please note that the Case Management functionality is associated with a separate Case Management module. If this module is not applicable to your business you may turn it off. Refer to Turn Off A Function Module for more information.
Your organization can use case management functionality to manage a variety of situations, such as:
· A formal appeal
· A bankruptcy
· A collection case
· Refund voucher processing
· A taxpayer's request for literature
· Returns and tax form processing
Your implementation controls how your cases behave. Since virtually all aspects of case management functionality are controlled by your implementation, you can use it to handle a myriad of business requirements. Refer to Defining Case Management Options for the details.
Contents
The topics in this section provide background information about case management functionality.
A case is controlled by the case type that it references. Some aspects of the case that are controlled by the case type include:
· The lifecycle of the case
· The applicability of a person, account, and/or location on the case
· Which fields are required during the various stages of a case's life
· Which users can access cases of a given type
· Additional processing that should take place when a case enters or leaves a given state
Refer to Case Type Controls Everything for a description of the business rules that you control when you set up your case types.
To create a case, open the case management page in add mode, select the appropriate case type, fill in the other necessary fields, and click save. Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management also includes scripts that can help create cases. Refer to Scripts and Cases for more information.
You can also develop plug-ins, user exits, batch processes, etc so that the system will create cases when specific events take place. For example, you can set the system to create a case when an overpayment on an obligation is deemed refundable or when refund request cases need to be grouped into vouchers for approval.
Please refer to Maintaining Cases for a detailed description of the case page and field descriptions.
A case log contains an entry for every recorded event during the lifecycle of the case. There are two types of log entries:
· Automatic entries. The system automatically creates an entry in the log when a case is created or there is a status change. Users cannot modify or delete these log entries.
· Manual entries. Users can add manual entries to record significant events at their discretion.
Refer to Case - Main for the page used to view the log.
Refer to Case Statistics for a Given Status for information about a report that uses the log to provide productivity statistics.
The alert zone will highlight if the person / account / location in context have cases in a state that is configured as “alertable” if you plug-in the appropriate algorithm on the installation record. Refer to Alert Info Is Controlled By An Installation Plug-In for the details.
You can configure the system to inform users of cases that require their attention. Refer to ToDo's and Cases for the details.
Several reports summarize case information. Refer to the Reports chapter for the details.
Since an implementation can configure virtually every aspect of a case, the look and feel of the case management page are dynamic based on how case types have been configured.
Open the case management page by selecting Taxpayer Information, Case from the main menu.
Main Information
Case Info contains a concatenation of important information about the case. Case ID is the system-assigned unique identifier of the case. These values only appear after the case is added to the database.
Formatting may be performed by a plug-in. Refer to Case Info May Be Formatted By An Algorithm for more information.
Case Type defines the type of case. This field is protected after the case has been added. Refer to Case Type Controls Everything for more information.
Status shows the current state of the case. Refer to Case Lifecycle for more information.
If the case has any ToDo entries associated with it, a hyperlink will appear summarizing the number and status of the entries. You can select the link to view these entries. Refer to ToDo's and Cases for more information.
Date / Time Opened shows when the case was created. If the case is in a final state, the Date / Time Closed will also be shown. Refer to One Initial State and Multiple Final States for more information.
Script references the business process assistant script that can help you work on the case. You can click on the hyperlink to execute this script. This field is hidden if no script is associated with this case's current Status. Refer to Scripts and Cases for more information.
The Actions section contains buttons you can use to action the case. This area is suppressed if no actions can be performed for the case given its current status. A button will be gray if you do not have security rights to the action. Refer to Buttons Are Used To Transition A Case for more information.
When the user adds a new case or changes the state of a case manually the system attempts to auto-transition the case to subsequent statuses as necessary. If auto-transition rules apply to the new state (and to subsequent ones) they would be executed right away. If the case has been automatically transitioned to its current state the following message area appears right after the action area. If an error is encountered in the process a corresponding error message is displayed. Refer to Automatic Transition Rules for more information.
Note. This section only appears when a case has just been automatically transitioned to its current state online. It only remains visible until the data for the case is refreshed.
Use the Comment area to describe anything interesting or unusual about the case.
Person references the person associated with this case. This field is suppressed if the Case Type indicates that a person is not allowed on cases of this type. This field is protected if the case is closed (i.e., if its status is defined as being final). This value is defaulted to the Person currently displayed in the Dashboard.
Account references the account associated with this case. This field is suppressed if the Case Type indicates that an account is not allowed on cases of this type. This field is protected if the case is closed (i.e., if its status is defined as being final). This value is defaulted to the Account currently displayed in the Dashboard.
Location references the location associated with this case. This field is suppressed if the Case Type indicates that a location is not allowed on cases of this type. This field is protected if the case is closed (i.e., if its status is defined as being final). This value is defaulted to the Location currently displayed in the Dashboard.
Responsible User references the user who has overall responsibility for the case. This field is suppressed if the Case Type indicates that a responsible user is not allowed on cases of this type. This field is protected if the case is closed (i.e., if its status is defined as being final).
The Contact Information area is used to define how to contact the individual who initiated the case. These fields are suppressed if contact information is not allowed on cases of this type. The fields cannot be modified if the case is in a closed status. The following information can be defined.
· Contact Person references the person who should be contacted. This defaults to the Person defined above.
· Preferred Contact Method indicates how the person prefers to be contacted. The following options are available:
· Email. If this method is selected, the Contact Person's email address appears adjacent.
· Fax. If this method is selected, the Contact Person's fax number appears (the system knows which of a person’s phone numbers is a fax number by the phone type).
· Not Applicable. If the person doesn't want to be contacted (or the contact method is unusual), use this option. You might want to consider describing the situation in the Contact Instructions.
· Phone. If this method is selected, the Contact Person's phone number appears.
· Postal. If this method is selected, the Contact Person's address appears.
Contact Instructions indicates any special instructions indicated for when or how to return a call.
Callback Phone Type, Callback Phone Number, and Extension indicate the actual phone number and phone type that should be used to call.
Characteristics
The Characteristics grid contains fields that contain important information about the case. This grid is suppressed if the Case Type does not use characteristics. This grid is protected if the case is closed (i.e., if its status is defined as being final).
You can only choose Characteristic Types defined as permissible for this case type. Refer to Additional Information for more information. If you attempt to use an Action to transition a case into a status that requires additional information, a pop-up will prompt you for the additional fields. Refer to Required Fields Before A Case Enters A State for more information.
To view additional information associated with a case, open by selecting Taxpayer Information, Case from the main menu and then the Case Portal tab.
General Information
Case ID is the system-assigned unique identifier of the case.
Case Info contains a concatenation of important information about the case.
Object Portal
When information associated with the case has been stored in the case Character Large Object (CLOB) field (such as the data associated with a collections case), the Object Portal displays this information as-is. You cannot modify the case CLOB field data from this page, but case type algorithms can be configured to work with this data. For information on mapping data into CLOB fields, refer to the Business Object tips document Schema Nodes and Attributes.
To view the log entries associated with a case, open by selecting Taxpayer Information, Case from the main menu and then the Log tab.
Description of Page
The Log grid displays log entries (in reverse chronological order) that audit the progress of the case. Please note the following about the entries in this grid:
· The system automatically creates log entries when a case is created, every time its status changes, or whenever an error occurs during the transition of a case. Algorithms plugged into a case type state can also be configured to create log entries. You cannot modify or delete the log entries.
· You can manually add a log entry by pressing the + button and enter the Details. You cannot modify or delete this information after saving it.
· The following information appears in the grid:
· Log Date/Time contains the date and time the log entry was created.
· Details contains user-specified or system-generated information about the log entry.
· Related Object is populated on log entries that were created to record the creation of some other object. For example, if a case plug-in creates a customer contact, the related object contains information about the customer contact. Please note that if the object description is shown in blue, you can click on the object's description to drill down to the object.
· Log User contains the user who caused the log entry to be created.
· Log Type indicates how the log entry was created. The possible values are:
· Created. Only one entry per case will be of this type. This entry is automatically created by the system when the case is created.
· User Details. A user creates this type of entry manually.
· Status Transition. This type of entry is created by the system each time the case's status is changed (as a result of pressing one of the Action buttons).
· System. An algorithm on the case type state may be designed/configured to create this type of entry when it does something auditable. For example, an algorithm that creates a customer contact could insert a log entry to show that it did this (it will also populate the FK to the customer contact, which will appear in the Related Object column).
· Transition Error. The background status transition process creates an entry of this type if an error occurs when automatically updating a case to a subsequent status (as directed by either an Enter Status algorithm or an Auto-Transition algorithm). An entry of this type lists the case states involved with the failed transition, and the algorithm in which the error was generated.
· Exception. The background status transition process creates an entry of this type under the same circumstances as a Transition Error. A log entry of this type indicates why the background transition failed.
Note. The values for this field are customizable using the Lookup table. This field name is CASE_LOG_TYPE_FLG.