Help center Cases and collaboration Understand case fields and choose the right customer, routing, and commitment context Updated Wednesday, October 28, 2026 · Case fields turn a customer conversation into work the team can find, own and manage. In B2B support, the Company, Contact and Asset identify who and what is affected; assignment identifies who acts next; classification and service targets help the team prioritize and report accurately. These fields have different jobs. Completing a field because it is required is only the first step—choose a value that will still make sense to the next agent and the customer’s account team. At a glanceFor: new agents, experienced case owners and support leads explaining their team’s operating rules. Applies to: Supportbench Core.Start here: New Case or an existing Case View Read a case in the order that helps you act · Identify the organization, person and supported item · Separate responsibility from workflow state · Give the next agent useful written context · Understand targets, dates and recorded effort · Why two agents or two cases can show different fields · Know which changes are saved immediately · Work through a complex B2B intake · Troubleshoot fields and unexpected values Read a case in the order that helps you act Confirm the case ID and subject so you are working on the intended request. Read enough recent activity to understand the latest customer question and promise.Check the Company, Contact and affected Asset where applicable. Similar company names or related subsidiaries are not interchangeable.Check the current Owner or Queue, State and next expected action. A case being visible to a team is not the same as a named person accepting responsibility.Review Priority, Issue and the relevant service targets. Determine what the team must do and by when rather than treating one field as a substitute for all the others.Use the applicable fields to record verified facts. Keep detailed evidence, decisions and communication in activities, with a concise summary/note for orientation.Before leaving the case, confirm the important edits were saved and the next owner/action is clear. Identify the organization, person and supported item Field or controlWhat it meansHow to chooseCompanyThe customer organization associated with the case.Select the actual operating organization, especially where a corporate group has distinct subsidiaries or sites.ContactThe person associated with the request and customer communication context.Verify the person and email. Do not assume everyone with the same email domain belongs to the same operational Company.Search by company name, contact, or emailThe New Case customer search.Search using the identity you know, then verify the resulting Company and Contact. Use Select the Contact when offered.AssetThe supported item or product/license relationship represented by an Asset record.Choose the exact item when Assets are enabled and the policy allows it. Check its customer context and identifiers.DivisionRequired organizational/classification scope used by the form and policy.Choose an actual selectable Division, not just a parent/group heading. Available divisions depend on your access.The associations are related but separate. Changing a message recipient does not automatically mean you changed the case’s primary Contact or Company. Conversely, choosing the right Company does not by itself establish who should receive the next email. Review record context and message recipients independently.Example: two contacts, one recurring equipment issueAn operations manager reports an alarm and a technical administrator supplies logs. Keep the affected Company and Asset accurate, identify the appropriate primary Contact, and include other recipients deliberately for each message. Read the two accounts of the issue before deciding they have the same cause. A shared organization or asset gives context, not proof of a diagnosis. Separate responsibility from workflow state FieldOperational question it answersCommon mistakeOwnerWhich agent currently owns this work?Assuming a mention or note transfers ownership.QueueWhich queue holds the work for its routing/handling process?Assuming a queue placement means a particular specialist has accepted it.State / Case stateWhere is the case in the configured workflow?Treating every organization’s state names and effects as identical.PriorityHow is this case ranked under the configured priority scheme?Assuming Priority alone defines the SLA or that Low/Medium/High are universal default choices.IssueWhich configured issue/reason classification applies?Using it as free-text investigation notes or choosing a category without checking its meaning.On New Case, the Finish the case dialog includes Case state, Assign to agent and Assign to queue. Choosing an agent clears the queue choice and choosing a queue clears the agent choice in this dialog. Review the final selection before creation. Subsequent routing/workflows can affect the saved result, so verify the created case.In Case View, the summary shows Queue for queued work or Owner when assigned. Use the appropriate assignment and state actions rather than assuming a field in a draft activity will perform the handoff. A complete operational handoff also gives the receiving person enough context and a clear customer-update commitment. Give the next agent useful written context FieldUse it forKeep elsewhereSubjectA concise, recognizable description of the request.The entire investigation or unrelated customer history.SummaryThe useful current overview of the case, when the policy shows it.A replacement for the historical activity trail.Internal case note / Case noteA short internal reminder associated with the case.A customer reply or a full timestamped investigation record.Activity contentA customer message, internal note, task or other supported activity, according to its type.Assuming every activity has the same recipients or portal visibility.TagsConsistent labels that help the team classify and find relevant work.Several unrelated synonyms or unsupported assumptions about automatic routing.Custom fieldsStructured facts your administrator has configured for this workflow.Free-form filler used only to satisfy a required-field check.A useful Subject could identify the symptom and context, such as “Order export stops after validation error.” A Summary can capture the affected scope, what is verified and the current next step. Record the detailed tests and results in activities so later agents can see how the conclusion was reached. Use your real evidence in place of example wording. Understand targets, dates and recorded effort Field or conceptMeaningSLA responseThe current response/primary service target shown in Case View. An authorized actor can adjust an existing target through its specific editor.SLA closureA separate closure/resolution target shown in the case summary. It is not edited through the response-target dialog.Case due / completion-related datesAdditional configured planning/completion information when the policy displays it. Follow the team’s definition for the field; do not assume it replaces the SLA.Expected completion timeA separate planning input when exposed by the applicable policy. Confirm the team’s meaning before using it in commitments or reports.Time spentEffort recorded for the activity, from manual entry or eligible composition timing. It is not the case’s total age.Project / Project versionConfigured project context when offered by the policy. Select the actual relevant project/version, not a guessed release promise.State behavior, working time and SLA workflows can affect service timing. Do not assume every state pauses the clock or that every case update resets a manual target. Check the configured rules and the actual saved targets. A scheduled email also does not automatically extend a response deadline. Why two agents or two cases can show different fields Core builds the form from the applicable context, policy, account modules and permissions. On New Case, Division and Issue help determine the applicable policy. A field’s visibility and whether it is required are separate choices. Custom fields can depend on matching policy rules and division allowances; an Asset control also depends on Assets being enabled.Visible means the field is shown in this context. It does not guarantee the field is editable.Required means the applicable validation expects a value. Do not guess a value merely to get past validation.Read-only means the record can expose a value without allowing this actor/context to change it.Unavailable can reflect account modules, division access, policy or the workflow surface. Compare the relevant context before reporting a defect.Division remains a required, visible New Case choice. Subject is required for an outgoing email or when the policy requires it. Other customer, summary, issue, priority, asset, date, tag and custom inputs follow their applicable rules. Do not publish a single universal field list or fixed set of defaults for every Supportbench account. Know which changes are saved immediately Where you are workingSave behavior to expectNew Case formCase fields and the initial activity are submitted through the creation workflow. Review the final case/assignment and resulting activity after creation.Existing Case View fieldsMany choices save through their own background update. Subject, Summary and Case note text save after a short typing pause. Check the save result.Response SLA and Closure date editorsUse the dialog’s explicit Save action and verify the displayed result. Changing Closure date affects case statistics and is intended for approved administrative edge cases; do not change it merely to make a report look better.Activity composerRecipients and content are staged until the relevant Save draft or outbound/activity action. Editing them is not the same as saving the case’s customer fields.If a save result is uncertain, reopen or inspect the current value before overwriting it. Leaving a page is not a reliable substitute for checking whether a background field save completed. A saved case and an unsent activity draft can both exist; verify each part separately. Work through a complex B2B intake A customer’s regional office reports that its order connector stopped processing. First identify the correct regional Company and the reporting Contact, then select the affected connector/asset if represented in your account. Choose the Division and Issue that match the work. Apply your team’s priority criteria based on verified business impact, rather than treating the word “urgent” as a complete classification.Use Subject for the recognizable symptom, Summary for the affected scope and current finding, and custom fields for required structured evidence. Choose the appropriate queue or agent in the finish workflow, then inspect the saved case. Read its response/closure targets and establish who sends the next update. If another team assists, preserve the customer context and commitment while using the normal collaboration/assignment workflow.During the investigation, correct classification when the facts change and record why in the case history when it matters. A case is more useful for reporting when its final Issue and outcome reflect the verified work, not only the first guess at intake. Troubleshoot fields and unexpected values ProblemChecks and next stepA field disappeared after selecting Division or IssueCheck the newly applicable policy and module/access rules. Do not assume the same form applies to every classification.Saving reports a missing required valueReview the field label and applicable policy. Obtain the actual information or ask the authorized owner to resolve the requirement.The desired Company, Contact or Asset is absentVerify the identity, active/authorized context and relevant customer/policy scope before creating a duplicate.Priority or State names differ from another guideThose choices are configurable. Follow your account’s approved operating definitions.An assignment changed after creationInspect the saved case and the routing/workflow rules with the administrator. The intake choice is not proof of the final owner.A case field changed while an activity draft is still openThese are separate save paths. Recheck current case context and the staged recipients/content before sending.An SLA target changed unexpectedlyReview the applicable state/SLA workflow and timing rules. Do not infer the cause from Priority alone.A custom field is visible but lockedCheck role, policy and persisted read-only rules. Visibility is not editing authority. Continue learning Create a case step by stepWork a case through resolutionConfigure Case Policies and field behaviorManage Company and Contact relationshipsAdjust a response SLA targetRecord activity effort accurately Was this article helpful? Yes No Thank you for your feedback.