Universal Containers wants to notify support managers when a new case has been untouched for more than 2 business hours. Which approach should a…

Case Escalation rules are the standard, purpose-built Salesforce feature designed to automatically perform actions when a case remains unresolved or untouched for a specified duration. This feature allows administrators to define criteria based on case attributes and specify time-based triggers that respect business hours. The required action, notifying a support manager when a new case is untouched for two business hours, is a primary use case for Case Escalation rules. This declarative tool is the most direct and efficient solution for the stated requirement.

A. Establish Case Assignment rules.

Case Assignment rules are used to automatically route incoming cases to the appropriate user or queue based on predefined criteria, not for time-based monitoring or notifications.

B. Create a Flow with a scheduled path.

While a Flow with a scheduled path could be configured to meet this requirement, Case Escalation rules are the specific, out-of-the-box feature designed for this exact purpose and are simpler to configure and maintain for this scenario.

1. Salesforce Help Documentation, "Set Up Escalation Rules": "Escalation rules automatically escalate cases when the case meets the criteria defined in the rule entry... You can create rule entries, which define criteria for escalating a case, and escalation actions, which define what happens when a case escalates." The documentation further details how to specify the age over which a case escalates and how to determine the time from which the age is calculated, including using business hours.

2. Salesforce Help Documentation, "Escalation Actions": This document explicitly states that an escalation action can be to "Notify a user." This directly supports the requirement to notify a support manager.

3. Trailhead, "Automate Case Management" module, "Set Up Escalation and Entitlements" unit: "Escalation rules automatically escalate cases to the right people when the cases aren’t solved by a certain time." This confirms that the primary function of escalation rules is to handle time-sensitive case actions, which aligns perfectly with the scenario.

4. Salesforce Help Documentation, "Case Assignment Rules": "Assignment rules automate your organization’s lead generation and support processes. Use assignment rules to automatically assign leads and cases to the specific users or queues that your team members belong to." This reference clarifies that assignment rules are for routing, not for time-based alerts.