Why does this matter?
CRM support cases raised with your IT Partner usually comes with a cost. As soon as the support person starts interacting with you and investigating - that clock is ticking where his/her time is recorded against the case. If they need to engage with you frequently initially when the case is raised, that time will be logged against the case when it could have been eliminated if certain steps were undertaken.
A lot of the time I recommend to my customers during the UAT and the go-live phase of a CRM project to try decipher the error message at first and review the data that is in the record where you attempted to do something. The error message 80% of the time will spit out something that is meaningful that can be resolved simply by assessing an item in CRM the error message has referenced.
Now, not all error messages are handy, some errors can be cryptic like the following:
"OK, I don't know what this means?? Help!"
The next thing to do is contact your in-house CRM super hero/power user/administrator and see whether they can help decipher the error message and resolve it themselves. If she/he can resolve it then hooray, no need to raise a support case.
If he/she can't resolve it or you are that person people turn to and you do need further help, be cool and log a support case with your IT Partner.
Sometimes frustration can get in the way temporarily - constantly repeating the steps you applied will not make the error go away, neither does slamming your keyboard in frustration. This is a good time to breath and recall your steps that lead to the error message. Inner peace, find inner peace.... OK, then start outlining these to your IT Partner in a Word document where you can attach it in the support web page of your IT Partner's helpdesk/support portal or email it through. There usually is a button called "upload file" or "attach file" where you can attach and submit your document that outlines the problem.
Why a Word document?
The reason why I suggest putting your steps in a Word document is most Organisations these days have a self-service support portal and you can't insert images within the field where you provide a
description, you have to attach the image files. If there is no self-service support portal, then usually you send an email and typically these emails are automatically converted into a record in the case
management system the IT Partner uses where again, the content of the email is inserted in a field and the field will not be able to render the images.
So use a Word document and this way
1) The support person can see the images for each step without having to contact you for more information.
2) If you have a lot of screenshots saved as image files, you have to upload them individually. Using a Word document, you can insert all your screenshots in one file with your steps.
OK, so how should I outline my details?
Anyways, below are my suggestions in helping your IT Partner understand your problem encountered in CRM so that they can reproduce it themselves and troubleshoot:
1) Outline the steps one by one in sentences in a Word document.
2) For each step, see if you can provide a screenshot.
3) As humans we can't read each others minds so sometimes even highlighting certain areas of the screenshot can help the support person focus in understanding the steps that lead to the problem.
4) If the error is originating from steps you applied within a CRM record then provide the link of the CRM record. You can do this by clicking on the "..." command at the top of the record and select "Email link." This will then open your Outlook where a URL is provided. Copy and paste that record link. The support person will be able to click on this URL you have provided and access the record where the error occurred.
5) Provide a statement of what you were expecting as the output of your action. eg. the email that requests for approval should have been sent.
6) If there is a button in the error message window "Download Log File," click on this and save the file onto your PC.
You can either attach this saved file on the support web page of your IT Partner's helpdesk/support portal. If you can't attach more than one file on the support web page, then copy and paste the content in your Word document which you can upload on the support web page.
7) Provide the browser and version you were using. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is compatible with different browsers and sometimes it is useful for the support person to know in the rare scenario where errors will only occur in certain browsers.
Final note
In summary, by following the steps above your IT Partner can start investigating immediately without having to ask you where in CRM did this error occur and what you were doing. You are effectively reducing the overhead cost of the support case by providing all the information upfront. Remember - that back and forth engagement the support person has to go through with you when minimal information of the problem is provided is factored into the time spent on the case.
Reverse the roles for a moment - if you were helping someone with a problem they are facing within the software they use, can you help them without understanding how they came across the problem in the first place? You need to know what path the person went through before he/she was stopped by the error to understand and help out.
Reality is that we don't live in the world of X-men where Professor X exists in support teams and can read your mind, and clearly see the steps you applied. Help your IT Partner by telling them the story so that they can help you in return.
Awesome sauce! Now you know the recipe for logging CRM support cases with your IT Partner.
PS: you can apply what you have learnt a few minutes ago in any support case that involves an application, it does not have to be CRM.