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On this page
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Overview
Activities
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Activities - The Basics
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Activities - The Advanced
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Activities - The Admin Stuff
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are small tasks or actions that are either stand-alone or must be completed as part of a larger project. Activities are assigned to an 'owner', are designated a time by which they must be completed and can be part of other CRM.COM processes such as Subscriptions, Jobs, Service Requests and Leads.
Major features
- Through planned activities, resources required to complete the task can be booked
- Billing of services offered through activities can be billed as long as the activity is part of a billable job
- Automatically scheduling of activities through workflows for completing jobs subscriptions leads and service requests
Setting Up Activities
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| Configuration > CRM > Application > Activities |
Statuses
Used to label activities life cycle states (used to progress an activity) in a way that is meaningful to your organisation.
Categories
Used to provide a business classification to the activity such as, installation or maintenance. These classifications provide the user with input on how to handle the activity, and can also be used by the business to analyse the type of activities they receive.
Cancellation Reasons
Used to define the reason that an activity was cancelled and which can be used for business analysis
Types
Types are used to determine the operational characteristics of activities. The users which will be authorized to create activities of each type are designated by the 'Allowed Organisational Unit'.
Type fields
The table describes the sections of Activity Type Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory Configurable
| Main Information | |
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| Estimated Completion Time: How long it is expected to take before the activity is completed, measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks and months. | |
| Allowed Attributes | |
| Allowed Services | Services which can be used in activities of this type . Services added to an activity must be One-Time services and are used during billing to charge the customer for the duration the service was offered. For example, the service could be
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Allowed Statuses
| Allowed Statuses: The statuses allowed to be used by activities of this type Default Status on Start Progress: Determines the status that should be automatically selected on starting the activity progress which can only be a status of 'In Progress' life cycle state. Default Status on Complete: Determines the status that should be automatically selected on completing the activity progress which can only be a status of 'Completed' life cycle state. Default Status on Cancel: Determines the status that should be automatically selected on cancelling the activity progress which can only be a status of 'Cancelled' life cycle state. |
| Allowed Categories | The categories which can be used in activities of this type. |
Status Transitions Defines the possible progression of status from each selected activity status. The next possible status depends on the current status of the activity , the type of the activity and on the user's or unit's authorisation. | |
Status: The initial status of the entity. There can only be one initial status and it must be included if allowed statuses are defined. Status Transitions: A list of statuses which the user can change to from the current status and the units or users allowed to make the transition.
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Business definitions
Activity definitions are business rules which are used to define allowed entities to be added on activities. There can only be one active definition at a time.
Business definition fields
The table describes the sections of Activity Definitions Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory Configurable
| Allowed Types | |
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Defines the activity types that can be selected by users when creating a new activity. | |
| Allowed Cancellation Reasons | |
Defines the cancellation reasons that can be selected when cancelling activities and specifies the default cancellation reason. |
Related configuration areas
The following modules are related to and may be configured for the module to operate at its full capacity.
| Manual Link | Area | Decsription |
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| Resource Scheduling | Resource Scheduling Business Definition | Provide the rules regarding activity services and resource requests. For example, whether a resource request is mandatory for certain activity types and whether resources require confirmation. |
| Price Plans | Price Plans | Define the products and the correct price rate types for the activity services to be billed. |
| Products | Products | Create the products that will be used as services on the activities. |
| Jobs | Job Types | Create job types defining related activity types and services, to use activities as tasks for jobs and bill them. |
Using Activities
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CRM > Activities > Manage Activities |
Activity fields
The table describes the sections of Activities Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used
Mandatory Configurable
| Contact Information | |
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| The details of the customer that reported the issue. The contacts cannot be changed once the request is saved but their details can be updated. | |
| Activity Information | |
| Activity Information | Type determines the attributes available for activities and their default values, as well as the automation of communications from the agent to the customer. Category is a label which describes the purpose of the activity. For example, technical issue, or installation
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| 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 significant dates of the activity which include the following: The dates and time frames that are relevant to the request: Start Date: The date on which the activity was first saved. Expected Completion Date: The difference between the start date and expected completion date. It is editable and measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years. Actual Completion Date: The date on which the activity life cycle state is set to 'Completed'. Time to Completion: The time left up to the expected completion date. This information is dynamically calculated and updated based on the current date and the expected completion date. Estimated Completion Time: The difference between the start date and expected completion date. Time Overdue: The time past the expected completion date, calculated dynamically based on the expected completion date and the current date. |
| Services To Be Provided | |
The services that are provided as part of the activity and the time spent on each one, measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.
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| Status & Notes | Status: The status of the activity also defines its life cycle state and allows you to progress the activity. Life Cycle State: A read-only field that shows the progression of steps of an activity from the time it is created until it is completed. The state is updated by the system upon status change. The available values are:
Shared Notes: Use this section to record information regarding the activity. Every time the notes are updated the time and the name of the agent are registered. Owned by Group: Refers to the group that is responsible for executing the activity. The group defaults to that of the currently signed in user or it is automatically set based on the geographical area of the contact. Refer to Groups for more information. |
| Assignments | The unit and/or user responsible for dealing with the activity The user field may be left empty, in which case users from the defined unit will be able to accept the activity. Refer to the Accepting Activity Action. |
| Activity Actions | Actions: Used when further handling is required to complete an activity without having to leave the activity page. For example, an agent can check for the coverage of a malfunctioning Roku box and plan a job for a replacement through the same page.
View History: A link that provides additional information related to the activity.
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Creating and processing
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Actions are subject to validations which take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition). |
Selecting and creating an activity
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Navigate to Activities and specify the criteria that match the Activity you are interested in, or click on NEW from the Actions Menu to create a new . Proceed by providing the mandatory information as defined in the table above before you SUBMIT.
Modifying an activity
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Use EDIT from the Actions Menu to enter edit mode.
While activities that are assigned to a unit and are pending acceptance by a user can be modified, the 'Assigned to User' can only be set through the Accept action. Refer to Accepting an Activity.
Prerequisites | Life cycle state must be 'Pending' or 'In Progress' Once an activity is created the related contact, account and activity type cannot be changed. |
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New activities are assigned to a unit or a user. Activities assigned to a unit can be accepted by a unit member, by using the Accept action from the Actions Menu in the Data Entry page. For example, an activity regarding an installation is assigned to the Installers department and then accepted by a specific installer.
| Preconditions | Users must be authorised to accept an activity ('Accept Activity' action is enabled in their security profile) and they must be a member of a unit to which the activity is assigned to or a member of a unit in the same group. If approval requests are set up in the system and the activity requires an approval , then the activity must first be approved by a user defined in the approval before the activity can be accepted. |
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Starting progress of an activity
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In order to start processing an activity and deliver services the activity must be progressed through the Start Progress action available through the action panel's actions. Select one of the available statuses which represent the 'In Progress' life cycle state.
The action will change the life cycle state from 'Pending' to 'In Progress'. Once the action is executed, EDIT is required to start working on the Job.
Prerequisites | Existing life cycle state is 'Pending'. |
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| Postconditions | If "Conditions Forcing Resource Requests on Activity Services" in the Resource Scheduling definition, are met then, the activity won't be able to be saved unless an "Accepted" or "Pending" resource requests is present. |
Completing an activity
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Change the life cycle state of an activity to 'Completed' by using Complete Activity action from the Actions Panel , indicating that the activity is completed.
Prerequisites | Life cycle state is 'In Progress' |
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| Postconditions | Submitted Resource Requests should not be pending All services defined as mandatory by the activity type should be present and the time spent should be specified for each service that was added to the activity |
Canceling an activity
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Cancel an activity to restrict further modifications, using Cancel Activity action available from the Action Panel. A cancellation reason must be provided for activities that are being cancelled which can be used for business analysis.
Prerequisites | The activity should not have a 'Completed' life cycle state |
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| Postconditions | Any Resource Requests that were submitted against services of that activity should be rejected or cancelled. |
Communicating an activity
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Customers and agents remain in contact throughout the processing of the activity. Pre-configured communication templates can be used to trigger messages when the life cycle state of an activity is modified.
An activity can also be manually communicated by using the Communicate Activity action available through the Actions Menu. You can use tags related to activities (text that is automatically replaced by values specific to selected records) when creating communications. Tags are available for selection by typing '#'. Refer to the Communications manual for a complete list of job tags.
Billing an activity for offered services
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Services offered to a customer through an activity can be charged, provided the activity is created as part of a a job whose type is defined as 'Billable' and is already completed. The billable information of each activity consists of the services that were provided and the time spent on it.
The billing engine will check Price Plans for the rate of the activity services and will bill the job based on the time spent (duration) to complete the service. There are only two types of Price Pln 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. |
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| 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. |
| Prerequisites | The activity life cycle state is set to 'Completed'. 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:
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Applying business flows on activities
Booking resources to complete an activity service
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Activities consist of tasks that need to be completed by a designated user that will need to take action. Through CRM.COM Resource Scheduling the necessary resource(s) to complete the task can be booked by inputting the responsible department/Unit, the service that must be completed, and the date / time on which the task is expected to be completed.
If an activity must use a service in order to be completed, it is possible to automatically add the service on the activity by defining it as mandatory on the Activity Type
Once creating an activity and adding a service you have the option to Request Resource through the 'Services to be Provided' section of the activity as shown in the figure below
Once you click on Request Resource link the Resource Availability modal will open allowing you to search for an available resource and place a request. Refer to Resource Scheduling for more information on how to request a resource to complete the service on your activity
Approving an activity
Activities can be set up to require approval from a specific user before they are further processed. This is done by setting up Approval Definitions and triggering Workflow Rules.
For more information on Approval Requests refer to /wiki/spaces/WIP/pages/10008784.
Applying workflows on an activity
The CRM.COM Workflows module can be used to automate processes. For example:
- Use Alerts to email or SMS users, when a specific value is entered in a activity field
- Assign high priority activities to a specific user
For more information on workflow automation refer to Workflows.
Scheduling an activity through other modules
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Activities can be perceived as small tasks required to complete a bigger one, which in CRM.COM can be:
- a Job, which could take the form of a small project
- a Service Request, which could take the form of a number of tasks that must be performed to complete a customer's Request for Service
- a Lead which will be used to win potential customers.
- a Subscription which could take the form of an installation visit
There are three ways to schedule activities:
- Via the Activities page by adding the related entity in the 'Performed For' tab.
- Via the Entity's page (Job, Service Request, Lead) by using Schedule an Activity action (Not available in Subscriptions)
- Automatically by configuring Workflow Rules that trigger the scheduling of Activities when certain events occur in the system.
When the activity is scheduled through the 'Schedule an Activity' action from the respective entity's page then the following validation takes place:
| Schedule an activity for a job | Schedule an Activity for a Service Request | Schedule an Activity for a Lead | |
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Prerequisites | The activity types which can be used for activities performed for the job are filtered based on the 'Allowed' activity types specified on the job type. | The activity types which can be used for activities performed for the service request are filtered based on the 'Allowed' activity types specified on the service request type. | The activity types which can be used for activities performed for the leads are filtered based on the 'Allowed' activity types specified on the lead type. |
Activity Analytics
Segmenting activities
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You can group activities with common business characteristics. Use the lists in system business processes for identification of customers or for simple statistical calculations.
For more information on segmentation and how you can create activity lists refer to Segmentation.
Dashboards
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Dashboards make information regarding the key performance indicators of the progress of the activity available from a single integrated view. Dashboards are made up of components such as charts and summary tables. Refer to Dashboards for information on their use and set-up.
Activity dashboard components
Completed activities per Type and Month
The component displays the activities which were completed within each of the last 12 months, in a vertical stacked bar chart, grouped by activity type and month. The results can be filtered by activity type.
New activities per Type and Month
The component displays the activities whose processing was planned to start on a specific date in the last 12 months, in a vertical stacked bar chart, grouped by activity type and month. The results can be filtered by activity type.
Overdue activities per Type
The component displays the activities whose processing completion is overdue, i.e. the requests included in the component are not a 'Completed' state and are past their expected completion date. The results are displayed in a stacked bar chart, grouped by activity type and predefined period buckets (the difference between the current and expected completion date), and can be filtered by activity type.
Pending activities per Type
The component displays pending activities, i.e. those not a 'Completed' state, in a pie chart, grouped by activity type. The results can be filtered by activity type.
Activity summary
The component displays the pending activities, i.e. those not a 'Completed' state, that are assigned to the logged in user, in a summary table. The results are sorted on expected completion date, starting from the date closest to the current date, and can be filtered by activity type.
Business Examples
Chargeable activities
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Scenario 1
Solution Configuration Activities
User Process New Job
Schedule Activity
Assign Resources to the Activity
Accept Activity
Start Progress and Complete Activities
Complete and Bill the Job
Communicate Bill
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Glossary
| CRM.COM Term | Definition |
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| Job | A small project initiated by the operator for customers, involving the delivery and billing of services, products and activities. Customer requests and orders, such as that for a new subscription, can be initiated and registered through a job. |
| Service Request | Used to register problems that customers experience with their products and subscriptions and to check whether products are under warranty. |
| Subscription | A selection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis. |
| Lead | A potential opportunity for additional business. |
| Resource Scheduling | Actions and methodology used by an organisation to efficiently allocate resources, plan their availability, request them for specific tasks and control their consumption, through business rules. |
| One Time Service | A service provided and billed once, based on duration. |
| Price Plan | A set of rates at which a company offers goods and services to customers. Every billable product that is added to a subscription, job or activity must belong to at least one price plan. |
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Related Links
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