ACT! by Sage
Articles
Tips, Tricks and Best Practices
by Kathleen Fernan
Creating Custom Activity Types
Custom Activity Types are an exciting new feature in ACT!
by Sage. For those of us coming from ACT 6 and older, we were limited to having
only calls, meetings and to-do’s. Although at the time, this seemed ample, we
can now be quite creative by setting up additional activity types.
Why would you want a custom activity type? Since you can
filter your calendars and task list by activity type, creating a new one allows
you to have more filtering capabilities. You might want to setup a ‘Birthday’
activity. Filtering your task list for just Birthdays gives you a birthday list.
Now there are no excuses for not making those birthday calls and sending the
cards. I have a custom activity type called Quote. I can filter my task list for
all the quotes I need to get out. There are many, many uses for custom activity
types. Let’s get started and create a birthday activity.
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Create a Custom Activity Type
Click on Schedule - Manage - Activity Types
Click ADD
You will see this screen
There are 3 components to an activity type: Name,
Icon and Results
Name:
Fill in a short name for the activity. We will use Birthday
ICON:
Click the browse button and choose a different icon. These
icons will appear on the calendars, task list and in the history tab for the
contact. If you do not have any custom icons, you can search for them on the
internet. I have posted a small collection on my website that you can download.
www.knkbs.com/downloads
Result:
We will be setting up custom results that are used when you
clear the activity.
By default, ACT! gives you two results automatically. You
will be modifying these.
Click on the result called completed. Click Edit. Rename
this result to Birthday Card Sent.
Click on the result called Not completed. Click Edit.
Rename this to Birthday Call Made.
Now click ADD. Enter Birthday Gift Sent. Set the default
for the one you will use the most often.
Note: Be sure to put the name of the custom activity before
each result name.
You should have three custom results and the screen will
look like this:
Using a Custom Activity Type
Now that you have created your custom activity types we
will schedule a birthday for one of your contacts.
Look up your contact.
Click on Schedule Other
You will see a list of your custom activity types. Choose
Birthday
Fill out the activity as follows:
Date: Next birth date for the contact.
Time: 8am
Duration: 10minutes
Regarding: Birthday contacts name (year)
Priority: High, medium or low
Alarm: 5 days in advance if you need to be prompted to mail
a card or gift.
Recurrence: AnnualThe scheduled activity should look like this:
You can schedule multiple birthdays on any contact record,
so if you keep your contacts on one record for both the client and spouse, this
technique works beautifully as you schedule separate activities for each one.
Putting the name “Birthday” and their name in the regarding makes it clear whose
birthday is it. Use the year as a visual to know if it is a big birthday.
Clearing Custom Activities
Each year when the birthday comes, clear the activity. You
will have these three results to choose from:
Birthday Call Made, Birthday Card Sent, Birthday Gift Sent.
You can fill in the details on the record history of the actual gift. Since we
scheduled this as a recurring activity, the activity will roll to the next year
automatically.
Special Notes:
You cannot delete custom activity types so plan ahead
before you start adding them.
If you configure a custom report with filters for custom
activity types, they do not stick.
When you clear a meeting, ACT! will update the Last Meeting
Date field with the date of the cleared activity. Custom Activity Types do not
update any “last done date” fields.
Custom Activity types may or may not be supported by
handheld synching applications.
Other custom activity types suggestions:
Insurance Policy Expires
Anniversary Date
Quotes
Presentations
Surveys
License Renewal
Endless possibilities. Do you have any ideas on how to use custom activity
types? I'd love to hear them, send me an email.
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