CSM Workspace, Portals, Service Catalog, Analytics, and Reporting · Topic 1 of 2
Portals and Service Catalog
CIS-CSM portals and catalog: Customer and Consumer Service Portals, customer and partner portal roles, record producers, service definitions, requests.
- 5 min
- Customer Service Portal is for B2B contacts; Consumer Service Portal is for B2C consumers.
- The customer role covers the contact's own cases; customer case manager and customer administrator see all of the account's cases.
- Only customer administrators and partner administrators manage users, using roles listed in sn_customerservice.contact_role_assignment.
What it is
A portal is the self service website where customers raise cases, track them, read knowledge and order services. CSM ships two: the Customer Service Portal for business customers (B2B) and the Consumer Service Portal for individual consumers (B2C).
The Service Catalog supplies the items a customer can pick in the portal. In CSM a catalog item can create a case or a request, and the implementer decides which one each item should produce.
How it works
Two portals for two business models
| Portal | Business model | Who logs in | Typical path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Portal | B2B | Contacts of a customer or partner account | /csm |
| Consumer Service Portal | B2C | Consumers, who are individuals with no account | /csp |
The path suffix is configurable, so an instance can use a different one. In a B2B2C model both portals are often in use: business contacts use one and end consumers use the other.
Portal roles for contacts
What a contact can do in the Customer Service Portal depends on the role they hold. These are external roles; a user should not hold both internal and external roles.
| Role | What it adds |
|---|---|
| sn_customerservice.customer | Create cases for their own account, view and edit their own cases, view the account's assets, search for information |
| sn_customerservice.customer_case_manager | View and edit all cases of the account and its child accounts, and create cases for other contacts |
| sn_customerservice.customer_admin | Create cases for other contacts, view and edit all account cases, and manage the account's users |
| sn_customerservice.partner | Create cases for their own account and on behalf of customer accounts |
| sn_customerservice.partner_admin | View and edit cases and assets of their account and their customer accounts, and manage users for both |
A customer administrator or partner administrator assigns roles to contacts from the portal. The roles they may hand out are listed in the sn_customerservice.contact_role_assignment property. The customer case manager role is not in that list by default, so an administrator adds it under the Customer Service administration properties.
Consumers use the sn_customerservice.consumer role in the Consumer Service Portal.
What a customer does there
Customers create and follow cases, search the knowledge their user criteria allow, view their account's assets as their role permits, read publications from the Publications link, and order through Request Something.
Catalog items that create cases
A tailored case form is built as a record producer: a catalog item that creates a record instead of a request. A CSM record producer creates a case, so the customer fills in a short form and the agent receives a normal case.
Service definitions take this further. A service definition ties a product or service to a case type and can point at a catalog item. When the customer submits that record producer, the platform creates a case of the correct type, and it appears in CSM Configurable Workspace. Service definitions need the Customer Service Case Types plugin (com.snc.csm_case_types).
Catalog items that create requests
Some needs are orders, not problems: a replacement part, a license, an extra service. These use ordinary catalog items that create a request with the standard request and requested item records. Customers order them in the portal with the sn_customerservice.customer or sn_customerservice.consumer role.
An agent can also order for a customer. From a case, the agent selects Create Request, picks the item and orders it. The request then shows in the Requests related list on the case, so the case stays the customer facing record.
Which to build
| Requirement | Build |
|---|---|
| Customer reports a problem with a product, with fields specific to that product | Record producer that creates a case, ideally through a service definition |
| Customer orders something that is fulfilled | Catalog item that creates a request |
| Agent orders on the customer's behalf during a case | Create Request from the case |
How the exam asks about this
- "A customer's IT lead must see every case raised by any colleague in the account and add new users." Give the contact sn_customerservice.customer_admin.
- "A partner needs to raise cases for the end customers it supports." Give the partner contact sn_customerservice.partner, or partner_admin if they must also manage users.
- "Customers should report a fault through a short form that opens a case of the right type." Build a record producer linked through a service definition, not a request item.
What to remember for the exam
- Customer Service Portal is for B2B contacts; Consumer Service Portal is for B2C consumers.
- The customer role covers the contact's own cases; customer case manager and customer administrator see all of the account's cases.
- Only customer administrators and partner administrators manage users, using roles listed in sn_customerservice.contact_role_assignment.
- A record producer in CSM creates a case; an ordinary catalog item creates a request.
- An agent orders for a customer with Create Request on the case, and the request appears in the case's Requests related list.
- Service definitions link a product or service to a case type and a catalog item.
Do not give an external contact an internal role such as sn_customerservice_agent to widen what they see. Use the right external role, such as customer case manager or customer administrator.
Common mistakes
Confusing the two portals. The Consumer Service Portal is not a second name for the Customer Service Portal. Consumers have no account, so they belong in the consumer portal, while account contacts use the customer portal.
Expecting customer case manager in the role picker. It exists, but a customer administrator cannot assign it until the contact role assignment property includes it.
Building every portal form as a request item. A fault report should create a case so it gets case routing, entitlements and SLAs. Requests are for things that are ordered and fulfilled.
Check yourself
Which portal role lets a contact manage the users of their own account?
The customer administrator role, sn_customerservice.customer_admin. A partner administrator can do the same for its own and its customer accounts.
What does a CSM record producer create when a customer submits it?
It creates a case, and through a service definition it can set the correct case type.
Where does a request appear after an agent uses Create Request on a case?
In the Requests related list on that case, which stays the customer facing record.
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