JB Case Scheduler

The problem

Many service cases cannot be closed in one go. The customer needs to send something, a supplier has to answer, or a delivery is due next week.

Salesforce has no built-in way to park a case and have it come back on a set date. So agents keep the case in their own name, create a task, or write a reminder somewhere else. Cases stay in one agent’s name, follow-ups get missed, and the promise made to the customer depends on one person’s memory.

What the app does

JB Case Scheduler adds a Schedule Case component to the Case record page. The agent picks a date and time, types a reason, and chooses who should own the case when it comes back.

The case then leaves the agent’s list. At the chosen time the app reactivates it, sets the new owner and posts a message in the case feed. If the new owner is an Omni-Channel queue, Omni-Channel takes over. Omni-Channel is the Service Cloud feature that routes work to available agents, and it offers the case to the next free agent.

Nobody needs a separate task or reminder. The case itself carries the follow-up date, the reason and the owner it goes back to.

How it works

Scheduling. The component is a Flow that you add to the Case record page in Lightning App Builder. When an agent schedules a case, they set three things:

• The reactivation date and time. The wizard sets a default offset (the scheduling threshold), which the agent can change.
• The owner after reactivation: the default queue, the agent themselves, or any other queue they select.
• A reason, which is written to the case feed now and repeated in the reactivation message later.

Waiting. The case owner changes to the JB_Case_Scheduler queue, which the settings wizard creates if it does not exist yet. The case stays there until its time comes. On the record page the component shows who scheduled the case, when it returns and to whom. A Reactivate case button lets an agent bring it back early; the agent who does so becomes the owner. A Scheduled Cases KPI component shows how many cases are waiting and opens a list of them.

Reactivating. A scheduled job checks for due cases at a fixed interval, 15 minutes by default. When a case is due, the app sets the chosen owner and posts a case feed message with the original reason. It also sends the scheduling agent a Chatter post. Because the check runs on an interval, a case can come back up to one interval after the chosen time. Tell your agents this when you roll the app out.

Settings. After installation a System Administrator runs the settings wizard once. It creates the JB_Case_Scheduler queue if needed and sets four values:

• the scheduling threshold, the default time offset agents see when they schedule a case
• the default reactivation queue
• the refresh interval, how often the app checks for due cases
• the default scheduling reason

The settings page shows the current values and a button to run the wizard again. It also shows whether agents can reactivate cases to themselves and whether they can supply a scheduling reason.

What it does not do. The app does not change the case Status field, including the Paused status that Enhanced Omni-Channel adds. Status changes in most orgs are driven by the org’s own automation, and we do not want to interfere with that. Existing cases are not touched until an agent schedules one.

What it needs

JB Case Scheduler runs on Service Cloud Enterprise, Unlimited or Developer edition. The app hands cases back through Omni-Channel queues, so enable Omni-Channel in the org where you use it. Agents who use the component need the Flow User and Service Cloud User checkboxes ticked on their user record. They also need the JB Case Scheduler User permission set from the package. Installing the package and running the settings wizard requires the System Administrator profile, because scheduling reactivation needs access to all cases. Install in a sandbox first and read the considerations for admins in the installation guide before you go to production.

Get it

JB Case Scheduler is free. Install it from AppExchange, follow the installation guide to run the settings wizard, and add the component to your Case record page. If you have a question about your setup, request information and we will reply within one business day.