Hi David,

In Centric CRM, there are often multiple ways to accomplish similar goals. In this case, I guess our philosophy is that Activities are something you already did with a contact, though this might bear further thought.

I think what you are looking for is our concept of Tasks, which can also be linked to contacts, accomplishing something similar to Activities. Tasks have optional due dates. You can check out tasks from the My Home Page module.

And thinks for the kind words about Centric CRM. We appreciate it.

Hope this helps,
Tom

Ahhh, thanks alot, that makes things a lot clearer now. When looking at the tasks module I somehow managed to miss the part where you can link it to a contact.

Cheers,
Dave

Can I vote to rationalize activities and tasks? I think that the two things are the same so it would be much less confusing to pick one and have a completed check box to signify complete. If an activity is something that happened, having a pending activity makes no sense.

Good suggestion. I've always been a bit confused about that one, and never completely satisfied with our solution. We'll ponder it and make some changes in the future.

Tom

I second that. Less confusion would be great. While we are at it, it seems that activities can be attached at multiple levels, e.g. for an account, but also for an opportunity, and it seems that not in all circumstances they turn up. Its hard to figure out what is hidden where sometimes. May I suggest that any activity linked to an opportunity shows up under the account activities (at least optionally)?

Also, it would be helpful to get an example how one should actually work with the system. It took us a while to figure out how things connect, and still we have hardly scratched the surface.

CHeers
Boris

Peter, Tom - you have my vote! :)
Let me explain my way of understanding Activity/Task confusion:

1. I did something and it is finished - it is simply one-step, completed activity.

2. I did something and it started a process - it is multi-step activity: completed activity + pending one + possibly next pending ones. As you can see (2) is a continuation of (1).

3. I am going to do something - it is simply pending activity and.... I can not add it here!!! - I have to use tasks that makes all confusion! If it was pending activity it might be later coverted into completed activity, which means (1). And then as above into (2). 3-1-2 easy steps.

My conclusion is that (1) and task (3) should have the same priority in system! Activity can start with something that was done or something that is planned to be done. So in fact task is a kind of activity and to simplify the interface should be implemented into it (renamed to a pending activity).

BTW1 - Task has some nice features (like est. LOE, status) and they should be included into general activity structure.

BTW2 - I suffer much because of a lack of activity in a Quick Link menu (there are only tasks, tickets). DISASTER!

BTW3 - We are close to decide not to use tasks at all, although planning future activities with current pending activity enlargement to completed activity seems to be very tricky! I have noticed from employees feedbacks that it is very hard for them to deal with activity and tasks. So we have to decide somehow..... tricky situation.

Our group has been using Centric 3.1, and we find that it would be really nice to be able to link more than just a Contact to a Task. Why not Accounts as well?Perhaps a drop-down list like Link to: Contact, Account, or Lead. Additionally providing another tab on each Leads/Contacts/Accounts record for "Tasks" so you could add a task from there and not have to go back to the Home Page-->Tasks to do it.