Introduction
There are a number of ways that a new Case can be created - the two most common are:
Via the New Case option from the CiviPlus menu
Via an online webform submitted by a user
This article covers creating a new Case via the CiviPlus menu. For details on how you can use a form to create a case please see the article here.
Creating a new case via the CiviPlus menu
Navigate to Cases -> New Case and complete the "Open Case" Activity form that is presented:
Firstly, start entering the name of the individual or organisation who is going to be the Case Client. As you start typing a name you will see a list appear of any contacts already in CiviPlus who match what you have entered. Select the one that you want.
If an existing contact can not be found you have the option to create a NEW INDIVIDUAL or NEW ORGANISATION by clicking on the appopriate button.
Now you can specify the way in which this new Case request has arrived - for example was it as a result of an email, or a face to face meeting? In our example the Activity Medium is an "In Person" meeting, and the Location is the "Leeds Office". Note: The little spanner icon allows you to add Encounter Medium Options to the list, if you have the correct permissions to do so.
Add Details for this Open Case Activity. Note: Often a one line description will suffice as typically you add more detail into the specific Custom Fields associated with the Case Type and other Activities that get linked to the Case.
Now complete the remainder of the fields on the Open Case Activity Form:
Subject - What do you want the name of this particular case to be?
Case Type - What kind of Case is it? This a very important field - since it will determine the workflow statuses, roles, custom data and timelines for this case.
Case Status - Defaults to the staring status specified for this Case Type, although you can select any of the other valid statuses,
Case Start Date - Defaults to the current date and time, but can be overidden.
Attachments - You can add up to three files to the Open Case Activity at this time, but of course there are opportunities to add files once the case has been created.
Activity Duration - This is a standard field in the Activity record, but in most instances you can leave blank for the Open Case one.
Click SAVE and the new Case will be created.
The new Case will be shown in a list of Open Cases:
