a)  Create a task record in Salesforce

Task records are used to track and report on the full range of fundraising activities. These include proposals, LOIs, letters, reports, grant agreements, and unscheduled phone calls. Scheduled meetings, conference calls and e-mail are also recorded as tasks, but should be synced directly to Salesforce via Salesforce Lighting for Outlook.

The recommended process for creating a new task is as follows:

1. Open the relevant opportunity record that the activity you wish to record is related to
2. If the Chatter feed for the opportunity is hidden, press Show Feed. 

3.   Select the "New Task" quick action:

4.  Set values for the following key fields:

• Assigned To : the Tides Canada staff member who will be responsible for completing the activity.
  • Note: If you assign a task to person other than yourself, and the status is not set to complete, that person will receive an e-mail notification
• Subject: a brief description of the activity, e.g. "Book a meeting with Jane Doe", "Send final proposal", "Send stewardship letter", etc.
• Due Date: to the date the task should be completed or was completed (if entering a task that has already been completed)
• Name: the external contact who will receive the deliverable or be directly involved in the activity (optional)
  • Note: Using the quick action interface, you may initially associate the activity with only one contact. Once the activity is created, you can associate it with up to 49 additional contacts. See step 8 below.
• Type: the kind of activity or deliverable, e.g, proposal, LOI, report, call, etc.
• Status: whether the task is complete, in progress or not started. If you choose "Complete", the task will appear under the Activity History related list and not generate any reminders
• Priority: set per the below guidelines
  • High:  the task has a hard deadline (e.g. a fixed report or proposal deadline specified by the donor/prospect
  • Normal: the task does not have a hard deadline, but has direct revenue implications
  • Low: no hard deadline and no direct revenue implications

5.   Press Create. The new task will immediately be visible in the Chatter feed. If you refresh the page, it will be visible in the Open Task or Activity History related lists.

6.   Optional: To record additional details or instructions, to associate the activity with additional contacts, or to disable reminders, open your new task by clicking on the link the Chatter Feed, and make the following updates:

• Enter any additional details or instructions in the Comments field.
• If you wish to associate the task with additional external contacts, use the magnifying glass next to the Name field to open the Select Contacts window.  In the Search box enter the name of any additional contacts involved in the activity. Select the correct contact in the lefthand pane, and press the add arrow (>) to add that contact. Repeat this process to relate the task to up to 50 contacts.
• If you wish for the person assigned to the task to receive a reminder, tick off the Reminder checkbox and set a reminder time. The user will be reminded when they log into Salesforce on that day.
• Press Save