1Overview #
A follow-up is one thing done or planned on a lead or a deal: a call, a visit, a demo, an e-mail, a task. This screen is the flat list of them, so you can start the day with the question that matters - *what did I promise, and to whom?*
The logging itself happens on the lead or the deal (Follow-up (F7)), because what was said belongs with the record it was said about. Here you see them all together, mark one done, and jump to the record behind it.
A manager can switch the list to everybody's, which is the fastest honest answer to "is the team actually following up?".
2Who it is for #
- Work through today's calls and visits, oldest promise first.
- See what is overdue - the list a sales meeting should start from.
- Mark a follow-up Done when it needed nothing more than doing.
- Open the lead or the deal behind any row, with Enter or the drill button.
- Check a colleague's list, if you lead a team or manage the CRM.
3What it is not for #
- Recording what was said. That is Follow-up (F7) on the lead or the deal, where the outcome and the next action are written together.
- Appointments by time. The calendar shows the same work laid out by day, week or month.
- Entries that hang on nothing. A follow-up always belongs to a lead or a deal; the calendar is where an entry of your own lives.
4Step by step #
- Open CRM > Follow-ups. It starts on Open, yours. - The meta cards say how many are listed and how many are overdue.
- Set Show to Overdue, Due today, Done or All as you need. - Overdue first thing in the morning; Due today when you plan the round.
- A manager can set Whose to Everyone's, and then pick one Owner.
- Press Enter on a row, or the ⧉ button, to open the lead or the deal. - That is where you log what happened.
- Press Done on a row that simply needed doing. - For anything with an outcome worth keeping, open the record and log it properly instead.
5The fields #
- Filters
- Show - Open, Overdue, Due today, Done or All. Five choices; Open to start with
- Whose - Mine or Everyone's - shown to a team lead, a sales manager or an administrator. Two choices
- Owner - One person's list. Appears when Whose is Everyone's. Anyone within your reach
- Search - In the grid's toolbar - matches any column shown. Free text
- What a row shows - One row is one follow-up.
- Due - When it is planned for, to the minute. Overdue rows are tinted.
- State - Overdue, Planned, or the status word (Done, Cancelled).
- Type - Call, visit, meeting, demo, mail or task. From CRM > Masters > Activity types.
- Lead / deal - The record it belongs to. Enter or ⧉ opens it.
- About / What happened - The subject, and the outcome once it is logged.
- Owner - Whose work list it is on.
- Done - Marks it complete, there and then. Needs the Alter right on CRM Activities. Open rows only
6Rules and integrity #
- The list is capped - At most a thousand rows are fetched; a note says so and tells you the true total. Narrow it with Show rather than scrolling.
- Overdue is simply "due before now and still open" - Nothing moves a follow-up by itself - that is the point. An untouched promise stays visible.
- Done here is the short version - It closes the row without an outcome. Anything worth remembering should be logged on the record.
- What you see is what you may see - Your own follow-ups, your team's if you lead one, everybody's for a sales manager - inside your report option.
7Shortcut keys #
- F5 - Refresh.
- Enter - Open the lead or the deal of the selected row.
- Esc - Close the tab.
8If something does not work #
"Say which lead or opportunity the follow-up is for."
- Why
- A follow-up always hangs off a lead or a deal.
- What to do
- Open the lead or deal and add the follow-up there.
"CRM is not licensed for this company ... Contact your software vendor."
- Why
- The company's licence has no CRM module.
- What to do
- Ask your vendor to add CRM, then sign out and in.
"Requested action denied due to security restrictions. Follow-ups needs the View right on 'CRM Activities' in User Manager (CRM module)."
- Why
- Your login has no View right on CRM Activities.
- What to do
- An administrator grants it in User Manager.
"You do not have the Create right on CRM Activities."
- Why
- Logging a follow-up is a write, and that right is missing.
- What to do
- An administrator grants Create on CRM Activities.
"Showing the first ... of ... - narrow the list with Show, or clear what is overdue."
- Why
- The list is capped so a long backlog cannot freeze the browser. It is a notice, not an error.
- What to do
- Narrow it with Show, or work off the overdue ones - the cap counts from the top of the sort.
A follow-up I planned is not in the list
- Why
- The list shows the follow-ups on your work list, within the period and the filters chosen.
- What to do
- Widen the period, or switch Show to everybody's if you are a team lead or a sales manager.
A follow-up sits on somebody who has left
- Why
- The owner's user is disabled but their planned actions remain.
- What to do
- Open each and use Follow-up to re-plan it on somebody live, or ask a sales manager to reassign the record.
"Say what was done, or plan the next action." / "What was done: write a line about the follow-up."
- Why
- The follow-up dialog was saved with a half empty.
- What to do
- Tick a half and fill it - a follow-up with neither says nothing.
"Next action: give it a date." / "Next action: its date cannot be in the past." / "Next action: say whose work list it lands on."
- Why
- A planned action needs a date of today or later, and an owner.
- What to do
- Fill all three.
"This record is not yours to follow up."
- Why
- The lead or the deal behind the follow-up is outside your edit reach.
- What to do
- Ask its owner for an Edit share.
"That activity is no longer there." / "This activity belongs to someone else."
- Why
- It was deleted, or it is another person's and you are not their manager.
- What to do
- Press F5; for somebody else's work, ask them or their team lead.
"Disqualify the lead from its own page - it needs a reason."
- Why
- A follow-up would have moved the lead to Disqualified, which always needs a reason.
- What to do
- Open the lead and use Change status.
Enter on a row does nothing
- Why
- Enter opens the lead or the deal the row belongs to - the same as the drill button.
- What to do
- Click the row first so it is selected, then press Enter.
9Settings it uses #
- CRM: a lead is unattended after N days and escalation days decide when a neglected follow-up is chased up the team.
This is the help InvoiceNET® ERP shows beside the Follow-ups screen. Whether you have the screen depends on the modules of your licence and the rights your administrator has given you.
See this screen for yourself
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