It would be useful to have a Next Activity Date field available in the Opportunities View (similar to the Last Activity field) which displays the date of the next Task or Event.

And an accompanying field for Next Activity Subject which displays the subject line of a Task or Event would be ideal.

Then you could see that a Task was assigned and what it is in a glance from the Opportunities tab. This would be a useful control to ensure that all open opportunities have tasks assigned. Currently you have to select an opportunity to see if a task is assigned to it.

I am using Next Step and Next Step Date fields in the Opportunities View to manage my daily tasks. I use Tasks only to "Log Calls" after they occur. I would prefer to use Tasks and Events to manage daily activities--that way I could manage Opportunity-related activities and Lead-related activities together from the Home tab, and it would not be necessary to "Edit" an Opportunity with every update. But without the enhancement, I would either have to select each opportunity to ensure there is a Task or Event assigned to it, or synch up the Next Step and Next Step Date fields with every Task or Event--a repetitive and error-prone process.

A work-around of creating a report to show which Opportunities do not have Tasks or Events assigned would not get any use in my company. My users do not currently use Tasks or Next Step to manage daily activities, and they do not use the Home tab. They only use the Opportunities tab for tracking Opportunities on an ad hoc basis. But with the enhancement, they would use Tasks and Events since these would have more visibility from the Opportunities tab. They would then very likely begin to use the Home tab as the natural way to manage these daily activities.

This is a simple enhancement with a large pay-off in productivity. Please promote.