Activity And Task Patterns

Activity and Task Patterns

Activate when designing interactions with Salesforce Activities — Task and Event records that attach to other objects via polymorphic WhatId and WhoId. The Activity object model is unusual: Activity is a read-only abstract parent, Task and Event are concrete children, and ActivityHistory / OpenActivity are read-only related lists, not queryable in bulk.

Before Starting

• Understand the Activity object model. Activity cannot be queried directly; query Task or Event. ActivityHistory and OpenActivity appear on related lists and subqueries only.
• Know the polymorphic fields. WhatId can reference any object enabled for activities; WhoId references Contact or Lead. Require TYPEOF or explicit type filters in SOQL.
• Check Einstein Activity Capture. EAC-captured emails/events are stored outside standard Task/Event and are not reportable the same way.

Core Concepts

Task vs Event

Task: to-do item with due date. Event: calendar appointment with start/end time. Both share the polymorphic WhatId / WhoId pattern and an IsTask discriminator on Activity queries.

Polymorphic SOQL

SELECT Id, Subject, What.Type, TYPEOF What
  WHEN Account THEN Name, Industry
  WHEN Opportunity THEN Amount, StageName
END FROM Task

Without TYPEOF, only ID and Type are accessible via What.Type.

ActivityHistory vs OpenActivity

ActivityHistory: closed activities (completed tasks, past events). OpenActivity: open activities (due, upcoming). Only queryable as subqueries from activity-enabled parents. Cannot create/update these objects directly.

Einstein Activity Capture

EAC syncs emails and calendar events from Exchange/Gmail into Salesforce. Data lives in a separate EAC store — visible on timeline, but not in Task/Event tables. Reporting requires Activity Metrics or EAC-specific features.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Bulk task creation from trigger

List<Task> tasks = new List<Task>();
for (Opportunity o : Trigger.new) {
    tasks.add(new Task(WhatId = o.Id, Subject = 'Review', ActivityDate = Date.today().addDays(7), OwnerId = o.OwnerId));
}
insert tasks;

Never loop-DML inside trigger; collect and insert once.

Pattern: Custom Object for high-volume activity-like data

If volume exceeds ~50k activities/day per object, consider a custom Interaction__c object with lookup instead of polymorphic Task. Better indexing, custom sharing, no Task-UI overhead.

Pattern: Activity rollup via Lightning component or Apex

Activity count / last-activity-date rollups: use formula-friendly patterns (e.g., Salesforce's Activity Metrics, EAC Insights, or DLRS).

Decision Guidance

Recommended Workflow

1. Inventory activity-generating processes; estimate daily volume per object.
2. If volume is modest and UI integration matters, use Task/Event.
3. For polymorphic queries, use TYPEOF and index-friendly WhatId filters.
4. Bulk-insert from triggers; never single-DML in loops.
5. Customize Activity Timeline via LWC or Flow for business-specific views.
6. Decide EAC vs manual logging; document where activity data lives.
7. Build reports using Task/Event + Activity Metrics; avoid querying ActivityHistory outside subqueries.

Review Checklist

• Activity volume estimated and matched to object choice
• Polymorphic SOQL uses TYPEOF or explicit type filters
• Bulk DML used for task/event creation
• ActivityHistory / OpenActivity queries only in subquery form
• EAC data strategy documented
• Custom fields on Activity limited (they propagate to both Task and Event)
• Sharing model for activities understood (inherits from WhatId parent)

Salesforce-Specific Gotchas

1. Custom fields on Activity propagate to both Task and Event. You cannot add a field only to Task — architect with this in mind.
2. Activities inherit sharing from the WhatId parent. No independent sharing rules.
3. OpenActivity and ActivityHistory cannot be modified. They are projections of Task/Event.

Output Artifacts

Related Skills

• apex/apex-polymorphic-soql — polymorphic query patterns in depth
• admin/case-management-setup — case-related activity handling
• admin/einstein-activity-capture-setup — EAC sync scope and data flow