Priorities, Case States and Activity Types

Required · Configure case handling

Agree how agents describe urgency, progress and the work recorded on a case. Priority means urgency or impact. State means progress. Activity type describes an entry such as a reply or note. These three choices solve different problems.

Before you begin

An administrator needs permission to manage the relevant case settings. Review the existing choices before adding any. A small, clearly defined set is easier for new agents to use consistently than many overlapping options.

Northstar’s example is “Monthly report export fails.” Ask how many people are blocked and whether a workaround exists before choosing urgency. Do not equate a forceful subject line with a verified critical incident.

Review priorities

1. Open Settings → Cases → Priorities. Open an existing item, or use New Priority only for a meaningful missing choice.
2. Review its name and description. Write the business meaning, such as a reporting problem that blocks a time-sensitive process.
3. Review its division scope, order, color and active state. Colors help scanning; the written meaning must still be understandable without color.
4. Select Save Changes after a deliberate edit, reopen the record, then confirm the choice appears in the intended case’s Priority picker.

Existing saved Medium priority: description, AI description, division scope and display order. These demo values are examples.

Selecting a priority does not itself establish an SLA. A workflow may use priority to select a deadline; verify that rule separately. See case priorities.

Review states

1. Open Settings → Cases → States. This is the Core configuration label for what older material calls statuses.
2. Inspect the states agents will use. Add New State only when it describes a real next step, such as waiting for customer information.
3. Review Stop SLA timing for that state. Decide the timing behavior from the actual service agreement, not from the state’s name.
4. Save any change with Save Changes, reopen it and check the saved timing choice.
5. On a controlled case, change Status to the intended state and verify both the displayed state and any applicable deadline.

Saved Awaiting Response state: Behavior & Visibility shows the actual Stop SLA timing choice. The name alone does not determine timing.

A state called “Waiting” does not inherently prove timers are paused. The case close action and its required outcome are covered in the practice chapter. Case states and timing explains the full behavior.

Review activity types and audiences

1. Open Settings → Cases → Activity types.
2. Review any existing custom types. This settings list contains custom choices such as a phone call or onboarding session; the built-in email and internal-note activities are available in the case composer. Use New Activity Type only when your team needs a distinct category of recorded work.
3. Open a custom type and review its public visibility and SLA-related behavior. A new type can begin with public visibility enabled; never assume a newly named “note” is private merely because of its name.
4. Save intentional changes and reopen the type.
5. On the training case, select the intended type and inspect the actual composer action and audience before committing. A customer email may show Send email; a private note should show the appropriate internal-note behavior.

Saved custom Onboarding Session activity type showing customer visibility and SLA-reset behavior. Built-in email and internal-note choices are selected in the case composer.

Activity types and visibility describes the settings. A draft is not a delivered customer response.

Verify as an agent

Have an agent explain why the Harbor case has its selected priority and current state. Ask them to prepare a customer reply and an internal note and identify which one a customer should see. Check the actual saved note visibility using the intended customer context when a portal is in use.

If an option is missing, check active state, division scope and role access, then reopen the case form. If timing differs from expectation, inspect the state and SLA workflow rather than renaming the state. If an activity appears to have the wrong audience, stop before sending, select the correct type and recheck recipients and visibility.

Completion check

• Priority and state have distinct, agreed meanings.
• Existing useful choices remain available.
• SLA pause behavior has been reviewed.
• Agents can distinguish customer-facing activities from internal notes.
• The chosen options work on the controlled case.

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