How the Activity Timeline Works

Every order has an Activity Timeline, a running record of everything that has happened on it and who did it. You will find it as its own tab on the order, between Order Details and Notes & Files.

What it records

The timeline logs the important events on an order, each one time-stamped and attributed to the person who did it, or to the customer where it applies. That includes payments received, recorded, edited, or deleted, a family's bank payment from the portal while it clears or when the bank returns it, line item changes, documents generated or deleted, stage moves, the moment the customer opened their portal, the moment the customer approved a drawing or asked for changes to it, a portal link text message that could not be delivered, the moment the customer accepted the order or chose a quote option in the portal, and an overdue alert being dismissed or restored.

To-do activity is in there too. Each time a to-do is added to the order, moved to a new step, assigned to somebody, or removed, it is written to the timeline under that to-do's own name, for example Foundation: Ordered, Foundation assigned to Jane Doe, Foundation task added, Foundation task removed. So you can see who moved the stone to Ordered without having to ask.

Stage moves name both stages

When an order moves from one stage to another, the timeline entry names where it went and where it came from, so a card that travelled overnight explains itself. An order confirmed out of Quote reads Status changed to Confirmed Order from Quote, with the person who moved it and the time beside it.

Dragging a card up or down inside the same stage is not a stage move, so it is not recorded.

Portal links, drawing changes, alerts and restores

These entries are worth knowing by name, because they are the ones a customer or a teammate is most likely to ask about.

• Customer portal email sent, described as "Customer portal link sent to [first name] via email", "via SMS" when the link went by text only, or "via email and SMS" when it went both ways. This is the automatic send, switched on with Send portal link automatically after order creation on the Review & Create step. It is written when an order is saved with Save as Quote and again when it is saved with Save as Confirmed Order.

• Payment link sent, described as "Payment link sent to [first name] via email", "via text" or "via email and text". This is logged each time someone uses Send Payment Link on the order.

• Portal link sent to customer, described as "[first name] via email", "[first name] via SMS" or "[first name] via email and SMS", depending on how the link went out. This is the same link sent by hand: hover Customer Portal at the top of the order and choose Send Portal Link. Either way you get one entry per contact.

• Portal link text message not delivered, written when a text with the portal link could not be delivered to a contact's phone. The entry shows the carrier's reason, so you know to check the mobile number or send the link by email instead.

• Portal email entries for files. When you answer Notify customer on a file you uploaded under Notes & Files, the timeline records it as Portal email (a new file ("Design_v2.pdf")) sent to that contact's address.

• Restored, reading "Order 1042 restored from the archive". This is written when somebody puts a cancelled or archived order back on the board with Restore to board in the Archives window.

• Changes requested by the family ([name]), written when the family sends a drawing back from the customer portal with Request changes. The entry shows which drawing and the family's note.

• Contract Accepted, reading "Customer [name] accepted the contract on order [number]", written when the family presses Accept & Sign under Accept Your Order in the customer portal.

• Customer confirmed Quote B (with whichever letter they chose), showing the family member's name, written when the family picks one of your quote options in the customer portal. The chosen option becomes the order.

• [name] dismissed the overdue alert, written when someone clicks the X on an order card's red Overdue strip. While the alert is dismissed, people who can edit orders see a Recover button on this entry. Click it to bring the alert back, and the timeline adds [name] restored the overdue alert.

The two portal-link entries, and Portal link text message not delivered, sit under the Communication chip. The file notification is not filed there, so use the All view when you want to see every send on one list. The family's change request and the quote option the family chose also sit under Communication, the contract acceptance shows in the All view, and the overdue alert entries sit under Status.

Filtering the timeline

The chips at the top let you narrow the list to Payments, Communication, Documents, Tasks or Status, or leave it on All. Tasks shows only the to-do history on this order. The total received shows at the top right.

Payment entries

• Payment received: one row for each payment on the order, with the amount, the payment method and who logged it. This is the row you edit or delete (see below). Payment method names show in the language of your MonuDesk screens.

• Payment recorded: written with the amount and the method each time a payment is recorded, whether with Record Payment, charged with Card (MonuPay) or paid by the family in the customer portal. While the payment is on the order, its Payment received row stands for it. Once the payment is gone, for example after it was deleted, the Payment recorded entry stays as the record that it came in. It sits under Documents.

• Bank payment clearing: the family paid from the customer portal by bank account. The entry shows the amount, the payer and the masked account number, and says it usually clears in 2 to 5 business days. Once it has cleared, the payment is booked on the order as a Payment received row, with its receipt.

• Bank payment returned (R01), with the bank's return code in brackets: the bank sent the payment back, so the balance is open again. A Bank payment returned notification goes out too. If the payment had reached QuickBooks, correct it there by hand.

Bank payment entries sit under Payments. Paying Online Through the Customer Portal

Editing or deleting a payment

Filter to Payments to see every payment on the order. From here you can edit a payment to fix the date, amount or method, or delete one you logged on the wrong order. The order balance recalculates instantly either way. Use the pencil and trash icons beside the payment: with a mouse they appear when you hover the row, and on a phone, a tablet or a touch screen they are always visible. The same two icons sit beside an event someone added with Add event.

Learn more: How to Log a Payment

Why it helps

If something looks off on an order, the timeline tells you exactly what changed and when. If a customer ever disputes a change or a payment, you have a clear record to point to.

Related articles:

• What the Order Overview Shows

• How to Log a Payment

• How the Customer Portal Works