The quick answer
Turn on Help Desk under Setup > Company > Enable Features, CRM subtab. Then build case field rules under Setup > Support > Case Rules that describe the cases you want, for example Help Desk equal to checked and Case Type any of Problem. Combine them in a case territory under Setup > Support > Case Territories, pick Match all rules or Match any rule, and add the support rep on its Assignment subtab. Keep that territory above Default Round-Robin on Manage Case Territories. When an employee submits a matching case from the Employee Center, NetSuite fills in Assigned To from the territory's reps as the case is created. In the example the territory has one rep, so every matching case goes to her.
The example is an internal IT queue. Joanna Pell is an administrator who also handles IT problems. Marcus Delgado is an employee who reports a VPN problem from the Employee Center. The rules and territory already exist, so the walkthrough reviews them, submits one case, and checks where it landed. Every person, company and case in the screenshots is fictional example data.
Before you start
Help Desk works on top of the Customer Support and Service feature. You need a role that can enable features and manage support setup (the example uses Administrator). The employee needs an Employee Center login whose role and form show Help Desk > See Support Cases. The values the rules and the form use, here Case Type Problem and Case Issue Network/VPN, have to exist already under Setup > Support.
The rep you want to route to has to be set up as a support rep. Check Support Rep on their employee record, or they won't be available on the territory's Assignment subtab. In OneWorld, give each rep access to the subsidiaries whose cases they handle, and consider adding a Subsidiary rule to the territory. Otherwise NetSuite can assign a case to a rep who can't open it.
A help desk case is a case with the native Help Desk box checked. Cases an employee enters from the Employee Center get it automatically. These cases stay out of the standard customer case reports, so use the case list, saved searches or help desk views to find them.
01. Confirm that Help Desk is enabled
Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features and click the CRM subtab. In the Support group, Help Desk ("Streamline your IT and internal support.") is checked. If it isn't in your account, check it and click Save.
02. Review the two case rules
Go to Setup > Support > Case Rules. The Case Field Rules list has two rules: Internal Requests on the Help Desk field and Type Is Problem on the Case Type field. Each case field rule tests one case field.
Click Internal Requests. Its Criteria is equal to, with Help Desk checked, so it matches any help desk case. The Priority / Territory sublist shows it's rule 1 of IT Help Desk - Problems.
Click List, then Type Is Problem. Its Criteria is any of, Case Type Problem, so it matches cases whose Type is Problem. It's rule 2 of the same territory.
A rule on its own doesn't assign anything. It only describes cases. The territory decides what happens when a case matches.
03. Review the territory that assigns the cases
On Type Is Problem, click IT Help Desk - Problems in the Priority / Territory sublist. The territory is set to Match all rules, and its Rule Definitions subtab applies Internal Requests and Type Is Problem. So a case has to be a help desk case and have Type Problem. With Match any rule, either one would be enough, so every help desk case and every Problem case, customer cases included, would land here.
Click the Assignment subtab. The support rep is Joanna Pell. Matching cases go to her.
Click List. That opens Manage Case Territories, the same page as Setup > Support > Case Territories. IT Help Desk - Problems has 1 rep and sits above Default Round-Robin, which has 0. The order on this page is the territory priority, top first. A new case goes to the highest territory it matches. An active Default Round-Robin takes cases no other territory matches and spreads them across its reps. Here it has none, so a case that misses the help desk territory stays unassigned.
04. Look at the employee's cases in the Employee Center
Now switch to the employee. In the example, Marcus Delgado's Employee Center role is picked from the account menu. In your account, the employee signs in with their own Employee Center role. The Employee Center home has Home Links with a Help Desk group. Under it, click See Support Cases.
Marcus has one earlier help desk case open: CASE118 Second monitor flickers, Not Started, with nobody in Assigned To. Remember that one. It comes back in step 6.
05. Submit a new help desk case
Click New Case. In this example the form already has Employee Marcus Delgado, Profile Quarrystone Internal IT, his email and phone, Status Not Started, Origin Web, and Help Desk checked. Employee, Email and Phone come from his employee record. The default profile, status and origin, and which fields are required, depend on your form, support preferences and any workflows or scripts, so check them in your account. Assigned To is empty. On this form the employee doesn't pick who handles the case.
In Subject, type VPN keeps dropping. In Type, choose Problem. In Case Issue, choose Network/VPN. On the Communication subtab, type the message: VPN disconnects every few minutes since this morning. I can't reach the shared drive.
Click Submit. The Employee Center home shows Confirmation: Case successfully Saved.
06. See the new case land with the support rep
Switch back to the administrator role and go to Lists > Support > Cases. CASE119 VPN keeps dropping is Not Started and Assigned To Joanna Pell. It matched both rules, and Joanna Pell is the only rep on IT Help Desk - Problems, so the territory assigned it to her as the case was created. CASE118 still has no one. CASE117, an older case that Theo Vance is already working, isn't part of this example.
Click CASE118 to see why. Its Type is Question. It matched Internal Requests but not Type Is Problem, so the Match all rules territory didn't take it, and Default Round-Robin has no reps to fall back on. Assigned To is empty.
If you want help desk Questions routed too, add another territory for them or loosen this one. Changing the rules doesn't touch cases that already exist, and don't count on editing a case to re-run assignment. To apply the new setup to open cases, run Setup > Support > Territory Reassignment and select the cases to reassign.
07. Check the assignment on the case
Click List, then CASE119. Assigned To is Joanna Pell, Employee is Marcus Delgado, Help Desk is checked, and Type is Problem with Case Issue Network/VPN.
You're done when:
- Help Desk is enabled and the employee can open See Support Cases in the Employee Center;
- each case rule tests the field and value you meant, and the territory uses the right ones with the right match setting;
- the territory has the right rep and sits above Default Round-Robin;
- a new test case that should match lands with that rep, and one that shouldn't stays where you expect.
Common questions
What's the difference between a case rule and a case territory?
A case rule tests one field on a case, such as Help Desk checked or Case Type Problem. It doesn't assign anything. A case territory combines one or more rules and lists the support reps who get the cases that match. In the example, IT Help Desk - Problems combines both rules and sends matching cases to Joanna Pell.
What does Match all rules mean on a case territory?
The case has to satisfy every rule on the territory. CASE119 matched because it was a help desk case and its Type was Problem. With Match any rule, one rule is enough, so this territory would also pick up help desk Questions and customer Problem cases.
Why is my help desk case not being assigned to anyone?
It didn't match a territory that has reps. CASE118 was a help desk case with Type Question, so it matched one of the two rules and the Match all rules territory skipped it. Default Round-Robin had no reps, so nothing caught it. Check the case's field values against each rule, the match setting, the territory order and whether the territory that should take it has an active rep.
What does the Help Desk checkbox on a case do?
It marks the case as an internal employee case rather than a customer case. Cases submitted from the Employee Center have it checked automatically, and case rules can test it, which is how Internal Requests works. Help desk cases are left out of the standard customer case reports, so find them through the case list or a saved search.
Does changing the case type re-assign the case to another territory?
Don't count on it. Territories assign a case when it's created. If you change a case's type later and want it re-evaluated, run Territory Reassignment for that case. The example doesn't run it.
What happens to cases that don't match any case territory?
They fall to Default Round-Robin if it's active, which spreads them across its reps. If it has no reps, as in the example, the case is saved with nobody in Assigned To and waits until someone assigns it.