Activity Records
Activities are used to record marketing events such as emails, invitations, and newsletters. You can also use Activities to track proposals, or remind you when marketing activities on behalf of the selected contact are due (an end of matter survey, for example).
Activities are stored on the Activity tab of a contact. The columns that display on the Activity tab can be modified using Activity > Columns > Record Activity.
Click on the New button or use one of the optional templates from the Activity menu to add a single Activity to the selected contact.
Use the Assign Activities function from the Edit menu to record an Activity to a group of records such as an email campaign.
When entering a single Activity, a template is not necessary. You can simply leave it unselected and click OK or press Enter.
Depending on the Activity template chosen, all option may not appear on initial input. All fields will show when you edit an existing Activity. The selections under Type, Status, and Subject are defined by your firm.
Use File > Preferences > Customize Fields to add options to these tables (or click the ...).
There are three Priority settings: High, Low and Normal.
Four optional dates are available: Start, Due, Completed and Reminder. When using the Reminder setting, you must enter a time; this setting is optional for the other dates.
The date can be entered directly using MM/DD/YYYY format. Clicking the down arrow by the date will reveal a calendar. From there you can navigate to a specific date and select it.
Dates are not required and you can leave all date boxes unchecked if you wish. ContactEase assigns a Created Date to each Activity automatically. This is the date the Activity was added to the system and cannot be modified.
Activity notes are freeform text and used to provide additional details for the Activity being entered.
All Activity fields, including the Activity note, are searchable.
Activity Dates
Date fields are available to help track ContactEase Activities. Because labels for Activity Dates cannot be modified. it is important that you think about how to use the dates and advise your firm's users so they understand what the date fields mean as well.
Note that the Created Date is automatically set when the Activity is added to the database. Other dates can be defined based on your firm's preferences and usage. Following is an overview of Activity dates and ways other firms have used them:
- The Start Date can represent when the Activity began such as when an RFP response was submitted or an invitation first mailed.
- The Due Date is used to signify a deadline or required response such as a Chambers submission or a registration deadline.
- The Completed Date is sometimes used as the date when an Activity is finished. In the case of an event, for example, this might be the date of the event (with the Start Date being the date an invitation was sent).
- A Reminder Date is useful when follow up is required or to keep a project on track. This date can be searched and even used in conjunction with ContactEase Assignments. For example, you could create a report of items where action is required for individual users. When combined with the Activty status value of Active, reminders can be set to appear for individual users reminding them of an action or follow up.
Activity Reminders
Activity reminders are a great way to keep professionals and project on track when follow up is required. These can be set for individual users and will appear as a popup display (A). The user has several options available to them. From the popup reminder, a user can:
- Dismiss all reminders
- Highlight and dismiss an individual reminder
- Open the item and view additional details (B and C)
- Snooze the reminder to extend the deadline