Overview
The Business Activity Manager is a management window in Acctivate that allows users to filter and process batches of Business Activities in one central location. The Business Activity Manager can be configured to group Activities together based on user defined criteria.
The Business Activity Manager can be accessed by going to Activities → Business Activity Manager or by clicking the Activity Manager icon on the Icon bar.
Activity Manager Bars
The Business Activity Manager is made up of Bars, which are a collection of Buttons. To view the bars, click the View... button at the top of the Activity Manager window.
The Business Activity Manager includes three default bars:
- My Activities: This bar shows a buttons which includes Activities assigned to the current user and another button for Activities that are unassigned.
- Activity Types: This bar shows a collection of buttons which group Activities based on Activity Type.
- Activity Statuses: This bar shows a collection of buttons which group Activities based on Activity Status.
Custom bars can be created to meet your needs. See Configuring the Manager Windows.
Activity Manager Buttons
Once you've selected an Activity Manager bar you will see a collection of buttons. A button is a group of Activities that meet a specific criterion.
A button can display up to three different pieces of information:
- Button name: The button's name will display prominently and provide a description of the Activities included in the Button. For example, "All Types" includes all open Activities.
- Amounts: A dollar amount can be displayed in the bottom left corner of the button. The dollar amount displayed is a sum of an amount field for all the Activities included in this button. This amount could refer to one of the following amounts:
- Estimated Amount: The sum of the Est Amt field in the Enter Business Activity window for all Activities.
- Unbilled Time Materials: The total unbilled Time and Materials amount.
- Time Materials: The total Time and Materials amount.
- Activity Count: The number in the bottom right of the button indicates the number of Activities that are included in the button.
Activity Manager Columns
When viewing a Button columns of data will appear. The Activity Manager only shows header level Business Activity information and summary date, it does not show any detail/line level information such as Time and Material entries, notes, emails, etc.
Filtering
While each button is pre-configured to show Activities that meet certain criterion, you can use the Filter button to apply additional filtering to a button.
When you click the Filter button, a new window will appear. The bottom of the Filter window will include a description of the current button's configuration. In the Filter window, use the filter editor to add to the existing button filters.
These additional filters will remain in effect until you close the Business Activity Manager or click the "X" button next to the filter button (when the "X" button is a dark gray it means there are additional filters in place).
Actions
Besides presenting Business Activities for easy review, the Business Activity Manager allows you to perform various actions on selected Activities. Actions include assigning Activities, changing the Priority and Status, printing, emailing, and adding notes. To perform an action:
- Open the Business Activity Manager.
- Select the appropriate Bar and Button.
- Check off one or more Activity.
- Click Action... to view a list of Actions and select one.
Actions
- Assign Activities: Assigns the Activity to the selected user.
- Change Priority: Changes the Priority to the selected Priority.
- Change Status: Changes the Status to the selected Status.
- Print Activity: Prints the Business Activity form.
- Email Contacts: Creates an email to the email address associated with the Activity's Primary Related Item.
- Email Activities: Creates an email to the email address associated with the Activity's Primary Related Item and attaches the Business Activity form as an attachment.
- Create Note: Opens the Note window to allow adding a note. If multiple Activties are selected, the same note will be added to all the selected Activities.
The action will apply to the selected Activities if they are eligible. For example, if you select a range of Activities and go to Action...→ Change Status and select a status, the Activities that are eligible to change to that status, based on their Type, will be updated.
After the action is completed, the selected Activities remain selected. This allows you to perform additional actions on the selected Activities. However, if the action caused some or all the Activities to move to a new button, you must click on that button in order to perform a secondary action. Or to put it another way, actions only apply to the Activities selected in the button which is currently being viewed.
You can quickly select a range of Activities:
- Click on a row in a Business Activity Manager button.
- While holding Shift on your keyboard, click on another row above or below the previously selected row.
- All the rows between the two will now be highlighted. Either use Selection...→ Check selection or right-click and choose Check selection to check off the rows.
You can first sort the rows by clicking the column headers. To select all rows, click the checkbox column header or use the Selection...→ Select all.
Button Definitions
The following table contains the definitions of the default Business Activity Manager bars and buttons.
Bar | Button | Definition | Amount |
---|---|---|---|
Activity Statuses | Open Statuses | Includes all open Business Activities. | The total estimated amount. |
Activity Statuses | (Your other open Statuses) | A button will be created for all additional open Statuses that have been configured | The total estimated amount. |
Activity Types | All Types | Includes all open Business Activities. | The total estimated amount. |
Activity Types | (Your other open Types) | A button will be created for all additional open Types that have been configured | The total estimated amount. |
My Activities | Assigned To Me | Includes all open Business Activities assigned the logged in User. | The total estimated amount. |
My Activities | Unassigned | Includes all open Business Activities that are unassigned. | The total estimated amount. |