There are plenty of articles on the web about how to get the Timer feature onto a Case form, however, I’ve found people asking how to get it started. Simply adding the Timer Control to the Case form does not actually mean it will start the next time you create a case…and there is a reason.
The thing to remember is the Timer is not a stopwatch (counting how long the case has been open), rather it counts down the time remaining. Once I knew this, the resolution was sitting right there in Service Management…Service Level Agreements.
The steps below will outline how to set up a Service Level Agreement (SLA). If you need to know how to add the Timer Control, this Microsoft Help article walks you through it.
1. From Settings > Service Management, click on Service Level Agreements and create a New SLA record.Enter Name
a. Select Applicable From (date used for calculation)
b. Business Hours (if applicable)
c. SLA Type (Standard doesn’t allow customizations or use of SLA KPI related records)
d. Allow Pause and Resume (of SLA/Case timer…not allowed with Standard SLA Type)
e. Provide Description if desired
f. Save
2. Once Saved, the SLA Details sub-grid is enabled and you can click on the + (plus sign) to add a new detail record.
3. From the SLA Item form, you can specify parameters for when to use the SLA under Applicable When and the parameter to evaluate for success under Success Criteria. Using the Advanced Find look-and-feel, create your parameters.
4. In the screen shot below our Standard SLA will kick in when the Case is a Request and when the Follow up by field contains a date. Additionally, the SLA will be flagged successful once the Case Status is set to Closed – Information Provided.
5. Additional settings are available to determine SLA Item Failure and the actions to perform. Using the workflow look-and feel, simply click Add Step to input actions that will be performed when either the Failure or Warning setting is met.
6. Save the SLA Item and back on the SLA record, click Activate.
7. Now with the Timer control placed on the Case form, you will see the timer running when you create the next Case that meets the parameters that were specified.
