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Learn to work with |
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| Activities
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On this page
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Overview
Activities are
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small tasks
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or actions that
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are either stand-alone or must be completed as part of a larger project. They can be a part of other CRM.COM processes such as subscriptions, jobs, service requests and leads.
Activities are assigned to an 'owner', a specific user who is responsible for completing them and are designated a time by which they must be completed.
Activities functionality
- Resources required to complete a task can be booked through planned activities
- Services offered through activities which are part of a billable job can be billed
- Activities for completing jobs, subscriptions, leads and service requests can be scheduled automatically through workflows
Setting Up Activities
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| Configuration > CRM Application > Activities |
Statuses - Label the life cycle states of activities in a way that is meaningful to an organization. Statuses are modified in order to progress an activity.
Categories - Provide a business classification such as 'Installation' or
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What do Activities manuals cover?
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'Maintenance'. These classifications provide the user with input on how to handle the activity and can be used by the business to analyze activity requests.
Cancellation Reasons - Used for business analysis.
Types
Types are used to determine the operational characteristics of activities. The 'Allowed Organisational Unit' designates users authorized to create activities of each type.
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 an activity is expected to take before it is completed (measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks and months). | |
| Allowed Attributes | |
| Services | One-time services (such as the installation of a modem) are added to an activity and are billed based on their duration (the time the installation took).
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Statuses
| Allowed Statuses (for activities of each type) Default Status on Create (such as 'Open' or 'Pending'; activity must be in a 'Pending' life cycle state) Default Status on Start Progress (such as 'Approved' or 'In Progress'; activity must be in an 'In Progress' life cycle state) Default Status on Complete (activity must be in a 'Completed' life cycle state) Default Status on Cancel (activity must be in a 'Cancelled' life cycle state) |
| Categories | The categories that can be used in activities of this type. |
Status Transitions Defines the possible progression of each activity status. The next possible status depends on the current status of the activity, the type of the activity and the authorization of the user or unit. | |
Status: A single initial status which must be included in allowed statuses Status Transitions: A list of statuses to which the user can transition from the current status and the units or users allowed to make the transition. | |
Business definitions
Activity definitions are business rules that define allowed activity types and cancellation reasons. 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 reasons that can be selected when canceling activities and specifies a default. |
Related configuration areas
The following optional modules are related to activities and can be configured for the activities module to operate at its full capacity.
| Manual Link | Area | Description |
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| Resource Scheduling | Resource Scheduling Business Definition | Provide rules regarding activity services and resource requests. For example, whether a resource request is mandatory for a certain activity type and whether resources require confirmation. |
| Price Plans | Price Plans | Define the products and price rate types used to bill activity services. |
| Products | Products | Create the products that will be used as services on activities. |
| Jobs | Job Types | Create job types through which activities will be added to a job and billed.
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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
| Main Information | |
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| The details of the customer that reported the issue. Contacts cannot be changed once the request is saved but their details can be updated. | |
| Activity Information | Type: Determines the attributes available for activities (and their default values) and the automation of agent-customer communications. Performed For: The unique ID of the entity (subscription, job, service request or lead) for which the activity takes place. Category: A label that describes the purpose of the activity (e.g., 'Technical Issue' or 'Installation'). |
| Key Dates | The dates and time frames that are relevant to the request: Start Date: Date/time on which the activity was first saved. Estimated Completion Time: The difference between the start date and expected completion date. How long until the activity is completed. Time to Completion: Time left up to the expected completion date, calculated dynamically and updated based on the current and expected completion date. Expected Completion Date: Date/time calculated as the difference between the start and expected completion date (editable). Time Overdue: The time past the expected completion date, calculated dynamically based on the expected completion and current date. Actual Completion Date: Date/time on which the life cycle state of the activity is set to 'Completed'. |
| Services To Be Provided | |
Product: One-time services provided as part of the activity (should be included in the list of 'allowed' services of the activity type). Time spent on each service (measured in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years).
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| Status & Notes | Status: Determines the life cycle state of the activity and allows the user to progress the activity. Life Cycle State: A read-only field that reflects the progression of steps of an activity from the time it is created until it is completed. The state is updated by the system when the status changes. 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 is 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 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 and users from the defined unit will be able to accept the activity. Refer to the Accepting an activity action. |
| Activity Actions | Actions: Used when further handling is required to complete an activity without having to leave the activity page. E.g., an agent can check for the coverage of a malfunctioning Roku box and plan a job for its 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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Validations take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition). |
Selecting and creating an activity
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Specify the criteria that match the activity you are interested in or click NEW from the Actions menu to create a new activity. Provide the information defined as mandatory before you SUBMIT.
Modifying an activity
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Use EDIT from the Actions menu to enter edit mode.
Activities that are already assigned to a unit and are pending user acceptance can be modified (edited). The 'Assigned to User' field 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 contact, account and activity type cannot be changed. |
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New activities are assigned to a unit or a user. A unit member can accept activities assigned to a unit by using Accept from the Actions menu on the Data Entry page. For example, an installation activity is assigned to the installer's department and then accepted by a specific installer.
| Prerequisites | Users must be authorized to accept an activity ('Accept Activity' action must be enabled in their security profile) and be a member of a unit to which the activity is assigned or a member of a unit in the same group. If approval requests are set up in the system, activities that require approval must be approved (by an authorized user) before being accepted. |
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Starting the progress of an activity
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Use Start Progress available from the Action panel to start processing an activity and enable the delivery of associated services.
Select any of the available statuses which represent an 'In Progress' life cycle state, updating the life cycle state of the activity from 'Pending' to 'In Progress'.
Use EDIT to start working on the activity.
Prerequisites | Life cycle state must be 'Pending'. |
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| Postconditions | If 'Conditions Forcing Resource Requests on Activity Services' in the resource scheduling definition are met, 'Accepted' or 'Pending' resource requests must be present in order to be able to save the activity. |
Completing an activity
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Change the life cycle state of an activity to 'Completed' by using Complete Activity from the Actions panel, indicating that the activity is finished.
Prerequisites | Life cycle state must be 'In Progress'. |
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| Postconditions | Submitted Resource Requests should not be pending.
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Canceling an activity
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Use Cancel Activity available from the Actions panel to disable further modifications. A cancellation reason must be supplied for business analysis purposes.
Prerequisites | Life cycle state must not be 'Completed'. |
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| Postconditions | Resource Requests that were submitted against activity services should be rejected or canceled. |
Communicating an activity
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Customers and agents remain in contact throughout the processing of an 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 communicated by using Communicate Activity available through the Action panel. 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 activity services
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Services provided through an activity that is part of a billable (type) job can be charged. The list of services provided and the time spent on each is required information.
The billing engine refers to the Price Plan for the rate of each service and bills the job based on how long it took to complete. The two types of price plan rate models used for one-time services are:
| Flat rate, duration based | A single fixed price based on the duration of the service, starting from a base rate and adjusted as the duration of the service provided increases, according to preset tiers. |
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| Tiered rate, duration based | A price starting from a base rate, which can be progressively adjusted as the duration required to provide the service increases, according to preset tiers. Each tier defines a duration range and the rate for the product within that range. |
| Prerequisites | Life cycle state must be 'Completed'. All applicable rates are specified in the price plan selected in the job billing terms. The price plan rates for activity services must be configured using 'Flat' and 'Tiered' duration based 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 must be completed by a designated user.
The resources necessary to complete a task can be booked through CRM.COM Resource Scheduling. Supply the service to be provided, the responsible department/unit and the date/time on which the task should be completed.
Services that are necessary to complete an activity can be defined as mandatory on the activity type and added automatically.
Resources can be requested when adding a service for an activity through the 'Services to be Provided' section, as shown in the figure below:
Clicking the Request Resource link opens the Resource Availability modal, allowing you to search available resources and place a request. Refer to Resource Scheduling for more information.
Approving an activity
Activities can be set up to require approval from a specific user before they are processed further, by setting up approval definitions and triggering workflow rules. Refer to Managing Approval Requests for more information.
Applying workflows on an activity
Processes can be automated by using Workflows. For example, you can use alerts to contact users when a specific value is entered in an activity field or to assign high priority activities to a specific user. Refer to Workflows for more information.
Scheduling an activity through other modules
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In addition to stand-alone tasks or actions, activities can be a part of larger projects and CRM.COM processes, such as:
- Small project on jobs
- A number of tasks that must be performed to complete a customer's request for service.
- Actions required to follow leads on potential customers.
- An installation visit for a subscription.
Activities can be scheduled:
- Through the activities page by adding the related entity in the 'Performed For' tab.
- Through the entity (Jobs, Service Requests, Leads) page by using the Schedule an Activity action (not available for Subscriptions).
- Automatically, by configuring Workflow Rules that trigger the scheduling of activities when certain events occur in the system.
Prerequisites | The activity types for activities scheduled through the Schedule an Activity action on the jobs, service requests or leads entity page are filtered based on each entity's 'Allowed' activity types. |
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Activity Analytics
Segmenting activities
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Activities with common business characteristics can be grouped together. Use the resulting lists in system business processes for the identification of customers or for simple statistical calculations.
For more information on segmentation and creating lists refer to Segmentation.
Dashboards
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Dashboards make information regarding the key performance indicators of the progress of activities 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 that were completed in the last 12 months, in a vertical stacked bar chart and grouped by activity type and month. The results can be filtered by activity type.
New activities per type and month
The component displays activities that were started in the last 12 months, in a vertical stacked bar chart and grouped by activity type and month. The results can be filtered by activity type.
Overdue activities per type
The component displays activities whose processing completion is overdue (activities that 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 activities that are not in a 'Completed' state, in a pie chart, grouped by activity type. The results can be filtered by activity type.
Activity summary
The component displays activities assigned to the logged in user that are not in a 'Completed' state, 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 the activity
Assign resources to the activity
Accept the activity
Start progress and complete the activity The installer should:
Complete and bill the job
Keep the customer updated
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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 | 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 organization to efficiently allocate resources, plan their availability, request them for specific tasks and control their consumption through business rules. |
| One-time Service | A service (usually requested by the customer), which is provided and billed once, based on duration. |
| Price Plan | The set of rates at which a company offers its products. The plans are used by the billing engine to charge customer accounts receivables for purchases. 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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