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Excerpt
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Find out how to create a new Activity

What does this section cover?

Learn to work with Activities

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents
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Navigating to Activities

Info

CRM > ACTIVITIES > MANAGE ACTIVITIES

Explaining Activities Fields

Using Activities

 

Name

Description

NumberAn auto-generated number that uniquely identifies each ActivityType *The type of the ActivityStatus *The status of the ActivityCategoryThe category of the ActivityLife Cycle State

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

  • Pending
  • In Progress
  • Completed
    • Cancelled

    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 Activities, modify (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 Added

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    validations
    validations
    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
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    Attributes

    An * indicates a field is mandatory.

    Performed For

    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
    Shared NotesShared notes for 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  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
    Assigned To *

    The assignment information for the Activity 

    Owned by group *The group owning the Activity 
    Privacy LevelThe privacy level of Activity 
    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 entities which are related to the Activity and can include one of the following:
    • Subscription
    • Job
    • Service Requests
    • Leads

    Log Information

    Includes the standard log information plus shared notes

    Attachments

    The attachments related with the specific Activity

    Creating and Saving, Validations and Restrictions

     

    ActionValidationsRestrictions
    Create

     

    Save
    • Mandatory Fields:
      • Type
      • Status
      • Category
      • Estimated Completion Time (If not already filled in, based on the Activity Type)
      • Assigned To (Either a unit or a user)
      • Owned By Group (If you do not assign anything then the Group of the logged in user will be used)

     

     

    Creating an Activity

  • Search using the criteria available in the summary page
  • From the top menu click on "NEW" to open the Activities data entry page
    Every time you complete a tab click on the "NEXT" button 

    • Contact Information

    Include PageSelect between new or existing Contact Information via another entity - GlobalSelect between new or existing Contact Information via another entity - Global

    Activity Characteristics

  • Type: Select the type of the activity
  • Status: Select the status of the activity. The life cycle state of the activity is set automatically based on the activity status selected
    •  Category: Include PageAdding a Category - GlobalAdding a Category - Global
  • Description: Add a description of the activity
  • Performed For
    1. Using the Search Boxes search add the entity that the Activity is related to. The selection can be between
      1. Subscription
      2. Job
      3. Lead
      4. Service Request

  • Services To Be Provided

    1. One time service information
      1. Click on Add to add a new row
      2. Search for the services that will be provided with the activity
      3. Select the service to be added
    2. Provide the time spent for each service
      If the time is set as fixed in the Activity Type then the "Time Spent" will be read only
    3. Scheduling a Resource

      You can either book a request directly  or you can save the activity and book a resource at a later stage either via the Activity Page or the Resource Request Page

  • Key Dated & Assignment

    1. Dates and times can be selected using the calendar icon

      1. Start Date: The date is set to the current date but can be manually updated
      2. Estimated Completion Time: Update if required. (Will automatically update Expected Completion Date)
      3. Expected Completion Date: Update if required

    • Communications

    Include PageViewing Communications related to a record - GlobalViewing Communications related to a record - Global 

    Attachments

    Include PageAttachments - GlobalAttachments - Global

    Log Information

    The following information is automatically set by the system on saving the Activities

    Include PageLog Information - GlobalLog Information - Global
  • From the Action Menu click on "SAVE"

    • System Processing

     

  • The activity will be saved and a unique number will be assigned
    • Relation will be created between the activity and the referred entity if one was defined.
     
    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
    colourGreen
    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

     

    Anchor
    additional_actions
    additional_actions
    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
    colourRed
    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

    Status
    colourGreen
    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 Creating Using Activities


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