Change is never easy – and the Tasks Tab proves it

In adding more functionality to the Task system within Open Leads, it was necessary to make some changes to the way that Users were assigned to tasks. This is most apparent when a Workflow is used to assign Tasks, but not a user. The result is that any tasks attached to leads that are created by that Workflow will be assigned to “No User” (since no user was selected by the Workflow). In these cases, when users are assigned after the Lead is in the Lead List, users must open their Lead Detail to see tasks. It is a good idea to have them go ahead and edit the Tasks for new Leads assigned in this manner, and assign the Tasks to themselves. Tasks will then appear on the users Task Tab.

You will also notice a new selection menu on Tasks that are set up to trigger another Workflow upon completion, or Tasks that trigger Workflow Branching. This selection menu gives you the option of choosing the user to be assigned to the next round of tasks – either a specific user or the “User Assigned by Workflow.” This is a much stronger model than the previous options, which made it possible to assign a single Task to multiple Users assigned to the same Lead. This lead to some confusion and a lot of times the task not getting completed properly.

An additional function of these changes – all tasks now have a single user. Only one person should be responsible for any one task, and this ensures enforcement of this rule. This greatly increases the practical application of user Task Lists in the Task Tab section. Now it functions much stronger as a To-Do list.

Another Tasks Update

In the Task editor where tasks are created and assigned by a Workflow, the user selection dropdown has changed a bit. “Default User” has been changed to “User assigned by Workflow” – we think this change will make it clearer to users what is happening with the user assignment.

Minor Tweak to Tasks Tab

We made a slight adjustment to the Tasks Tab yesterday. It now defaults to “active” Tasks in all instances. Users must check box to display completed Tasks on the list.

Tasks System Update

We’ve just launched the latest update to our Tasks System. With this update, we have fully moved the process of managing your tasks over to the Tasks tab. Perhaps the first thing experienced users may notice is that the Task list is now gone from the Dashboard Screen. The “Today’s Tasks” from the dashboard was limited in its functionality, with that process moved now to the Tasks Tab. Clicking on any day on our Dashboard Calendar on which there is a scheduled task will bring up the tasks over on the Tasks Tab.

A major update to Tasks is the ability to create a Task which is not attached to a Lead. This gives a user the ability to schedule a task inside Open Leads for non-lead related tasks – an example would be a Doctor’s Appointment. Scheduling these tasks adds them to your Task List and also includes them in your iCal and 30 Boxes feeds.
What’s New in the Tasks Tab:

Another change you will see is with the method of assigning a user. All new tasks created in Open Leads can now be assigned to a user, whereas previous versions had Tasks inheriting the user(s) assigned to the Lead. When adding a new task, simply choose the user you wish to assign to that task from the dropdown list. This defaults to the user logged in, but gives the added flexibilty to assign a specific task to any of your available users.

We have also made some changes to the functionality of the Task Tab.

What’s New in the Tasks Tab:
Add Task – You can now add a new task directly from the Task Tab. Click on the “Add Task” link in the blue header bar, and then enter the new task. If a Task is to be assigned to a specific lead, click on “Attach a Lead to this Task” and then search and select the appropriate lead. You can also elect to assign a user, or no users to this Task, and schedule it or leave the Task open-ended. Newly assigned tasks will show up on the assigned users Task Tab instantly.

Complete or Delete Task – Users can elect to complete or delete any Tasks directly from the Task List. Click the green checkbox icon to complete the task and enter a comment, or click the red icon to delete the Task.

Edit a Task – Click on the task name on the Task List to open the editor – and from there, change the name of the task, the user, or the scheduled date and/or time.

Access the Lead Detail – if your Task is to call or email a Lead, for example, simply click the Lead Name from your Task List to be taken directly to the Lead Detail. This is where you will find all of your up to date contact information for that lead. You can complete the Task from there.

Tasks Tab

The latest addition to Open Lead is the Tasks Tab. We wanted to create one central location where all of a users tasks are quickly and easily viewed.

The Task Tab consists of two elements, the Calendar and the Tasks List. As you open the Tasks Tab, your default view is all Tasks scheduled for today. On the calendar, today’s date is outlined in red for easy visual identification. Dates with tasks scheduled are displayed in bold.

You may move forward and backward in the calendar and click on any day to view the Tasks, both active and completed for that day. You may also select a date range within the calendar by clicking on the beginning date, and then Shift+Click on the end date. Your Task List is then updated for the selected date range.

Your Task List consists of columns showing the User Assignment, Task Name, Lead that the Task is associated with, and both the Scheduled Date and the Completed Date. You may use the search box to find specific tasks by name, lead name, etc. that are displayed in those columns.

To complete any of the Tasks, simply click on the Task Name or the Lead Name, to be taken to the Lead Detail screen, where you may complete the task, edit it or add additional tasks for that lead.

Toggle between your scheduled tasks and all of your tasks by clicking on the “All Tasks” link in the top. This is useful to see all of your tasks “at-a-glance.”

Two new features on the Task Tab are the “Suscribe to iCalendar Feed” and “View in 30 Boxes” options.

Your Open Leads Task list is now available as an iCal feed. Clicking on this link will open your default iCalendar-compatible application, such as Microsoft Outlook and Apple iCal, and you can then subscribe to your Open Leads Tasks, and display them on your default calendar. The iCalendar feed only shows Active (uncompleted) tasks and only goes back 30 days. You should use your Tasks Tab inside Open Leads if you need to explore a longer range.

For those who prefer a web-based solution, clicking on the “View in 30 Boxes” will cause your iCalendar feed to be displayed in a 30Boxes.com read-only calendar – offering a quick view in a full-calendar mode.

** NOTE: Both the iCal and 30 Boxes features are for individually assigned tasks. Account Administrators, by default, have “All Users” as their initial screen, so that they may see all of the leads for their entire account. Admins should switch to the view for their User Account (switch users in the dropdown to the right of the calandar) to subscribe to their iCal feed, or to view their Tasks in 30 Boxes. The links for these features appear in the blue header bar on the Tasks List.

Stay tuned, as will be adding additional features and functions to the Task Tab in the near future.

Open Leads Supports Popular Real Estate Leads

The Open Leads “Email-in” feature now supports XML emails from NewHomeGuide.com and NewHomeSource.com, in addition to leads from RetireNet.com and CommunitiesNet.com – giving builders, developers and realtors the ability to have their leads from these website written directly into their Open Leads accounts.

Using filters created especially for these sources, Open Leads automatically parses the data and enters it into the appropriate fields in your account. Plus, using our Workflow feature, you can automatically assign users, send an autoresponder email, and schedule followup for these new leads as soon as they hit your account.

Open Leads Supports Popular Automotive Lead Sources

The latest update to Open Leads includes direct support for many popular automotive leads, including AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, Dealix, Autobytel, and Ford Direct.

Account Message – Now with HTML Support

The Account Message on the Dashboard now supports basic HTML code. This will allow administrators to format their messages to users with bold and italic characters, or embed information or post external links within the message body.

Email Bounce Handling

Open Leads is committed to maintaining high deliverability rates for email that is sent out from our application.

One of the most important elements of this is maintaining good relationships with the major ISPs, and the way we handle their email bounced from their systems is a key variable in that process.

Open Leads Email system manages bounces and classifies them as either “hard” or “soft” depending on what message is received back from the various ISPs that mail is sent to.

So what is the difference between a “hard” bounce and “soft” bounce, anyway?

Hard Bounces
We consider an email to be “hard bouncing” if the error message we get back from your leads email provider indicates a permanent condition, such as:

* email account doesn’t exist
* there is a spelling error in the email address (htomail.com versus hotmail.com, etc.)

In this instance, these leads will be blocked from your Open Leads Mail System – and will not be included in any mass emails. This will save you from using up credits on a bad address, and will serve to maintain good relations with the major ISPs by not bombarding them with repeated requests for mail delivery to non-existent email addresses.

Soft Bounce
If the error message we get back from your member’s email provider does not meet the criteria for a hard bounce, then the error is considered a soft bounce. Soft bounces can be due to the lead’s email inbox being over the allotted space limit, or other temporary problem.

If the email address generates an occasional soft bounce error, it will be logged but no other action will be taken. However, if the email address continues to return soft bounce errors for several days, then that then we will consider that a hard bounce.

New Feature: Lead Details in Task Reminders

We just added a new feature sure to be popular amongst the road warriors using Open Leads. Now, when you receive an email reminder of a Task from Open Leads, the email message contains the contact information for that lead, including phone and email address.

BlackBerry and iPhone Users can click on the email address or phone number directly in the message body to open their email screens or on the phone number to dial.