Timeline Activities creating CTAs

Related products: None

Currently, if a CSM is on an account page and say, wants to log a call. Goes to the Timeline to log that call but also wants to create a follow up, so adds a Task while creating the Activity. 





This then generates a new CTA in Cockpit with the follow up Task. The CTA name pulls in from the Timeline Activity subject line. However, this doesn't seem to be very relevant. The way the CTA logs makes it seem like that the CSM still needs to do this Task which they just logged as completed. 





I think this would be much more relevant for CSMs if the CTA generated was named after the first Task instead of the Timeline Activity.





Not sure if this useful for other users or not but would greatly help our CSMs workflow. 
Too add on to this post: If the Timeline Activity has multiple Tasks underneath it, the CSMs would prefer that each Task generates it's own CTA.





It doesn't make sense as it is right now, say if the CSM logs a call as "Call with Mike" and has a Task to "Send Mike renewal info". The CTA is going to be called "Call with Mike" even though that already has been completed. Wouldn't it make more sense and be more useful for CSMs to have the CTA be the actual Task that needs to be completed and not what has already been completed?
Thank you for posting, Manmeet. I'd also like to see more flexibility in this area.  





For me, when I have multiple tasks I'm not sure I want the first task as the name of the follow up CTA (I don't want to accidentally do the first one & miss the other tasks).  Using your example, I was hoping that either the default could be "Follow ups Call with Mike" or "Action Items Call with Mike" (so precede the meeting name with something simple & descriptive). 





Another colleague suggested we add a place in Timeline so you could just give the follow up CTA a name instead of using the default Timeline subject entry (which I think many of us agree can be confusing).  





Are any of these ideas appealing? 
Hi Elaine,





Yeah on second thought, I agree that it would be best if each Task under the Activity generated its own CTA since each Task is a future action item for the CSM and would be clear to them when they check in Cockpit. 





More flexibility here would be very helpful, I don't think the restrictions are that great and reduce chances of adoption by CSMs as Salesforce is honestly much better fleshed out in this regard. 





Having a place in Timeline to customize the CTA that will be generated is also a great idea! That would work well and minimize any extra clicks by users. 
Hi Elaine,





I just wanted to follow up and see if there was any future plan on implementing these changes? 





Our CSMs still get confused that the logged call/email becomes the name of the CTA that is generated from Timeline. Even after coaching, it just isn't very intuitive for them.





Thanks!
Great Idea Manmeet, I'd love to see an ETA for this
An update on this suggestion. With our February release we are changing the way tasks created off of a timeline entry are named. See details below:





Timeline task naming convention is changed: Tasks created in the Activity Editor will be created in Cockpit as a CTA Task with the naming convention “To-Do: <<subject of the activity>>”.
Hi Dan,





You mentioned above that the task name has been changed to the name of the activity, however, one of my reps reported that they are still seeing the name of the timeline activity, not he name of the task when they view their cockpit. See this.gif for what I'm referring to: https://cl.ly/df990e9c4af1





Is this the intended behavior? Ideally the CTA would have the name of the CTA/Task rather than the name of the Timeline activity.

Hi Theresa,





Yes, that is the expected behavior. Not ideal and not exactly what I wanted but definite improvement from the previous functionality!





So, what happens is that the Timeline Activity subject is generated as the new CTA name with a "To-Do:" in front of the original subject name. The sub-task associated with the CTA is the actual Task created from the Timeline Activity. 





If you click on the drop down chevron icon on the CTA, you will see the newly created task.
Thanks Manmeet! I see now when I expand the CTA that the task has the correct name. I will communicate this back to the CSM who gave me this feedback. Appreciate your quick response!
No problem! Happy to help. For our CSMs, this just required a quick walk through on how the follow up task would be generated from TL --> CTA.