Distribute Appointment via Campaign: Nothing happens

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Posted on by Wolverine

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We had an Event recently, and we want to update all the Attendees' Contact Records (Communications section) with an Appointment to show that they did actually attend (and weren't just invited).

We tried to Distribute a Campaign Activity, but all the Appointments are just sitting in the 'Appointments Created' section of the Campaign Activity with a status of 'Scheduled'. If I open one of these and choose either 'Mark Complete' or 'Close Appointment', nothing happens, ie, the Activity is not added to the Contact's Communications.

Is this a bug or problem with our installation? If not, what's the point of distributing an Activity if it doesn't update the Contacts' Records?

PS: We obviously don't want to Email these Appointments to the Attendees as this is an Event in the past. If this isn't the right way to update Contact Records, is there another way?

Many thanks for any help or advice.

Regards

Brian

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi Brian,

Is it possible the "Communications" area you are referring to on the Contact is a sub-grid? If so, a sub-grid can only show communications that are directly regarding the Contact. In your case, when you distribute a Campaign Activity, the regarding is set to the Campaign. However, the activity will still show in the Activities/Closed Activities on the Contact.

You probably already know that you can use workflow to close multiple appointments at once.

You might also consider using Campaign Responses to record attendance at an event. I have always stayed away from creating Appointments in bulk because of the synchronization with Outlook, but perhaps that is not an issue.

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Wolverine 569 on at

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Hi Gretchen. Thanks for your response. The Activity is not showing in the Activities/Close Activities section of the Contact. As you can see, some of them I closed, others I didn't (so they're set to 'Scheduled), but none show in the Contacts' Activities area as either Open or Closed?

Am I doing something wrong? How do I add a Bulk Communication to all Attendees of this Event?

Many thanks

Brian

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi Brian,

It looks like your appointment is in the future, which is probably why it is not showing in Open/Closed Activities. You have to change the filter to show all dates.

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Wolverine 569 on at

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Sorry, Grethen. We're in the UK, so the Dates are DAY/MONTH/YEAR. The Event was on 12 March 2013.

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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Doh! I thought I was really onto something. ;-)

So, if you open the top Appointment there, and click on the hyperlink for Jim's name in the Required Attendees field, which open his contact record, and you go to the left navigation under Closed Activities and you select filter at the top All, you do not see the Appointment?

Just confirming because this seems impossible being that it is a relational database that he would be listed as a required attendee but it wouldn't show on his record.

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Wolverine 569 on at

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Weird, huh? My only thought is that because it's in the past, it didn't distribute it. But if that's true, does that mean there's no way to bulk-update people's records to state that they attended the Event? :(

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi there!

Actually, the issue is what I first suggested above. Your activities are showing in a sub-grid on the Contact...NOT on the left navigation. Someone has removed the out-of-the-box Activities and Closed Activities from the left navigation, which means you are not seeing any activities that are not directly related to the Contact.

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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I should clarify what I mean by "directly related" meaning through the Regarding field. Your sub-grid is querying all activities where the Regarding equals the contact. In this case the Regarding is not the contact, it is the Campaign. The contact is called an "activity party" on the Appointment because they are one of many people who could be a required attendee. A sub-grid cannot show activities where the contact is an "activity party".

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Wolverine 569 on at

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Thanks Gretchen

I added the 'Activities' back to the Contact form, and it now shows. Only problem is that it defaults to Next 30 Days. I don't see 'Close Activities' to add back to the Navigation section of the Contact Form? Do you know if it's possible to change the Default View for that Left Navigation to 'All Activities'?

Thanks so much for your help. You've really saved us a lot of heartache! :)

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GL-23071537-0 Microsoft Employee on at

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HI there!

Glad to hear it's working, then! It's not possible to change the default view with system settings--only using custom code. Here is a blog that discusses it. I can't verify that it works, as I haven't tried it. We use PowerOneView to see view all of our activities.

Good luck!

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