CRM tasks are tasks that are assigned to sales reps as they work with leads, deals, or companies. Any activity, for example, making a call, holding a meeting, sending an email, or organizing a webinar, can be scheduled and viewed in ELMA365. You can monitor all stages of working with a lead, a deal, or a client and view all completed and active tasks.
For your convenience, all CRM tasks are displayed on the pages of the lead, deal, or company they are associated with. Moreover, CRM tasks are shown in the calendar and in the Tasks workspace, in the My tasks section. It is also possible to display CRM tasks separately from other incoming tasks. The Tasks workspace will then have the CRM tasks section that will include all calls, meetings, emails, and webinars assigned to the user.
Add a CRM task
There are two ways to create a CRM task:
- On a deal’s, company’s, or lead’s page, click +Task.
- In Tasks > CRM tasks, click +Task. If the Calendar view is active, double-click on a calendar cell.
In the window that opens, specify the parameters of the new CRM task:
- Select an app, for example, Deals, and specify the app item the task is associated with.
- Select the task type from the drop-down.
The task’s name is generated automatically. You can edit it.
- Enter information about the task. The list of available options may be different depending on the activity type.
- Description. Add a detailed description of the task to show the goals of the call, meeting, etc.
- Start*, End*. Set the deadline for the task. After the deadline, the task will become overdue.
- Person in charge*. By default, the current user is assigned as responsible for the task, but another employee can be specified.
- Priority. Set the urgency of the task. Choose an option from the list or select the Number option to enter any value, for example, from 1 to 100. Employees will be able to find incoming tasks with high priority and work with them first.
- Show in the shared calendar. When this option is disabled, the task will not be displayed in the personal calendars of employees.
- Contact to call/To/External participants. Specify the client from the Contacts app with whom you need to communicate or for whom you are organizing a meeting or a webinar. To quickly find a contact, start typing their name in the field. The drop-down list will display:
- For a lead or deal, contacts linked to the company that is indicated on the lead or deal page. If the company is not specified, the search is performed across all contacts.
- For a company, contacts linked to this company. If there are no related contacts, the search is performed across all items in the Contacts app.
To choose from the full list of contacts and use the search by parameters, click on the magnifying glass icon.
For Meeting and Webinar type tasks, you can also specify the following information:
- Duration. Choose the duration of the task.
- Participants. Specify employees who will participate in the task. People you select will receive a notification in #Activity stream about participating in the webinar or meeting. The assigned task will be displayed in the Assisting section, as well as in the personal calendar of the employee.
- Send notifications by email. Enable this option so that everyone working with the task, including external participants, receive a notification about it by email. The email will contain an .ics file with all the details of the event. Notifications will be sent to the email addresses specified on the contact page in the Work email field and in the user profiles.
- Place. This option is only available for the Meeting type task. Specify the location.
- Link. This option is only available for the Webinar type task. Insert a link related to the webinar, for example, an invitation link.
- After filling out the fields, click Save. If there is an overlap between the task you created and another event from the user’s calendar, you will see a notification.
Where CRM tasks are displayed
App item page
The new task immediately appears on the app item’s page. To make tasks easier to distinguish, calls, webinars, and meetings have their own icons. Completed tasks are crossed out, and overdue ones are highlighted red.
Calendar
If the Show in shared calendar option is enabled when a task is created, it automatically appears in the responsible employee’s personal calendar. Both the employee and their manager can see it there.
The Meeting and Webinar type tasks are also shown in their participants’ calendars. This ensures that all tasks connected with clients can be viewed in one place.
You can select different calendar views and choose the one most convenient for you.
By clicking on a task’s name in the calendar, you will immediately open the page of the deal, company, or lead. There you can, for example, mark the task as completed or edit its data.
Tasks workspace
CRM tasks are also displayed in the My tasks list of the user assigned as the responsible employee. Users specified as the tasks’ participants will see the task in the Assisting section.
You can search by CRM tasks in the Tasks workspace. To find all tasks of a specific type assigned to you, open the search by parameters window. In the Associated object field, select Business process, specify the task’s type in the Business process field, and click Search.
Additionally, you can display CRM tasks in a separate list. To do this, go to in the user profile settings and enable the Show CRM tasks separately from others option. In the left menu of the Tasks workspace, the CRM tasks section will appear. It includes tasks of the Call, Meeting, Webinar, and Email types.
You can choose the view option for CRM Tasks: Kanban board, Table, or Calendar. To do that, select the option in the upper right corner of the task page.
If you select Table, you will see the name, type, and due date of the task as well as the app item the task is associated with.
If you choose Calendar, tasks will be placed in calendar cells, and you will be able to see their start and end date as well as name.
On the Kanban board, CRM tasks are divided into columns:
- Earlier. All pending tasks assigned to the user before the current date.
- Today. All tasks set for the current date.
- Tomorrow. Tasks that must be completed the next day after the current date.
- Week. Tasks that must be completed within seven days from the current date. Tasks for Today and Tomorrow are not displayed here.
- Later. Tasks that must be completed within more than eight days from the current date.
In the task columns, tasks are automatically sorted by their start time: tasks with the closest planned completion date will be displayed at the top of the column.
You can reschedule a task by dragging it to another column. Information about the rescheduling is recorded on the item page in the associated feed. Please note that it is not possible to move tasks to the Earlier column.
Work with CRM tasks
It is easy to work with CRM tasks directly from the associated item’s page. For each type of task there is a set of actions available, for example, you can mark a task as completed or edit it. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Сall
There are four buttons for managing a phone call:
- Done. If the call was successful, click this button to complete the task. Write a comment the will appear in the activity stream of the app item.
- Edit. Change the task’s name, reassign it, or reschedule the call. If you reassign the task, the new responsible user will get a notification in their #Activity stream. A comment specifying what changes were made to the task will appear in the app item’s activity stream.
- Unable to Reach. Select the reason why it’s impossible to contact the client. It will appear in the item’s activity stream. You can create a new task with the same details by specifying Yes in the Create a task for the new period? field and selecting the new date and time. All information from the current task will be copied into the new one.
- Mark as Lost. This option is only available for leads and deals. Select the reason why the lead or deal should be marked as lost and leave a comment. The lead status will automatically change to Unqualified. The deal status will change to Lost.
Meeting and webinar
Working with these tasks is similar. They have two buttons: Done and Edit.
When you edit a Meeting or a Webinar, you can rename, reassign, or reschedule it, as well as edit its participants.
The following actions are available for working with emails:
- Done. Close the activity if the email has been successfully sent. Enter a comment that will be saved in the associated activity stream of the app item for which the task is set.
- Edit. Change the details of the activity, reassign the task, or reschedule it. When reassigning, the new executor will receive a notification in their #Activity stream. Information about the changes is recorded in the associated activity stream of the app item.
- Send Email. Click the button to write an email in the built-in email client. After you send the email, the activity is closed automatically. This option is available if the contact to write to is specified in the task’s details, and the current user has connected a personal email account in the Email workspace.
Task
Working with a Task in the CRM workspace is similar to working with regular ELMA365 tasks. A task page will be created as usual and added to the executor’s task list. However, unlike regular tasks, CRM tasks also appear in the Calendar.
Please note that if instead of a task you are creating a checklist, its items won’t be shown in the calendar because checklists have no executor and merely serve to make planning easier. However, you can edit a checklist item and assign an executor, in such case it will appear in the executor’s calendar.
Learn more in the Task lists article.
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