Logging interactions and activities with customers and prospects is one of the key concerns we see from financial institutions. They want to know each touchpoint on the customer’s journey and ensure that the appropriate follow-up steps are taken at every interaction, which requires a system that makes it easy to log calls and meetings as well as set up to-do lists and reminders for follow-up items like emails, paperwork, or updating account information. 

Salesforce meets these needs with a robust Activities feature for Task and Events. Wealth management firms leverage Salesforce Activities to enable their advisors to set reminders for scheduling and logging the completion of regular check-ins and annual review meetings, as well as request financial statements or other compliance-related documentation from their clients. During these events, notes about portfolio performance and financial goals need to be documented and associated to a specific meeting for later reference.

Organizations have distinct use cases for capturing and reporting on data points based on the users and the type of activity. On occasion, these can go beyond what is available by tweaking the standard Activities offering for things like enhanced user interface designs, data validation, and sophisticated security and compliance requirements. The feature is highly configurable, and customization is often necessary to deliver on a customer’s specific needs.  

Common challenges when customizing Salesforce Activity Components

We often see customers with convoluted record level sharing requirements. These restrictions are determined by business policies and must be in place when users create and assign Tasks or Events. Here is what we discovered in previous engagements when venturing down the customization path to accommodate such needs. Implementing custom Components, Triggers, and Pages that don’t leave any cracks wasn’t such a simple and quick development effort. Here is why: 

• When creating or editing a custom Task or Event Form, it needs to be implemented for use outside of just an Account or Contact’s Record Page, such as on Home Pages, Task or Event Tabs, and other Salesforce Objects.
  
  
• If the specific requirements driving the need for customization apply to both Tasks and Events, the components will need to be built to account for both. 
• If the preference is to complete any of the above customizations in phases, such as for Events and additional Objects, then: 
  • Validation Rules through Triggers can come in handy. Validation Rules verify that data entered by users in records meets the standards you specify before they can save it. 
  • It might become necessary to remove all standard “New” buttons from these areas. However, if there are users who will continue using standard Activity Forms, this could create a layer of additional complexity and challenges. For example, when you remove the standard “New” button from the Task or Event’s “List View Button Layout,” it will remove it for all users. 
• A way to create recurring Tasks or Events and assign Tasks to multiple people, which is already available for standard Activities, must be built into custom forms. 
• The custom button necessary to launch a custom page cannot be added to the Activities component, so it needs to be placed in the Record’s Highlights Panel, which could be confusing for end-users if you are not creating custom pages for Tasks and Events simultaneously. 
• Does the use of Activities expand to mobile use? This could raise additional considerations.

How to decide whether to customize or not

Though our recommendation and best practice is not to customize, we understand that for some it may be unavoidable. Prior to customization, it is important to explore all Activity-related standard feature options available in Salesforce and Financial Services Cloud, like Interaction Summaries. 

Interaction Summaries is a great option for Notes and Events, either in lieu of or in combination of using standard Events. Interaction Summaries offers a complete solution to capture and manage customer communications with a host of applications. It is a more robust alternative that allows for capturing structured meeting notes and tying them to specific meetings or engagements. It also has a unique sharing model to meet confidentiality requirements. 

You should also remember that Salesforce puts out valuable enhancements to existing functionality with new releases three times a year, which could ultimately meet your needs down the road. But understand that the complexity involved for features delivered in future releases could require maintenance to customizations to remain compatible and/or additional development work for incorporation. 

After careful consideration of the above and accepting the risks, the decision then comes down to assessing your desire for the requirement versus your budget, timeline, and resources. Working with a certified Salesforce partner like Mphasis Silverline can help you determine whether or not customization is necessary for your organization. If it is the best option, we can guide you through every step of customization to ensure that your Activity Components function seamlessly across your Salesforce org. 

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