Automation#36: Auto-create time-entry after performing the Blueprint transition

Hello Everyone,

This week’s edition focuses on configuring a custom function within Zoho Desk to streamline time tracking within the Blueprint. In this case, we create a custom field, and request the agent to enter the spending time within the single line field and then move to the next status within the blueprint. This entry updates under the Time Entry tab within the ticket.

Businesses rely on automated time entry to track time, but certain workflows require manual input. For example, ZylkerTechFix, a company specializing in hardware servicing and repairs, needed a precise way to log time spent on servicing devices across departments.

After an initial assessment, the support team transfers the ticket to the Engineering team. The time taken for servicing varied based on the complexity of the issue. To ensure accurate tracking, agents were required to manually log the time spent at this stage. A custom single line field was added to capture this information, and the organization flow was integrated into a Blueprint, making it seamless for agents and transparent for customers.

Let's go through setting up a Blueprint with a custom function that allows agents to manually log the time spent in a specific status once they've completed the process. This helps track time at each stage, improving efficiency and customer communication.

Prerequisites

Create a connection

  1.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.
  1.2 Click Create Connection.
  1.3 Select Zoho Desk under Default Services.
  1.4 Set the connection name as desk_connection.

  1.5 Under Choose Scopes, choose the below scope values:

Desk.tickets.READ

Desk.tickets.UPDATE

  1.6 Click Create and Connect.
  1.7 Click Connect.
  1.8 Choose the Zoho Desk's organization to connect with Deluge, and click Submit.
  1.9 Click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

Create a custom single-line field

a. Navigate to Setup >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields.

b. Select Tickets module and the Department in which you will configure the Blueprint.

c. Click on the layout. Add single line field which has the field value length of 255. Give the Name – Spending Time.

This single line field is  for the agent to manually enter the time taken to handle this ticket. Enter the time in this format HH:MM:SS (eg: 02:15:30)  .

Configure Custom Function within the Blueprint

Create a Blueprint with the required transitions for your process.

1. To create a Blueprint, go to Setup >> Automation >> Blueprint. 
2. Choose the department (the same department where you created the custom field) and click on Create Blueprint.
3. Give a desired name under Blueprint Name and description.
4. Choose Tickets under the module and let the Field be Status.
5. Add Criteria as Specific records/All records as required.
6. Add Advanced configuration as required.
7. Click Next.
8. Drag and drop the required States for your organization flow. Connect the different states  
9. Click on the + icon between the states to add a transition. Give a Name and Description for the transition.
10. Click Add transition

Within Transitions

11. Under Before, add the Agents whom you would like to give access to the Blueprint.

12. Add Transition Owner from a Different Department, Choose Department and Criteria if required.
13. Under During, click on Add Operations >> Fields >> choose Spending Time.  This will be marked validation and Mandatory.
14. Under After, click on New next to custom functions.

15. Under Configure Custom Function, enter Name and Description.

16. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:

1. // ----<<<< User Inputs >>>>----
2. // --- Replace ".com" with appropriate domain extension based on customer's location/DC ---
3. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
4. customFieldAPIName = "cf_"; // Replace the custom field API Name
5. orgId = "";// Replace the org ID
6. // ----<<<< Initial Configs >>>>----
7. logs = Map();
8. logs.insert("ticketId":ticketId,"timeEntryValue":timeEntryValue);
9. //---------------------------
10. try
11. {
12. // --- Perform the time calculation tasks ---
13. executedTime = toText(now,"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'","GMT");
14. timeEntryValueList = timeEntryValue.toList(":");
15. logs.insert("timeEntryValueList":timeEntryValueList);
16. secondsSpent = timeEntryValueList.get(0).toNumber() * 3600 + timeEntryValueList.get(1).toNumber() * 60 + timeEntryValueList.get(2).toNumber();
17. logs.insert("secondsSpent":secondsSpent);
18. getHistory = invokeurl
19. [
20. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/history?operationName=Blueprints_History"
21. type :GET
22. connection:"desk_connection"
23. ];
24. agentId = getHistory.get(0).get("agentId");
25. logs.insert("getHistory":getHistory);
26. createTimeEntry = invokeurl
27. [
28. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/timeEntry"
29. type :POST
30. parameters:{"executedTime":executedTime,"secondsSpent":secondsSpent,"ownerId":agentId} + ""
31. connection:"desk_connection"
32. ];
33. logs.insert("createTimeEntryApiResponse":createTimeEntry);
34. update = zoho.desk.update(orgId,"tickets",ticketId,{"cf":{customFieldAPIName:""}});
35.     logs.insert("Update":update);
36. }
37. catch (errorInfo)
38. {
39. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
40. }
41. info "logs: \n" + logs;
42. if(logs.containKey("errorInfo"))
43. {
44. throws "Error happen in the CF execution";
45. }

17. Click on the Edit Arguments in the script editer window, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below:
       17.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and select Ticket Id in the Tickets Section.

       17.2 In the Argument Name field, type timeEntryValue and select Spending Time in the Tickets Section. Click Done.

NOTE

a. In Line 3, replace .com in the address with .in/.eu/.ca based on your DC.

b. In Line 4, enter the API name of the custom field.
To fetch the API name, go to Setup (S) → Customization → Layouts and Fields. Select the department for which you've configured this blueprint under Tickets module. Select the layout, click on the gear icon(Field settings) of the custom field and select Edit properties. Copy the API name under Edit field and paste it in line 4 of the code.   

c. In Line 5, enter the Org ID. Go to Setup >> Developer Space >> APIs. Under API Plan Details, you will fine the metric Org ID and its Values. Copy the value and paste it in line 3.  

18. Click on Save & Complete Blueprint.

19. Click Yes, Proceed. 
Your configuration is complete.

In the ticket, when the agent chooses to move to the next transition, the spending time values has to be entered by the agent in the format HH:MM:SS. Once the value is entered, the ticket proceeds to the next transition.

You can utilize the custom field "Spending Time" across multiple transitions too. Each time a transition occurs, the field resets, allowing users to input the time spent during subsequent transitions.

Please share your thoughts and understanding of how the Blueprint feature has helped your business. If you need help with Blueprints, our mailbox is open to hear you: support@zohodesk.com. 

Until the next post,

Lydia | Zoho Desk 

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• Mark

• Shivani | Zoho Desk

  

• Jani Pakisjärvi

• Sticky Posts

• Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

  With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features

• Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

  Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 

• Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

  Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 

• Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

  Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here

• Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

  With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

• Recent Topics

• Personalize your booking pages with Custom CSS

  Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We’re introducing Custom CSS for Zoho Bookings, designed to give you complete control over the look and feel of your booking pages. With this new feature, you can upload your own CSS file to customize colors, fonts,

• Marketer's Space: Plan smarter with Zoho Campaigns' Calendar

  Hello Marketers, Welcome to another post! Today, we'll talk about a discreet yet significant feature that's neatly tucked inside Zoho Campaigns: the calendar. It might look like an optional but somewhat unnecessary feature that you can use occasionally,

• User

  If user is already part of manage engine endpoint central , what hapens when i try to add them to another Zoho org / directory? Are these users added as external users?

• Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values

  Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next couple

• Outlook - Zoho CRM Calendar Integration

  I'm facing an issue integrating Outlook with Zoho CRM. Has anyone successfully connected their Outlook to Zoho, and are all your meetings and emails being captured correctly in the CRM? Any insights or troubleshooting tips would be appreciated

• 【Zoho CRM】ポータル機能のアップデート

  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、ポータル機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 ポータル管理の新機能「自動招待」により、Zoho CRMからポータルへの招待を自動化できるようになりました。これまで必要だった、ユーザーごとの手動設定は不要になります。設定した条件に基づいて、対象ユーザーに自動で招待が送信されます。 ポータルの新機能 条件に基づく自動招待：指定した条件を満たすユーザーに、自動で招待を送信 招待設定：招待メールの言語を選択し、言語ごとに条件を設定可能

• Contact data removes Account data when creating a quote

  Hi, Our customer has address fields in their quote layout which should be the address of the Account. They prefill the information, adding the account name - the address data is populated as per what is in the account - great. However when they then add

• Export all of our manuals from Zoho Learn in one go

  Hi, I know there's a way to export manuals in Zoho Learn, but I want to export everything in one go so it won't take so long. I can't see a way to do this, can I get some assistance or is this a feature in the pipeline? Thanks, Hannah

• Automation#31: Automate Splitting Names for New Contact Records

  Hello Everyone, This week, we present to you a custom function, which allows you to split the first and last names from the user's email ID based on the separator used in the ID. Having grown into a large firm, Zylker Techfix aims to optimize its processes,

• Automatically remove commas

  Team, Please be consistent in Zoho Books. In Payments, you have commas here: But when we copy and paste the amount in the Payments Made field, it does not accept it because the default setting is no commas. Please have Zoho Books remove commas autom

• Project Change Orders and Additions

  We are in the process of migrating from QuickBooks Online to Zoho Books. We have Zoho One and like the ability to sync all of our data across everything. And I like that projects work in a way that's less dumb than QuickBooks. I'm trying to figure out

• ZOHO Desk - Description of slave ticket disappeared after Merge

  Dear Support, On Zoho Desk the description of a ticket disappeared after merging two ticket. The one which was the slave one completely disappeared. The problem that in this description there was an image which i had only on Desk in that ticket. Could

• How do I insert a cross-reference link to a different section within one Knowledge Base article using Zoho Desk?

  I would like to insert a link within a Knowledge Base article to a different section of that same article. The section I want to link to is formatted with the Heading 3 style and is displayed within my TOC. However, I do not see any way to add a link

• Problem Adding Facebook Account

  Hi, I'm new here, I'm having trouble setting up my Facebook account as a social channel. I think the issue is down to how my Facebook is set up, which is pretty confusing. I have a personal Facebook account (let’s called it A) which is my main Facebook

• Zoho Desk Teams App is not loading

  Hi Zoho Desk support. Need an assistance on the Zoho Desk Teams app. Once I click View Ticket, it isn't showing anything. Kindly refer to attached: ZohoDesk Teams App_View Ticket Error.jpg For our Dashboard, we are still experiencing the same issue. Kindly

• Zoho People - Retrieve the Leave Details - get("LeaveCount")

  Hi, Zoho People I need to collect all of an employee's leave requests for the calendar year and check how many half-days they have taken. If I run the script on the query he just modified, I can retrieve the information related to that query and use the

• Mapping a new Ticket in Zoho Desk to an Account or Deal in Zoho CRM manually

  Is there any way for me to map an existing ticket in Zoho desk to an account or Deal within Zoho CRM? Sometimes people use different email to put in a ticket than the one that we have in the CRM, but it's still the same person. We would like to be able

• Which WhatsApp API works seamlessly with Zoho CRM?

  I’m exploring WhatsApp API solutions that integrate seamlessly with Zoho CRM for customer communication, lead nurturing, and automation. I would love to hear insights from those who have successfully implemented WhatsApp within Zoho CRM. My Requirements:

• Allow people to sign a zoho form by using esign or scanned signature

  Allow people to sign a zoho form by using esign or scanned signature

• Button to Reapply Filters on Sheet(s)

  I wrote a macro that I attached to a button to reapply the filters on all my sheets and it says it works, but it doesn't actually do anything. What is wrong with it? Is there another way? Or even make it work for one sheet? Sub UniversalFilterRefresh()

• Integrate Multiple ZohoBooks organization with zoho projects

  We have successfully connected our Zoho Books with Zoho Projects for synronizing timesheet data. Our Business specialty is, that the staff of the Main company (A) is working on several projects, but the Clients are sometimes contracted and paying to a

• Zoho OAuth Connector Deprecation and Its Impact on Zoho Desk

  Hello everyone, Zoho believes in continuously refining its integrations to uphold the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of this ongoing improvement, the Zoho OAuth default connector will be deprecated for all Zoho services

• Unable to Assign Multiple Categories to a Single Product in Zoho Commerce

  Hello Zoho Commerce Support Team, I am facing an issue while assigning categories to products in Zoho Commerce. I want to assign multiple categories to a single product, but in the Item edit page, the Category field allows selecting only one category

• How do I add todays date to merge field

  I don't see any selection of todays date when creating a letter. Surely the date option of printing is standard? John

• Tracking Emails sent through Outlook

  All of our sales team have their Outlook 365 accounts setup with IMAP integration. We're trying to track their email activity that occurs outside the CRM. I can see the email exchanges between the sales people and the clients in the contact module. But

• Whats that

  Price?

• The same Contact associated to multiple Companies - Deals

  Hi, I would like to know if there is an option to associate the same contact with multiple companies (two or more) deals, using the same contact details for all. This is because we have contacts who are linked to different companies or branches of the

• Portals-Adjust Column Sizes

  I am trying to adjust the column widths in Portals tabs. Columns that don't need to be wide are wide and longer ones are very short. I thought adding more to the digits box in Edit would widen them, but it doesn't. Anyone know how to adjust these?

• Add link/button to open approved record from approval list and detail views?

  Hi, How do I allow users to click on an approval record and open that submission? For example, userA submits a quotation then userB approves/rejects. They both can see the quotation on "completed task" list & detail views, but there's no way for them

• record submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books

  record submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books headermap = Map(); headermap.put("X-ZOHO-Execute-CustomFunction","true"); response_inv = invokeurl [ url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/invoices/fromsalesorder?salesorder_id="

• Prevent editing of a record after getting approved/rejectedr

  Hi, I'd like to block any user from editing a record after it was approved or rejected, how can I do that?

• Formula Field/Campo de Fórmula

  Hello everyone, I have a purchase requisition form in which each department submits a request, and the request is automatically routed to the person responsible for that department. In this form, I have several fields with the following link names: Quantidade1,

• Formatting Problem | Export to Zoho Sheet View

  When I export data to Zoho Sheet View, ID columns are automatically formatted as scientific notation. Reformatting them to text changes the actual ID values. For example, 6557000335603071 becomes 6557000335603070. I have attached screenshots showing this

• Feature Request - The Ability to Link A Customer with a Vendor

  Hi Finance Suite Team, Many businesses buy and sell products from the same companies or individuals. For example, a car sales business may buy a car from a member of the public, and that member of the public may also buy a new car from us. This makes

• Long table name (sync from Zoho Creator)

  Dears, How can I remove the suffix in parentheses? These tables are synced from Zoho Creator and are treated as system tables, so their names cannot be changed. This issue makes the aggregation formulas look awful.

• [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Streamlining incident management process with Zoho Creator

  Hello everyone, We’re excited to invite you to another edition of the Learning Table Series webinar. As you may already know, we've moved to a purpose-based approach in the Learning Table Series this year. Each session now focuses on how a Zoho Creator

• Unattended - Silent

  How can I hide the tray icon / pop up window during unattended remote access for silent unattended remote access?

• Importing into Multiselect Picklist

  Hi, We just completed a trade show and one of the bits of information we collect is tool style. The application supplied by the show set this up as individual questions. For example, if the customer used Thick Turret and Trumpf style but not Thin Turret,

• Text snippet

  There is a nice feature in Zoho Desk called Text Snippet. It allows you to insert a bit of text anywhere in a reply that you are typing. That would be nice to have that option in Zoho CRM as well when we compose an email. Moderation Update: We agree that

• Marketing Tip #18: Make your online store mobile-friendly to improve traffic

  Most online shoppers browse on their phones first. If your store is hard to read, slow to load, or tricky to navigate on mobile, they’ll bounce fast. A mobile-friendly store doesn’t just look nice; it improves engagement, reduces drop-offs, and helps

• Next Page