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Calendar and Activities > Managing Calendars and Activities > Mass Call Planning
Mass Call Planning
You can create a planned call for one or more customers in the following ways:
- From the Account Detail or Contact Detail page with a status of Planned.
For more information about creating a planned call for a customer from the Account Detail or Contact Detail page, see Tracking Visits (Sales Calls) to Customers.
- From the Account List or Contact List page using the mass call planning feature.
For more information about creating a planned call for multiple customers from the Account List or Contact List page using the mass call planning feature, see the following procedures.
When the status of your call is set to Planned, the call appears on the calendar and in the Planned Calls section on the Calendar page. The Planned Calls section on the Calendar page lists up to two weeks of planned calls in chronological order for the sales representative and displays the following information for each planned call: call date and start time, time of day, subject, contact to be visited, and other contact address information.
The color coding that is used in the Planned Calls section on the Calendar pages is determined by the theme that you use, as follows:
- Overdue planned calls with a start date that is in the past appear in the color that your administrator selects for the alert text in the theme.
- Upcoming planned calls with a start date that is in the future appear in the color that your administrator selects for the page links in the theme.
NOTE: To see planned calls on the Calendar and the Planned Calls section on the Calendar page, your user role must include the Calls: Calendar Planned Calls privilege.
You can create a planned call for up to 25 customers by using the mass call planning feature in Oracle CRM On Demand. Use the following procedure to create a planned call for multiple contacts.
NOTE: A planned call is created for the first appropriate day within the seven days after the current day. For example, if today is Tuesday, and if you select Wednesday as the day for a planned call, then the call is created for tomorrow. However, if you select Tuesday as the day for a planned call, then the call is created for Tuesday of next week rather than for today, even if the time of day that you select is later than the current time. Also, only one instance of each planned call is created, that is, you cannot set up planned calls to recur at intervals.
To create a planned call for multiple contacts at one time
- Go to the Contacts Homepage.
- Select the contact list that you want in the Contact Lists section of the page.
- On the Contact List page, click Menu, and select Mass Call Planning.
- On the Planned Calls page, enter the following information for each contact that you want to include in your mass call plan:
- Enter the day of the week that you plan to call.
The valid options are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
- Enter the best time to call.
The valid options are: Early Morning (7 to 9 am), Morning (9 to 11 am), Mid Day (11 am to 1 pm), Early Afternoon (1 to 3 pm), Afternoon (3 to 5 pm), Early Evening (5 to 7 pm), Late Evening (7 to 9 pm), and Late Night (9 to 11 pm).
- Click Finish.
On the Calendar page, all the planned calls are now visible on the Calendar and in the Planned Calls section of the page, provided your user role includes the Calls: Calendar Planned Calls privilege. An information message displays above the Calendar indicating the number of planned calls that were created.
- Click the appropriate link on the Calendar or the appropriate Subject link in the Planned Calls section of the Calendar page to open the Call Detail page.
The following field data is filled in automatically for each new call record created through mass call planning:
- The Status field has a value of Planned.
- The Start Date has a value that combines the Day of the Week and Best Time to Call.
- The End Date field has a value equal to the Start Date plus 30 minutes.
- The Subject field has a value of Professional Call plus the Contact Name.
- The Type field has a value of Call.
- Enter or update the information in the remaining fields on the Call Detail page as required.
For example, to populate the new call record with information from an existing smart call template, click the Lookup icon next to the Smart Call field, and select the smart call.
For more information about the fields on the Call Detail page, see Tracking Visits (Sales Calls) to Customers.
- If required, add line items to the call record, and then click either Save as a Private Smart Call or Save as a Public Smart Call.
You can link product detailed information, samples dropped information, and promotional items to the call record. For more information about adding line items to a call record, see Tracking Visits (Sales Calls) to Customers.
Use the following procedure to create a planned call for multiple accounts.
To create a planned call for multiple accounts at one time
- Go to the Accounts Homepage.
- Select the account list that you want in the Account Lists section of the page.
- On the Account List page, click Menu, and select Mass Call Planning.
- On the Planned Calls page, enter the following information for each account that you want to include in your mass call plan:
- Enter the day of the week that you plan to call.
The valid options are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
- Enter the best time to call.
The valid options are: Early Morning (7 to 9 am), Morning (9 to 11 am), Mid Day (11 am to 1 pm), Early Afternoon (1 to 3 pm), Afternoon (3 to 5 pm), Early Evening (5 to 7 pm), Late Evening (7 to 9 pm), and Late Night (9 to 11 pm).
- Click Finish.
On the Calendar page, all the planned calls are now visible on the Calendar and in the Planned Calls section of the page, provided your user role includes the Calls: Calendar Planned Calls privilege. An information message displays above the Calendar indicating the number of planned calls that were created.
- Click the appropriate link on the Calendar or the appropriate Subject link in the Planned Calls section of the Calendar page to open the Call Detail page.
The following field data is filled in automatically for each new call record created through mass call planning:
- The Status field has a value of Planned.
- The Start Date has a value that combines the Day of the Week and Best Time to Call.
- The End Date field has a value equal to the Start Date plus 30 minutes.
- The Subject field has a value of Account Call plus Account Name.
- The Type field has a value of Call.
- Enter or update the information in the remaining fields on the Call Detail page as required.
For example, to populate the new call record with information from an existing smart call template, click the Lookup icon next to the Smart Call field, and select the smart call.
For more information about the fields on the Call Detail page, see Tracking Visits (Sales Calls) to Customers.
- If required, add line items to the call record, and then click either Save as a Private Smart Call or Save as a Public Smart Call.
You can link product detailed information, samples dropped information, and promotional items to the call record. For more information about adding line items to a call record, see Tracking Visits (Sales Calls) to Customers.
About Ownership of the Planned Calls
The ownership of a planned call is determined as follows:
- If the Activity record type is configured in user mode, then the user who creates the planned call becomes the owner of the call by default.
- If the Activity record type is configured in mixed mode, then the Owner field on the planned call is blank by default. However, the first time that the call is edited, the user who edits it might be prompted to populate either the Owner field or the Book field for the call, depending on how your administrator sets up these fields.
- If the Activity record type is configured in book mode, then for the call to be created successfully, at least one of the following conditions must be true:
- A custom book is selected as the default book for the Activity record type on your user record.
- A custom book is selected as the default book on your user record.
After you create the planned call, the Owner field and the Book field on the call are both blank. However, the first time that the call is edited, the user who edits it is prompted to populate the Book field, as this is a required field when the Activity record type is configured in book mode.
Related Topics
See the following topics for related information:
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