Timeline - Pros and Cons - (Thoughts and Feedback appreciated)

Great conversation starter, Tom! You are correct that you can't load entries to Timeline via rules (or any other other automated method) at this time.

Thanks for the post, Tom.  
Loading entries via rules is in the short-term roadmap (as you mentioned), I will keep you updated about the ETA. We will also explore improving timeline experience in the widgets.

Thanks,
Nitisha

Our CSMs who are the most enthusiastic adopters are those who were just eager to have a simple place to take notes that auto-save and that are organized by customer, without having a whole slew of Evernotes, for example. Other CSMs have had a harder time integrating it into their workflow.

Management is thrilled with the [i]idea of being able to go back and review the information for any customer, but I don't think they've ever actually [i]done that yet.

I'm focused on just getting those simple use cases built out. No need to get fancy with the full potential for the technology if we haven't let it have its primary impact across the whole team yet.

I love the idea of Timeline and for the most part it works great and I can see our CSMs adopting this into their workflow at a higher rate in the future. However, there are just some simple issues with it that greatly reduce that chance of adoption.

1) I think the way a Timeline Activity(with sub-tasks) that generates a new CTA in Cockpit is counter-intuitive. It requires coaching on a naming system that would make this work or be convenient for CSMs to use. Currently, the CTA will be named whatever the Timeline Activity was named. This doesn't make sense in most situations as the logged Activity is usually something that has already been completed by the CSM. This confuses our CSMs when they see that CTA and think that activity still needs to be completed. 

2) The second big issue we are experiencing is that the "Activity Type" does not actually sync with the "Type" field for that Task in SFDC. This causes problems when working with other teams that do not use/have access to Gainsight. For example: We have CSAs that prospect and book demos for our CSMs. To get their credit, they would need to have a logged call from the CSM with "Type = Demo". So, as is, the CSM would have to log that in SFDC rather than Timeline. Same thing goes with transparency with the sales teams. 

3) Also, another big problem we are experiencing is that the "Notes" from the TL Activity do not push over/sync when that task is logged in SFDC. I am not sure if this is a bug that we are only experiencing since I keep hearing that the Notes sync is a feature supported by Gainsight.

On the other hand;

Timeline is a great place to put down notes/reminders, log calls/emails (activities that were completed), generate CTAs as follow up to an Activity, search for specific activities, and is organized well with an easy-to-use interface. CSMs have provided feedback that it is much easier/quicker for them to log a Timeline Activity when compared to all the fields needed in CTA creation. 

Hi Manmeet,

1) Agree, we are changing the CTA name to "Action Items - <activity name>". This might help reduce the confusion of the CSMs.

2) & 3) Syncing the right activity type and notes to SFDC is possible now. 

• I created a custom activity type "Demo"

• In Activity Sync mapping > I mapped Gainsight 'Activity Type' Field with Salesforce Task > 'VPickList' field (a custom field)

You can map activity type with any Text or Picklist field in Salesforce Task. If you are not able to see the SF field in this mapping dropdown, then please check the permissions of the field. The field will only appear in the mapping dropdown if it is not restricted and it is editable.

Notes are automatically mapped to Task > Description/ Comment field

• The activity created using "Demo" activity type is available in SFDC with correct type and notes

Please let us know or raise a support ticket if you are still facing issues.

Thanks,
Nitisha

Thanks much for the feedback - so for #2 or #3, could you expose the Timeline in the account or opportunity GS widget and have people view the TL activity in the GS widget versus syncing and replicating the data in a SFDC task.   We try to have all the non-CSM teams use the widget for information versus creating separate / duplicate SFDC tasks.   Not sure that would work for your business or team.

Hi Nitisha,

Thank you for the reply! Is there an ETA on when the CTA naming change would be pushed through?

I have Notes mapped to Description by default and I have never seen any of our Timeline Activity notes ever pushed to Salesforce. How did you get it to appear in the "Comments" field? Is that a workflow set up in SFDC? Since the mapping states Notes --> Description (which is not the same field as Comments).

Also, I have mapped "Activity Type" --> "Type" in SFDC. This is a picklist and editable field in SFDC. This should be updating the Type correct? However, for us, everything logs as "Email" in SFDC. Is this not the correct field to sync Activity Type to?

Do you think these are bugs specific to our environment and will require a support ticket? 

Thanks!

Hi Tom,

Yeah for the most part the widget in SFDC would suffice for the transparency that our company would like. We just haven't given the sales team permissions to view the widget yet. However, that is under consideration.

Regardless, we still need the "Type" to push through to SFDC correctly and the widget wouldn't meet those needs. The "Notes" are not as big of a deal since they can be viewed using the widget.  

Hi Manmeet,

1. We will push the CTA name change in winter release

2. In SF task object, comments & description is the same field. Comments is the display name and Description is the system name.

I am not sure why your notes are not syncing, it should happen by default if the sync is enabled. I will recommend creating a support ticket for it.

3. I will ask the team to debug "Activity Type" --> "Type" mapping and will get back to you with updates.

Thanks,
Nitisha

Hi Nitisha,

Thank you very much for the info! I have submitted a support ticket to resolve the issue with the syncing.