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Institution-level feature — managed from your institution dashboard at deandesk.com/dashboard. Cases sit at the institution level so they can span across schools.
The Cases module is a lightweight ticketing system for tracking the questions, requests, and disputes that come into your institution — from members, families, prospective applicants, or staff. Each case has a lifecycle, an audit log, and can be linked to the relevant identity.

Open the cases workspace

Go to Cases in the institution dashboard sidebar. The workspace shows:
  • Stat cards at the top — counts of cases by status (new, open, in progress, waiting, resolved, closed)
  • A filterable list of cases with type, status, priority, contact, and tags
  • Quick filters to narrow by status or priority

Case fields

Each case carries the following fields:

Create a case

Open Cases → New Case (/dashboard/cases/new). At the top of the form is a segmented control that switches between two intake modes:

Manual mode

1

Fill in the basics

Enter the title, description, type, status, priority, and tags.
2

Link an identity (optional)

Use Identity Search to find and link the case to a known identity in your institution. Once linked, the case appears on that identity’s detail page.
3

Add the contact info

If the person isn’t yet a known identity, enter their name and email so you have a way to follow up.
4

Add an initial note

Optionally add an opening note that captures the conversation that prompted the case.
5

Save

Save the case. It appears in the list with its reference code.

AI mode

1

Switch to AI

Toggle the AI / Manual control at the top of the form to AI.
2

Paste your raw text

Paste the original email, message, or notes from the conversation into the source text area.
3

Generate the draft

Click Generate draft. DeanDesk extracts a suggested title, description, type, status, priority, contact name and email, tags, an initial note, and a triage summary that captures the key facts in 2–3 sentences.
4

Auto-link an identity

DeanDesk also attempts to auto-link the draft to an existing identity by matching the contact name and email against your institution’s people directory. If a likely match is found, it’s pre-selected on the linked-identity field.
5

Review and save

Edit any field, then save. If you change the source text after generating, you’ll see a stale-draft warning prompting you to regenerate.
The identity detail page has a Create a case for this identity card with a Create linked case button. Clicking it opens the new-case form pre-filled with that identity’s name, email, and identity link — so you don’t have to search again.
AI intake is also available from the Institution AI Chat — ask the assistant to “open a case for the message I just shared” and it will draft and link the case for you.
AI Intake is also available from the Institution AI Chat — ask the assistant to “open a case for the message I just shared” and it will draft and link the case for you.

Working a case

Every case has a direct URL at /dashboard/cases/<id> (clicking a case title or visiting the URL both work), so you can share or bookmark a case link. The cases workspace header includes the global people-search bar so you can jump to a related identity without leaving the page.
1

Open the case

Click the case title in the list to open the detail view.
2

Update the status

Move the case through its lifecycle: new → open → in progress → waiting → resolved → closed. Status changes are recorded in the activity log.
3

Add notes

Drop internal notes as you make progress. Notes are timestamped and attributed to the staff member who added them.
4

Adjust priority and tags

Re-prioritize or re-tag the case as you learn more.
5

Resolve and close

When you’re done, mark the case Resolved (and later Closed). Closed cases stay on the linked identity’s detail page for historical context.

Case lifecycle reference