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Creating Sales Activities


Siebel Sales tracks various tasks or events performed for contacts, accounts, and opportunities as activity records. Activities can be grouped into lists and activity templates created for use across the company.

Using activities, you can assess the investment in time and resources to maintain and grow account relationships. Sales managers also have a record of the activities of their sales representatives as they manage account relationships. Sales teams can use activities to avoid duplicating efforts across the team, and to share information about pending and completed activities.

NOTE:  Activities that are assigned specific dates and times appear on both the Activities and the Calendar screens. For more information, see Fundamentals.

To create an activity

  1. Navigate to the Activities screen.
  2. In the Activities list, add a new record, and then complete the fields.
  3. If the activity should appear in the calendar as well as the activities list, choose Calendar and Activities in the Display In field, and make sure that the activity has a start time.

    The following table describes some of the fields.

    Field
    Comments
    Account
    The account associated with the activity.
    Activity #
    A default, application-generated number.
    Alarm
    The Alarm check box sets the activity reminder. A reminder dialog box appears when the activity is due. You can either set an alarm for an individual activity, or you can set a default alarm for all your activities. For more information, see Fundamentals.
    Audience
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to specify which audiences can view the activity. Examples of values are employees, partners, and customers.
    Billable
    A check box which when selected, indicates the activity is a revenue-generating event.
    Category
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to specify a category for the activity.
    Service related activities are often created by one individual (such as a call center agent) and completed by another (such as a service repair representative). Consequently, when a service related category value is selected (such as Diagnostic, Field Engineer Activity, Preventative Maintenance or Other), the owner of the activity is deleted so that the activity is unassigned. The user can then reassign the activity by adding a new value to the owner field. If the customer is using Siebel Assignment Manager, the activity is automatically reassigned. For more information about Activities and Categories, see Applications Administration Guide.
    Comments
    A text field for activity notes and information to be shared by the team.
    Cost Estimate
    The monetary value associated with the activity estimate.
    Created
    The date and time the activity was created.
    Created By
    The User ID of the activity creator.
    Description
    A text entry field that can be used for additional information about the activity.
    Display In
    A field that determines where an activity appears. The field has three values— Calendar and Activities, To Do and Activities, Activities Only. If, for example, you want an activity to appear in your calendar, you must set the Display In field to Calendar and Activities.
    Due
    An editable date field that displays a date and time by which the activity must be completed.
    Duration
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to choose the duration of an activity. Default values are in minute segments, for example 5, 10, 15, and 20.
    Employees
    The User ID of the activity creator. You can select multiple employees for an activity, but only one employee can be designated as primary.
    End
    The proposed date and time for the activity completion.
    Global Owner
    The employee who is responsible for the activity.
    Meeting Location
    A text field that can be used for location information that is shared by the sales team. Examples of meeting locations are Conference Room B and Main Campus Facility.
    Opportunity
    A dialog box that allows you to associate an opportunity with an activity.
    Owner
    The primary employee associated with the activity. The default owner is the creator of the activity. Enter a new value into the field by typing the User ID directly into the field, or click the select button and choose the primary employee from the Pick Employee dialog box. The new Owner value that you enter also replaces the primary employee that appears in the Employee field. Conversely, if you add a new primary to the Employee field, this new primary also appears in the owner field.
    Price List
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to specify which price list is associated with a billable activity.
    Priority
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to assign a priority to the activity. Default values include 1-ASAP, 2-High, 3-Medium, and 4-Low.
    Project
    A dialog box that allows you to associate a project with an activity.
    Rate List
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to specify which rate list is associated with a billable activity.
    Repeat Frequency
    If Repeat Frequency is selected, this field displays the interval at which the activity repeats. Default values include daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
    Repeat Until
    An editable field that displays the date and time for the last interval of the final meeting in the series.
    Site
    A default value that is automatically entered when you associate the account with an activity.
    Start
    An editable field that displays the activity creation date and time.
    Status
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to assign a status to the activity. Default values include Acknowledged, Cancelled, Declined, Scheduled, and Completed.
    Type
    A list of values established by your company that allows you to define the activity type. Default values include Call, Correspondence, and Email.

NOTE:  The My To Do filter allows you to view each activity that has been designated as a To Do item using the Display In field. Choose My To Do List from the Show drop-down list to access this feature. You can further refine the To Do List by using the predefined queries that appear in the Queries drop-down list. For example, if you select the Uncompleted Activities query, the To Do items that do not have a status of Done appear. You can also view uncompleted To Do items in the To Do list that appears on the calendar screen. This list, by default, only shows To Do items that are not yet complete.


 Siebel Sales User Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003