Method Community

After upgrading Method, the activities tab now has 3 tab links that seem to be the same thing.  Can you please clarify what the difference is between a "New Activity", "New Appointment" and "New Task"?

pdirect- The screens are very similair but have different fields and different default values on loading the screens. For example the Log Call screen does not display Due Ending and has a default status of Completed.

pdirect:

After upgrading Method, the activities tab now has 3 tab links that seem to be the same thing.  Can you please clarify what the difference is between a "New Activity", "New Appointment" and "New Task"?

 

 

Hi Pdirect,

Just to add to what Michael already mentioned, the intent here was to simplify the screen so that only fields needed for that type of Activity are displayed.  For example, when adding a task, we’ve automatically set the Activity Type to “To-Do” and removed fields like the actual start and end times.  Feedback from our users suggest these aren’t fields you’ll likely use when creating a new task.

You can also set the default Activity Type by clicking the (…) next to the Activity Type dropdown list and then clicking the (…) next to the Activity Category for the Activity Type you’d like to change.  

I'm still foggy on this one, so I'm not sure that it helps everyone.  Me and another user stared at it for a while and couldn't figure it out. Although we can see some fields are different we couldn't figure out when to use an appointment, when to use a task and when to use an activity . . . they all sound so similar.  And we didn't know how these 3 affected the sync to Outlook.

Sorry, I understand "log call", but not the difference in the other 3.  To me, it just muddies the waters.  If I have to take 15 minutes to try to explain this to users and they still don't get it, that seems a little overboard.  Sometimes "simplicity" is best displayed in a single screen, not 4 screens that basically do the same thing.  That leaves the user having to think about it. 

Pdirect- What we are trying to achieve is to minimize the amount of fields a user needs to change/input when they create an activity based on its type. The Outlook plugin's sync is based off Activity type and based on which tab link you click it has a defaulted type.

But many times there is a BIG difference between what an application developer is trying to do and how the user experiences it.  I still don't understand how the different tabs sync to Outlook and will need a thorough explanation on that.

pdirect-

Below is a screenshot of the Outlook plugin:

The activity types listed here are what get synced to Method and they correspond to the activity types set in Method.

This functionality has not changed in the new CRM, the only change is that based on the tab link you click the Activity Type is preset.

-Michael