CRM activities: types, lifecycle and effort tracking

KEBS CRM Activity Management is built around the Activities tab on each Opportunity record. All activity types are tracked in one place, giving sales and presales teams a complete, time-stamped log of every action taken to move a deal forward. Activities can be assigned to team members, given start and end dates, and tagged with a type and source to make reporting and filtering accurate.

The following activity types are available in KEBS CRM. Each serves a distinct purpose in the deal lifecycle:

Every activity created in KEBS CRM follows a four-state lifecycle. Understanding how these states work helps your team maintain an accurate record of what has been done, what is in progress, and what still needs to happen on each deal.

How to move an activity through its lifecycle

• Open: All newly created activities land in the Open state. The activity appears in the task list with its start date, end date, assignee, and type visible.
• Start: When work begins on the activity, click the Start action on the activity row. This records the actual start timestamp and moves the activity to an In Progress state. Planned effort (defined at creation) is compared against actual effort as the activity progresses.
• Complete: Once the work is done, click Complete on the activity. This closes the activity, locks the actual effort value, and marks the record as finished. Completed activities remain visible in the activity history for audit and reporting purposes.
• Delete: If an activity was created in error or is no longer relevant, click Delete to remove it from the Opportunity. Deletion is permanent. Completed activities cannot be deleted, preserving the integrity of the activity history.

Tasks are the most commonly used activity type in KEBS CRM. They allow sales and presales teams to assign specific action items to named individuals, set deadlines, and classify the work by type and originating source. The Task Type and Task Source fields are key to making activity reporting accurate and filterable across the pipeline.

Available Task Types

Task Type classifies the nature of the work being done. Selecting the correct type ensures that activity reports and governance dashboards group tasks accurately by sales stage activity. The following Task Types are available:

Available Task Sources

Task Source identifies where the action item originated. This field is important for tracking which engagement channels are generating the most follow-up work across the pipeline. The following Task Sources are available:

How to create a task

• 1
  Open the Opportunity record from Opportunities V2 in the left sidebar.
• 2
  Click the Activities tab in the Opportunity navigation bar. The Tasks panel loads showing the current task count and a list of any existing tasks.
• 3
  Click the Tasks (0) button or the add button in the Activities panel header to open the Create Tasks panel on the right side of the screen.
• 4
  Enter the Start Date and End Date for the task. Both fields are mandatory.
• 5
  Enter a clear, descriptive Task Title. This is what will appear in the task list and in activity reports. The Task Title field is mandatory.
• 6
  Select the Task Type from the dropdown (for example, Contract Review or Demo Scheduling). Use the search bar inside the dropdown to find a type quickly if the list is long.
• 7
  Select the Task Source from the dropdown (for example, Client Meeting or Email). This records where the task originated.
• 8
  Set the Assignee by typing the team member’s name in the Assignee field. The task will appear in the assigned person’s activity list.
• 9
  Enter a Task Description with enough context for the assignee to action the task without needing to ask for clarification. The Task Description field is mandatory.
• 10
  Click Create to save the task. It will appear in the activity list on the Opportunity with an Open status.

Create Tasks field reference

KEBS captures both planned effort (defined at the point an activity is created) and actual effort (updated as the activity progresses and is completed). This distinction between planned and actual is surfaced in governance reporting, giving sales and finance leadership a clear view of where the pipeline stands against commitment at any point in time.

Reading the Governance Report Pivot

The pivot is a multi-dimensional report that allows sales and finance teams to slice pipeline and revenue data across any combination of available dimensions. Understanding the layout helps you extract the right insight quickly:

Governance report toolbar icons

• Edit (pencil icon): Opens the pivot configuration panel to modify which dimensions are used as row and column groupings.
• Save (disk icon): Saves the current pivot configuration as the default view for future sessions.
• Export (download icon): Exports the current pivot data to a spreadsheet for offline analysis or sharing.
• Clear filters (X icon): Removes all active filters and resets the pivot to its default state.
• Refresh (circular arrow icon): Reloads the pivot data to reflect the latest KEBS records without closing and reopening the report.
• Collapse/Expand (box icon): Collapses or expands all row groups in the pivot simultaneously for a high-level or detailed view.

How to access the Governance Report Pivot

• 1
  Navigate to the Reports module in the left sidebar of KEBS.
• 2
  Locate and open the Governance Report. The report opens in a full-screen overlay panel.
• 3
  Use the date range selector at the top left to set the period you want to analyse (for example, a single month or a full quarter).
• 4
  Use the row dimension pills to sort or filter by vertical, customer, sales owner, or any other available dimension. Click the arrow on any pill to change the sort order. Click the funnel icon to apply a filter.
• 5
  Expand the Invoice and Planned sub-type columns by clicking the arrow next to each label to see month-by-month breakdowns within the selected period.
• 6
  Click the arrow next to any Vertical or Customer Name row to drill down into the underlying opportunities and portfolio items.
• 7
  Use the Export icon in the toolbar to download the current view to a spreadsheet if you need to share or present the data outside KEBS.

KEBS provides activity search and filtering at two levels: within a single Opportunity record, and across the full CRM pipeline through the Reports module. Understanding both levels helps you manage individual deal workloads and get a portfolio-wide view of activity health.

Searching within an Opportunity

• Search bar: The Search activities bar at the top of the Activities tab searches by task title, description, or assignee name within the current Opportunity. Type any keyword to filter the activity list in real time.
• Activity type tabs: The activity type tabs at the top of the Activities panel (such as Tasks, Meetings, Call Logs) filter the list to show only that activity type. Click a tab to isolate activities of a specific type, and click again or select All to return to the full view.
• Status filtering: Use the status filter available on the activity list to show only Open, In Progress, or Completed activities for a focused view of what still needs attention versus what has been done.

Searching across CRM entities

• Reports module: Navigate to Reports in the left sidebar and use CRM-specific report views to query activity data across all Opportunities. Filter by date range, assignee, activity type, task source, vertical, or customer to build cross-portfolio views.
• KAIS Prompt Library: The KAIS AI chatbot includes pre-built prompt templates in the Reports category that surface CRM activity summaries, overdue task lists, and pipeline effort breakdowns without needing to build a custom report from scratch.
• Governance Report Pivot: For financial and effort tracking across the sales pipeline, use the Governance Report Pivot to slice planned versus actual data by vertical, customer, sales owner, or milestone type as described in the previous section.