This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Activities
Think of Activities as how work gets assigned. For example, if you have an Account that requires a follow-up Phone Call, you would open the Account, create a new Activity with type equal to Phone Call, and assign it to yourself (or another user). Quite commonly, employees who use Microsoft Dynamics CRM come into the office in the morning and, after checking their e-mails, check their pending Activities.
As with all Entities that have Activities, the Activities display nonclosed actions applicable to the Entity. When an Activity becomes closed, it is not visible here; you can find it in the History (see the next section).
An Activity can consist of the following:
- Task
- Fax
- Phone Call
- Letter
- Appointment
- Service Activity
- Campaign Response
Additionally, within the Activities, you have the option to run manual Workflow via Run Workflow, located at the top of the section. The option to run a Workflow is based on the entity you're working with, so to run Workflow manually, you must have at least one Workflow created for it.
By default, the Activities filter shows Activities that are due within the next 30 days and filters on This Record Only.
Unlike previous versions where activities could only be converted to opportunities, activities can now be converted to leads and cases as well.
Finally, when working with Activities, you are limited to only the Activities that come with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and you cannot create one as you could with a custom entity. So if have a specific Activity that is not in the previous list (Task, Fax, Phone Call, and so on), you must change your business process to accommodate these Activity types only.
For more information about using Activities, see Chapter 9, "Working with the Workplace."