====== Activities and Notes ======

Activities are used to record a specific type of communication, as well as the subject, time and details of that communication. Activities are actions such as emails, phone calls, meetings, etc. Using activities helps you and your organization understand all of the communication your organization has had with each customer or prospective customer.

Activities have a rollup functionality. This means that if you add or track an activity to a “child” record, it will also appear in the “parent” records activity list. For example, if you add an activity to a case, that same activity will appear on the contact record and account record associated with the case. This helps prevent history and data from being lost or overlooked. Since there is no roll-down functionality, you should also add or track activity to the most specific record.

**Notes**

Notes are an open text field that automatically create a time-stamp and show the author of the note. Attached files are added to the notes section.

**Best practices for activities and notes**

Users like using notes because they are quick, easy, and create a time-stamp. It is common for users to try and enter information that should be added as an activity type into a note. For example, a sales rep may add a note that says “Had a follow up phone call with Joe about the proposal we submitted on 6/3. He will make a decision by next week.” However, it is best practice to **NOT use notes in this way**. Actions such as tasks, emails, phone calls, and appointments should not be added as notes. Instead, these should be entered as activities.

**Below is a list of downfalls to using notes:**

•Notes are not searchable. Notes cannot be included in reports or advanced finds. Many organizations like to have statistics and reports around what activities have been completed.

•Notes do not roll-up. Unlike activities, if a note is added to an opportunity it will not appear on the account. This may cause data to be lost or extra work because users have to re-create the same note several times for different records.

•Information may be lost. Using notes creates another place for users to look when trying to find information about that record. Users may not find the note when looking for background history on the record.

===== Creating Activities =====

==== Quick Create from Activities Pane ====

Many [[crm:general|forms]] have an option to //Quick Create// Activities. This is very useful fi if a customer calls and you want to record what is discussed. You can create a [[crm:phonecalls|phone call]] activity from within an opportunity, order and most other entities directly in the Activities Pane. When you close(aka save) the phone call activity it is automatically marked as //completed.// Most likely that is not what you want....Therefore, if you want to create a follow up activity, the best way to do this is by clicking the small window icon to the right of the Activities pane. This leads you to the //Open Activity Associated View// where you can Add different types of Activities without completing them when you save them.

==== Common Activities from Main Navigation Bar====

This option is available from most Entities in the //Top Navigation Bar//. Press the ">" arrow to the right of the current record. A window unfolds with several options available. Select //Activities// to open the list of Activities for this record.

===== Creating Notes =====

** Best Practices: **
We create //Notes// in an //Activity// as part of an ongoing discussion or progress report which is related to the //Subject// Or //Title of the //Activity//. The reason is simple: you can search activities by their //Subject// or //Title and their //description//.

Notes in an //Account//, //Contact//, //Opportunity// and other //Parent// entities are to be kept to a minimum, simply because you cannot search for/in Notes. Important information should therefore find its way into a //Description// attribute.

===== Appointments =====

The //User// creating the //Appointment// automatically is assigned as //Organiser// of the //appointment//. As a result, the //User// sees this record in his //Activities Views// even when another user is assigned //Owner// of the //appointment//.
In order to remove the Appointment from your personal Views, you need to change the //Organiser// Field to the //User// that owns the Appointment.