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How to: set up a new workflow activity

In addition to the many built-in activities offered by ContactsLaw, you can also set up your own user-defined activities to create workflows in the system that model the way you do business. User-defined activities can range from a simple task that must be marked complete, a custom journal type, through to a complex, multi-step activity that combines built-in processes with external processes, such as opening a website.

This tutorial explains how to set up a simple "journal-only" activity, which can be used to separately record the time spent performing some external process; e.g. reading mail, getting up, etc.

  1. Navigate to The Practice, Management tab, Activities.

  2. Click 'New activity'. Note that you can pre-populate the group you want the new activity to appear in by selecting the group before you begin.

  3. Set the activity type. 'User defined activity' is the most appropriate for this scenario. It has no inherent behaviour of its own, thus is ideal for building a new activity from scratch.

  4. Choose a name for the activity and, optionally, select a group to place it in. You can manage activity groups from the previous screen.

  5. Choose who will initially have permission to start the activity. For a simple activity that records time, you can select 'Everyone'.

  6. Switch to the Workflow tab. ContactsLaw creates a single-step workflow by default, and will be appropriate for this activity. (You can quickly configure multi-step workflows for future activities by applying presets from the menu)

  7. Set the action for step 1 of the workflow to 'Fee/charge only'. This tells ContactsLaw not to display the task properties when the activity is commenced, provided there is a journal or fixed charge to display instead.

  8. Journal the step actively; this will cause the journal to appear to the user when the activity is started. Passive journals are hidden from the user and are not suitable for this activity.

  9. Click 'Save & close'. The activity will be immediately visible on the ribbon for you, but may not appear for other members until they restart the program. (If left open, ContactsLaw will periodically check for new activities, however this is an infrequent check)