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dan_ahrens
Expert ⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 7, 2016
Released

Templates for specific Timeline activities

  • December 7, 2016
  • 86 replies
  • 2024 views
Timeline is so juicy....I love it!

One idea that could really help to drive organizational consistency is the ability to define a template that would auto fill parts of the draft activity text. For example, instead of giving the user free rein to enter whatever, if there were some key data elements or formatting style that was important for consistency, have the template drop that text in automatically.

For example, a possible template for a customer meeting could be:

[i]Summary: 
[i]Current health & trend:
[i]Action items:
  • [i]Item 1
  • [i]Item 2
[i]Notes:
  • [i]Notes, etc
[i]Next meeting scheduled:

    86 replies

    manu_mittal
    Gainsight Employee ⭐️
    Gainsight Employee ⭐️
    December 7, 2016
    I love this idea, Dan! Do you see this as a separate thing or connected with the Activity layout (fields) -- Note template vs. Activity template?
    dan_ahrens
    Expert ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    December 7, 2016
    So ideally, the more that could be used as specific fields (like we do with Internal and External attendees), the better. But some other data that is more free form text, would benefit from templates.

    In a perfect world, I would like to see where each activity could have one or more template types. For example, a conference call meeting could be of type:
    • Standard monthly call (external)
    • Executive alignment (external)
    • Escalation meeting (internal or external)
    • New customer sales to service handoff (internal)
    • Project kickoff (external)
    Each of these meetings could have slightly different theme elements that would need to be captured and standardized with a specific template type.
    VP of Customer Success at Forcepoint
    manu_mittal
    Gainsight Employee ⭐️
    Gainsight Employee ⭐️
    December 7, 2016
    Thanks, Dan. Looks like there are two directions we could take here:
    1. Have a new Activity type for each of these -- gives them their own template, i.e., fields + free-text format suggestion
    2. Have one generic Activity type (meeting?) and have multiple sub-types/templates -- each variation serves a separate purpose like you mentioned
    The benefit of #2 is that we won't have an explosion of core types.
    dan_ahrens
    Expert ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    December 7, 2016
    Personally I'm a fan of #2 for the reasons you listed.
    VP of Customer Success at Forcepoint
    tzundelgainsightcom
    Helper ⭐️⭐️
    December 7, 2016
    Yes! I just met with a customer who is looking for a way to create a template for an executive meeting briefing. The idea being that the CSM can create and share it with the exec in advance to help prep them for that engagement.

    They want a template that can be filled in by the CSM but also pull in other key information automatically to save them time. Ideally, something they can export as a PDF to send this high level customer overview to the exec prior to their engagement.

    We were trying to figure out the best way to come up with that in Gainsight and incorporate the Objectives from a Success Plan, as well as pull in certain other customer info, attributes.
    Timeline came up as a great place for this doc to live, so it could be saved and as an activity and folks could reference it easily. We also talked to Nitisha about how this might possibly be built into Success Plans.  
    jam
    Contributor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    July 7, 2017
    I wanted to just post a quick note to this thread that we would also very much like to have the ability to create templates for different activity types such as Kick Off Call, QBRs and Account Transfers.

    Any possibility that this product functionality has made its way to a future roadmap?
    tzundelgainsightcom
    Helper ⭐️⭐️
    July 7, 2017
    I just spoke with a customer yesterday who brought this up and is very interested in having the option to create a template (or multiple template options) by Activity type. So, say they have an Activity Type called "Renewal Engagement," the CSM would have fields to fill in which are specific to a renewal (status, likelihood, whatever), plus an area for additional notes (as currently exists).
    justin_majors
    Contributor ⭐️⭐️⭐️
    July 7, 2017
    Second this request.
    nitisha_rathi
    Expert ⭐️⭐️
    July 18, 2017
    Hi, 

    This is on the roadmap but will be available post fall release. In the meantime, new fields can be created for an activity type to capture details like status, likelihood, etc.

    Thanks,
    Nitisha
    victoria_bull
    Contributor ⭐️⭐️
    September 27, 2017
    I was just speaking with our Gainsight Solution Architect about this so am excited to hear you're considering it for the roadmap and potential fall release! We are always looking for new ways to gain efficiency and although the benefits of standardization are great, it would also save us a ton of time. Right now we are saving some templates in word for example and then copying and pasting and filling in, so if we could have preset sections or prompts that would be great.