Siebel CRM Desktop for IBM Notes Administration Guide > How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles Siebel CRM Data > How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles Activities >

Overview of How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles Activities

In Siebel CRM, an activity is a work item that the user must track or display as an interaction. The following items are examples of activities:

• A To do item
• An email sent to a contact
• A calendar entry that includes a contact

Siebel CRM can display an activity in the Activities screen or in the Calendar in the client of a Siebel Business Application, such as the Mobile Web Client. The Display In field of the Activities list determines where CRM Desktop displays an activity in IBM Notes. This field includes the following values:

• Calendar and Activities
• To Do and Activities
• Activities only
• Communication and Activities

The Type field specifies the type of activity. It can contain a wide range of possible values. For example:

• Calendar Entry
• Field Repair
• Email-Outbound
• Research

Siebel CRM Desktop uses one of the following custom Siebel CRM activity objects to support an activity in IBM Notes:

• Calendar entry. This entry is a meeting or calendar entry.
• To Do item. This item is a To Do. For example:
  • Book a flight
  • Review new proposal
• Email item. This item is a record of communication. For example:
  • Correspondence was sent

Siebel CRM Desktop does not map a Siebel CRM activity to a single native object in IBM Notes. Instead, it synchronizes an activity from the Siebel Server to the client as a custom activity record rather than as the IBM Notes To Do item or calendar entry. After synchronization, CRM Desktop does the following:

• Creates the IBM Notes calendar entry that matches the calendar entry from Siebel CRM
• Creates the IBM Notes To Do item that matches the To Do item from Siebel CRM

If the activity is a Siebel CRM activity, then CRM Desktop creates a shared calendar entry in IBM Notes.

IBM Notes does not synchronize directly between native IBM Notes items and records on the Siebel Server, so CRM Desktop uses the Siebel CRM activity as an intermediary between a native IBM Notes item that resides in the user mailbox and a Siebel CRM activity that resides on the Siebel Server. If the user creates a shared IBM Notes calendar entry, email, or To Do item, then CRM Desktop creates another item in IBM Notes that represents the Siebel CRM activity record in addition to the shared native IBM Notes item.

To support this configuration, CRM Desktop uses an activity object as a proxy to synchronize all activities, regardless of type. It does the following:

• Parses each activity when it downloads this activity into calendar, email, orIBM Notes To Doobjects. For example, it parses a calendar entry into the IBM Notes Calendar.
• If the user modifies a native IBM Notes item, then CRM Desktop modifies a hidden activity object that contains the information that the object requires, such as a description, start time, relations to other objects, and so on. CRM Desktop synchronizes this hidden object. It does not synchronize the native IBM Notes item. CRM Desktop uses this same configuration for a native IBM Notes item that the user creates.