Many organizations require a standardized process to onboard a new employee, customer or vendor. This process typically begins with collecting information through a form, completing various agreements, adding banking details or a payment method and scheduling a meeting. This process can be facilitate with the use of Zoho Forms, Sign, Books and bookings. Out of the box, each app can accomplish each step but this requires manual steps to initiate the for, merge details into the contract, request payment details and sending out a scheduling link. We can automate this process using Zoho's deluge script and the product API's. The way it will work begins with building a Zoho Form template. This template will be saved with URl parameters on a contact record in the CRM to pre-populate known information on the form. The form will be integrated with Zoho Sign to populate the contract with information from the form, the user can then sign and the contract will be submitted. The original form will need a custom integration with the CRM so that the CRM get updated with information from the form submission as well. As custom integration is needed since each Form can only be integrated with 1 other Zoho app at a time. Once the contract is complete the user can be routed automatically to a page hosted by Zoho books for them to enter their payment details. These details are then saved to their record in Zoho books and the user can be routed to a Zoho bookings page to schedule a meeting. Connecting all these processes makes for a very streamlined user experience and reduces a lot of admin time processing each step manually.

This custom function can identify matches between one or more records in Zoho. Typically this function will be executed from the Deals module by either clicking a custom button or triggering the action based on a Deal Stage "find matches" for example. The function will search for records in Module X by referencing criteria stored on the deal or related record (like a linked account) and generate a list of records in Module X that match the specified criteria. This can help speed up a very manual process for an employee to individually sort and filter through records to find possible matches. Instead the function can narrow down their search and they can select from the match themselves or present all the matches to a third party through ZPortals where the third party can choose which options most appeal to them. This can apply to borrowers looking for loan programs, Buyers looking for sellers, product recommendations etc.

Pre-populating Zoho forms with user data has tremendous value in maintaining data integrity. Here's why: Accuracy of Data: With pre-population, you eliminate the risk of manual data entry errors. Users are no longer required to fill in their details each time, which reduces the chances of typos or incorrect entries. Instead, their details are pulled directly from the contact. User Convenience: Pre-populating data fields creates a better, more seamless experience for your users. When they see their details already filled in, it saves them time and effort, increasing the likelihood of form completion and submission. Enhanced Personalization: By utilizing existing user data, you can offer a more personalized experience. For instance, showing users that you remember their details can make the process feel more tailored and personal, enhancing their engagement with your brand. An alias in Zoho Forms is essentially a unique name given to a field within a form. The alias is used to reference the field in workflows, notifications, or any other context where you want to use or manipulate the field data. When integrating Zoho Forms with other applications, aliases become particularly important as they serve as identifiers of the data in these fields. The main purpose of aliases is to ensure smooth data flow between Zoho Forms and other Zoho applications, including Zoho CRM. Aliases provide a way to 'map' data from a form field to a corresponding field in the CRM. For instance, if you have a field in your form called "Email", you might give it an alias like "contact_email". Then, in Zoho CRM, you have a field for a contact's email address. When you integrate the form with Zoho CRM, you can set up the integration to take the data from the "contact_email" alias in the form and put it into the "Email" field in Zoho CRM. In the context of pre-populating a form with data, you can use Deluge scripts and field aliases to fetch data from Zoho CRM and put it into the form. The aliases will enable the script to know which fields in the CRM correspond to which fields in the form.

Leveraging Zoho CRM's field called "Assigned Profile" to manage gated content within ZPortals, based on a client's subscription status. Here is a potential solution: Integration of Zoho CRM and ZPortals: The most critical aspect of this solution is to ensure seamless integration between Zoho CRM and ZPortals. Your customer data, subscription status, and assigned profiles need to be synchronized across both platforms. Subscription-Based Profiles: In Zoho CRM, you can create two distinct profiles: 'Current Subscriber' and 'Former Client'. Whenever a client subscribes to your service, their "Assigned Profile" in Zoho CRM will be updated to 'Current Subscriber'. Conversely, when a subscription is canceled, the assigned profile will revert to 'Former Client'. Managing Gated Content Access: With the client information synchronized to ZPortals, the platform can identify the user's assigned profile when they log in. If the profile is 'Current Subscriber', they are granted access to educational resources. If it's 'Former Client', access to these resources would be restricted. Dynamic Content Delivery: ZPortals can be set up to deliver content dynamically based on a user's assigned profile. This means when a 'Current Subscriber' logs in, they would automatically see all the educational resources available to them. Conversely, a 'Former Client' would not see these resources on their portal. Reactive Access Control: The best part of this solution is that it's reactive. If a client cancels their subscription, their profile in Zoho CRM will be updated, triggering an update in ZPortals that removes their access to the gated content. The reverse happens when a former client re-subscribes. Use Case: Let's consider an example where you are offering an educational platform with subscription-based access to learning resources. When a user, say John, subscribes to your service, his "Assigned Profile" in Zoho CRM is updated to 'Current Subscriber'. This change is reflected in ZPortals in real-time, and when John logs into his account, he is greeted with a wealth of learning resources that he has full access to. Now, if John decides to cancel his subscription, the CRM updates his "Assigned Profile" to 'Former Client'. This change is again reflected in ZPortals. The next time he logs in, he no longer sees the valuable learning resources as they are now gated off for him. This way, you can manage your customer data and content gating dynamically, providing a tailored user experience for your customers while ensuring that your valuable resources are protected.

This solution addresses an issue most of us can identify with, unproductive meetings. Well run meetings typically have defined objectives and agendas. This solution involves creating a custom module to create Meeting Agendas with defined Objectives, agendas items and follow-up actions. A custom function will automatically create a meeting agenda record whenever a new event is created in the CRM. It will relate this Meeting Agenda to the account that the invited contact belongs to. Your account reps can then send out meeting agendas to clients using a template or even automatically through a workflow rule ahead of the meeting. After the meeting the same applies, your users can manually send out meeting minutes through a templates that merges in information from the agenda or have an automatic email go out through a workflow rule. This solution can be paired with the client portal to show clients upcoming meetings and allows them to add to the agenda. It can also integrate with conferencing software or AI note takers to bring in meeting recording links or notes for clients to access via a wrap-up email and or through their portal.

Professional service organizations often need to sell a product or service that entails a defined Scope of Work. This can make building proposals a tedious affair. This solution adds a Subform to the products module where you can detail each task involved in that service,, building a schedule of work that will be done. The second half of this solution involves building a similar Subform on the Deal record and adding a multi select lookup field on the deal. This allows the user to select one or multiple Products and a custom function will fetch the scope of work for each selected product and populate the subform on the deal. The subform typically includes pricing information for each line item and totals the Amount. This subform (Scope of Work) can then be merged into contracts using Zoho writer and sent to a client for approval through Zoho Sign. This solution can be coupled with Zportals (Client Portal) to allow clients to self generate and or approve quotes. This is a great solution for clients who tend to have pre determined orders that they place over and over. This solution can allow them to "Self Checkout" and order products or services. Pair this solution with our automatic Project creation and invoicing to further streamlines processes. Prerequisites include an available subform on the products module and Deal Module. An available multiselect product lookup on the deal module. Limitations: Please note that the enterprise edition of Zoho CRM includes up to 100 line items in a subform. Check your edition of Zoho to ensure you will have enough line items in the subform. A workaround to this is to ensure that you do not load too many products into a single Scope of Work and rather split it into multiple (Part 1/ part2) SOW's.

While Zoho Desk has a great ticket assignment tool sometimes you may want to assign a ticket to a user based on data in the CRM. A common example is routing tickets to users who own the Client Account record in Zoho CRM. This solution executes a custom function when a ticket is created. It searches the CRM for a contact with a matching email address to the one that submitted the ticket (or simply the contact if the contact already exists and is synced between CRM and Desk), finds the account the contact belongs to, fetches the Account Owner (User) and then assigns the ticket to that Account Manger. This allows for fasting processing and ensures the right person is handling all account communication, improving client satisfaction.