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Learn to work with Activities

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Navigating to Activities

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CRM > ACTIVITIES > MANAGE ACTIVITIES

Using Activities

Use Activities to: 

  • Navigate to Activities and explore existing records via the Summary page
  • Click on the link (name or number) of the record of your interest to enter the Data Entry page and see more detail. 
  • Use the Actions Menu to create a NEW Activitiesmodify (EDIT) or DELETE an existing one. 
  • Use BACK to return to the Summary page and CANCEL to revert any unwanted changes made to the Activities. 
  • Click on ACTIONS to discover other possibilities available for Activities. 
  • Click on the Audit Trail button to view a log of changes done on the Activity you are looking at

View the Attributes Table and the Action Panel Table below for a comprehensive description of the Activities fields. Check the Validations & Restrictions Table  for a list of available Actions when working with Activities including each Action's related restrictions, validations, additional information and a description of its system process.

Info

Action Panel is available from R10.0.0.
Up to R9.0.0, Actions can be selected and applied through the Action Menu, at the top of the page, and the following fields are
found in the Activity's Data Entry Page sections

  • Status
  • Life Cycle State
  • Owned by Group
  • Shared Notes
  • Assignments

 

Activities (As of CRM.COM R10.0.0)Image RemovedMANAGING ACTIVITIESImage Added

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validations
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Validations & Restrictions

ActionRestrictionsValidationsAdditional Information
Create
  • Not Applicable
  • Not Applicable
Save
  • Not Applicable
  • Mandatory fields must be defined
  • Not Applicable
Edit
  • Contact Information and Activity Type cannot be changed once the Activity is created
  • Activities that are assigned on a specific Unit and not on a specific User, meaning that they are pending acceptance, can be modified, but the assigned to User cannot be set or modified. (Has to be done through the respective Action)
  •  Completed Activities cannot be modified
  • Life Cycle State:
    • Pending
    • In Progress
  • Mandatory fields must be defined
  • Editable Fields:

    • Contact Information 
    • Status
    • Category
    • Performed For
    • Services To Be Provided
      • Resources
    • Key Dates
    • Owner Group
Delete
  • Completed activities cannot be deleted
  • Life Cycle State:
    • Pending
    • In Progress
  • Not Applicable
Start Progress
  • Existing life cycle state is Pending
  • None of the submitted resource requests should be in a Pending life cycle state
  • Business rules and restrictions applied through active activity definitions 
  • Business rules and restrictions applied through the activity type 
  • Business rules and validations applied through resource scheduling definitions
    • If "Conditions Forcing Resource Requests on Activity Services" are met then the activity won't be allowed to be saved unless an "Accepted" or "Pending" Resource Requests exists.
  • Validation on mandatory services are not applicable while the activity is in this life cycle state
  • It is not mandatory to specify the time spent on each activity service while the activity is in this life cycle state
Accept
  • Not Applicable
  • All users can accept an Assignable Entity in CRM.COM if they are allowed to do so by the security profile assigned to them. For example, users can accept the assignment of an activity if the security profile assigned to them has enabled the "accept activities" additional process.
  • The unit that the user used during log in should be the same as the assigned to unit or it should be within the same group and higher in the units hierarchy.
  • Not Applicable
Cancel Activity
  • The activity should not have life cycle state Completed
  • Any resource requests that were submitted against services of that activity should be Rejected or Cancelled
  • Not Applicable
Complete Activity
  • Existing life cycle state is in progress
  • Not Applicable
Communicate Activity
  • Mandatory fields must be defined
  • If tags will be used, you must first define the Referring to Entities
  • If unrestricted tags will be used, you must then define the values of each unrestricted tag under Unrestricted Parameters
Billing Activities
  • The Activity life cycle state is set to "Completed"
  • Each activity service has a billing directive which defaults to "To Be Billed" by the system. 
  • The rates for each service are specified in the price plan which is selected in the job billing terms. 
  • The price plan rates for activities are configured using the following price plan rates:
    • Flat rate, duration based
    • Tiered rate, duration based
 
  • Activities are billed through Jobs

 

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Attributes

An * indicates a field is mandatory.

Name

Description

NumberAn auto-generated number that uniquely identifies each Activity
Contact Information
Contact Information *The person or company for which the Activity is planned for. New and existing contact information can be used
Activity Information
Type *The type of the Activity
CategoryThe category of the Activity
DescriptionA description of the Activity
Performed For

The entities which are related to the Activity and can include one of the following:

  • Subscription
  • Job
  • Service Requests
  • Leads
Key Dates *

The key dates of the Activity which include the following:

  • Start date: Defaults to the date that the Activity is created, although it is editable
  • Estimate completion time: Defaults to the estimated completion time as set on the related Activity Type, although it is editable, measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks, years. It is the difference between the start date and expected completion date and is updated automatically whenever the expected closing date is modified.
  • Expected completion date: The date that the Activity is expected to be completed and it equals to the start date plus the estimated completion time. It is calculated automatically when the estimated completion time is set or modified, although it can also be manually set. Automatically calculated or Manually Set
  • Actual completed date: The date that the Activity is actually completed. The actual completed date is read-only and is set automatically on completing the Activity i.e., on setting the Activity on a status which is mapped on the completed life cycle state. Automatically calculated
  • Time to completion: The time that is left up to the expected completion date. Automatically calculated
  • Time overdue: The time past the expected completion date. This information is calculated dynamically, based on the expected completion date and the date of execution, if the Activity is not completed yet and has passed the expected completion date.Automatically calculated
Services To Be Provided
Services To Be Provided

The services that will be provided as part of the Activity and the time that was spent on each one, measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. Only one time services can be specified, which should also be included in the list of the allowed services as specified in the related Activity Type.

Services are optional, although they should be specified if they are defined as mandatory in the related Activity Type. All services have a billing directive, which is always set to "To Be Billed" if the Activity is performed for a job having a job type classified as billable. Finally services might be added automatically if they are configured to do so, again in the related Activity Type.

Attachments
AttachmentsThe attachments associated with the Activity
Log Information
Privacy LevelThe privacy level of the Activity. 
It is always read only and can be changed through a dedicated action or it will be automatically set by the Privacy Level Assignment Rules (PLAR)
Log DetailsThe standard set of Log Details information available in all entities  

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Action Panel - 
Status
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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

An * indicates a field is mandatory.

Name

Description

Status & Notes
Status *The status of the Activity
Life Cycle State

The life cycle state of the Activity which can be one of the following:

  • Pending
  • In Progress
  • Completed
  • Cancelled
Owned by group *The group that owns the Activity which will automatically default to the Group of the signed in user or will be automatically set based on the geographical area of the contact as defined in Groups
Shared Notes

Notes for the Activity. Each time the notes are amended, the user and the date are logged.

Assignments
Assignments *The assignment information for the Activity
  • Unit:The Unit to handle the Activity order 

  • User: The User to handle the Activity order
    The User may be left empty and then users in the Unit defined will be able to Accept the Activity. Check the respective action below.

Activity Actions
View History

The action that provides information regarding the Activity, related to:

  • Communications
  • Approval Requests

 

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additional_actions
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Additional Actions for Activities

Accepting Activities

Accept action is required in order to be able to assign the Activity on a specific user or unit. The activity will be assigned to the logged in user

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to accept and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Menu click on ACTIONS > ACCEPT

Starting Progress of Activities

Start Progress action is required in order to be able to start working with the Activity. The action will set the Life Cycle State to "In Progress"

Status
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titleApplicable up to CRM.COM R9.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to edit and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Menu click on ACTIONS > START PROGRESS

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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to edit and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Panel click on START PROGRESS

Canceling Activities

Cancel action is used to cancel Activities so that users are no longer allowed to work with the Activity. The action will set the Life Cycle State to "Cancelled".

Status
colourRed
titleApplicable up to CRM.COM R9.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to cancel and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Menu click on ACTIONS > CANCEL ACTIVITY

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to cancel and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Panel click on CANCEL ACTIVITY

Completing Activities

Complete Activity action is used to complete Activities to represent the completion of the Activity and restrict any user to modify further the Activity. The action will set the Life Cycle State to "Completed".

Status
colourRed
titleApplicable up to CRM.COM R9.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to complete and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Menu click on ACTIONS > COMPLETE ACTIVITY

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to complete and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Panel click on COMPLETE ACTIVITY

Communicating Activities

Communicate Activity action is used to create a Communication referring to the Activity. The contact information will be carried over, and the referring activity will be set automatically.

  1. Navigate to Activities
  2. Search for the Activity you would like to create a Communication for and click on its number in order to go to the Data Entry Page
  3. From the Action Menu click on ACTIONS > COMMUNICATE ACTIVITY

Billing Activities

Activities can be billed only if they are created as part of a specific Job having a Job type which is classified as billable, and if they are already completed. The billable information consists of the Services that were provided by the activity and the time that was spent on each activity.

  • More information on billing the activities can be found on Billing Jobs.
  • More information on scheduling activities as part of a specific job can be found on Scheduling an Activity
  • More information on setting up rates for activity services can be found on Price Plans.

The table below provides information on the 2 types of Rate models that can be used for defining prices on one time services added on Activities

Flat rate, duration based

Applies a single fixed price based on the duration of the services, which starts from a base rate and changes as the duration that was required to provide the service increases. Multiple flat levels are supported

Tiered rate, duration based

Applies a price which starts from a base rate and progressively changes as the duration that was required to provide the service increases. Multiple tiered levels are supported


Note

Visit Understanding Activities for business examples related to Using Activities


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