Business Activity types allow you to seperate your Business Activities by what kind of Activity they are. These can be RMA, Sales opportunities, service, and more. Check out this guide for information!
The true power of the Business Activity Management add-on module is that it is 100% configurable to fit the way that you do business. Perhaps the most beneficial category that can be configured is the Business Activity Type. The Type is usually configured as the major category with the Status, Priority, Issue, Resolution, Scheduling Class, and Custom Fields categories remaining to help define the Business Activity.
Accessing Business Activity Types:
- Select File > Configuration Management to open the Configuration Manager.
- Open the Business Activities folder > Business Activity Type.
Business Activity Type fields:
These columns define the Type drop-down list in the Business Activity window and contain options to choose:
- Type (code)
- Description (short description of the type. This is commonly used as the name such as "Customer Service.")
- Can edit due date (Is this type of Activity "fixed" or is it flexible? If an initial due date is set, can it be changed later?)
- Active (If the type is active, or is no longer active.)
Creating types:
- Click the Edit button, located on the toolbar of the Configuration Manager.
- In the data grid, click in the blank line with an asterisk next to it.
- In the Type column, enter a code for the type, which may be a maximum of three characters.
This code will used to categorize specific types and group them together in the system.
Usually the first letters of what the type is, are set for this. For example, ‘R’ is generally used for RMA. - In the Description column, enter a full description of the type.
For example, if your creating a RMA type, then generally ‘RMA’ would be entered for the description. - Check the Can edit due date box, if you want the due date (in the Business Activity window), that is assigned by the system to be editable by the user.
- Check the Active box to make the type available in the Business Activity window under the Type field.
Next, you must continue to the next data grid to further define the types you have setup.
Configuring the Business Activity Types:
Visualize Types as a tree of sorts. Each Type of activity can have several different priorities, issues, resolutions, etc. You can create as many Priority codes, issues, resolutions, etc. as needed and then you can assign them to the type that they should belong to via checkboxes. You may have a resolution "Sale Made" for the Sales Opportunity Type, but you may not want "Sale Made" to appear for the "Customer Service" type.
This data grid has six tabs that contain various configurable fields:
- Status
- Included (is this status included for the type?)
- Default (Is this the default for the type? Restricted to only one default per type.)
- Code
- Description (What is this code representing? Examples: "Authorized," "Closed," "Call Back," etc.
- Sequence (What position in the drop down box will this status be at?)
- Closed (Is this status considered a closed one? Meaning is the Activity over when this status is set?)
- Active (Is this status active and usable?)
- Icon (When viewing Business Activities in Business Activity Scheduling module, a different icon can appear based on the current status. To associate an icon with a status, enter the numeric value that is next to the icon in the upper portion of this configuration window.)
- On Toolbar (If enabled, a button for the Status will appear at the top of the Business Activity Scheduling window. This allows you to click a button to update the Activity to this status)
- Send Msg (If enabled, changing a Business Activity to this status will open the Email Message window if the following conditions are met:
- The Activity's assigned user is not the same user who changed the status.
- The assigned user has a message address configured. The Email Message window will open addressed to this email address.)
- Priority
- Included (is this priority included for the type?)
- Default (Is this the default priority for the type? Restricted to only one default per type.)
- Code
- Description (What is this code representing? Examples: "Urgent," "Normal," "At our convenience.")
- Hours Till (Enter a numeric value representing the hours until this is due. E.g. 72 would set the due date to be 72 hours (3 days). Leaving it blank will not set the due date)
- Active (Is this priority active and usable?)
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- Icon (When viewing Business Activities in Business Activity Scheduling module, a different icon can appear based on the current status. To associate an icon with a priority, enter the numeric value that is next to the icon in the upper portion of this configuration window.)
- Codes (Issue)
- Included (is this code included for the type?)
- Default (Is this the default issue code for the type? Restricted to only one default per type.)
- Code
- Description (What is this code representing? Examples: "Billing Issue," "Annual Checkup," "Hot Prospect.")
- Active
- Resolution
- Included (is this resolution included for the type?)
- Default (Is this the default resolution for the type? Restricted to only one default per type.)
- Code
- Description (What is this code representing? Examples: "Satisfied," "Sale Made," "Unsatisfied.")
- Active
- Scheduling Class
- Included (is this scheduling class included for the type?)
- Class
- Description (What is this code representing? Examples: "Marketing," "Purchasing," "Service.")
- Active
- Custom Fields (See guide to Custom fields here)
- Included (is this custom field included for the type?)
- Custom Field (The name of the custom field. Not editable.)
Once you understand each tab, you're ready to begin setting up and configuring the types. To edit the items associated with a type, first select the type and then select the item you added. See below:
Here, we've selected "Customer Service" and "Authorized" so I'm editing the Authorized status in relation to the Customer Service type.