Kaizen #126 - Circuits in Zoho CRM - Part 1

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

Today, we will discuss an exciting topic—Circuits in Zoho CRM.

For starters, we will discuss what Circuits are, how beneficial they are for businesses, different views of a Circuit, and the different states and flow controls.

In the next post, we will discuss associating a Circuit to a blueprint, workflow, and a button, testing and execution, and see a Circuit in action with an interesting use case.

What are Circuits in Zoho CRM?

We use different microservices to accomplish our business needs, but most of the time, we are forced to switch over to multiple places.

With Circuits in Zoho CRM, you can integrate multiple microservices in a single platform and create automated workflows, all within your CRM!

For example, consider that you have an e-commerce application that involves multiple processes like tracking inventory, payment processing, fulfilling and tracking orders, generating receipts and reports, etc.

Typically, you would code this entire logic and use it to fulfill your business needs. But, with Functions in Zoho CRM, you can write the logic for each of these individual processes and simply orchestrate them using Circuits.

So, for the above example, you can simply create an automated workflow using Circuits and use the functions in the right order. That's not just it! You can re-use these functions elsewhere, too.

Another simple example of a Circuit is when you want to automating sending SMS alerts to users when an event occurs. How this is different from a workflow is that in this circuit, you can have a function that triggers an SMS alert, and also a function that sends an email to the user when the SMS alert ails. This involves circuit's functional states and a decision making state.

Like this, the use cases of circuits are endless.

Advantages of Circuits

• Automate your routines
  Convert all your manual routines to automated workflows to save time. Avoid the need to trigger or interrupt applications to control the system flow, as you can create smooth-sailing, smart workflows that control themselves.
• Scale fast
  Handle any number of requests hassle free as your workflows get executed on cloud. While Zoho Circuit dynamically allocates resources on need, you can focus more on building your applications rather than managing them.
• Update in minutes
  Building the business logic of your applications in workflows empowers you to update the applications quickly. Swap or reorganize the components easily and build the modified applications in minutes.
• Low-code
  Create a circuit effortlessly with the visual drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easier for the users with minimum coding knowledge.
• Developer-friendly
  Circuits help you manage parallel processes, service integrations, spot failures, retry, and view logs, within minutes. Developers can focus on the business logic and not worry about these factors.
• Orchestrate CRM Functions
  Use various CRM functions on your circuit to integrate multiple third-party apps and Zoho CRM seamlessly. Write functions once, and orchestrate them in circuits to solve different business needs.
• Automate IT and business processes within CRM
  Create a circuit, associate it with a workflow, blueprint, or button, and automate your entire business process. With high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance, circuits ensure the performance of your workflow remains consistent even with changing states and an increase in frequency.
• Diagnose errors and view audit logs
  A detailed log of each execution provides the status of each state's task execution, the payload and parameters passed, and the responses and exceptions generated.
• Use Existing Functions
  From picking functions you've already tried, tested, and are up and running in your CRM account, to using a circuit within another circuit, this flexibility opens up possibilities of handling so much of your out-of-the-box requirements in a single space.

How are Circuits different from Workflow Rules and Blueprints?

Circuits is simply an orchestration of functions with powerful state management capabilities, along with in-built flow controls to automate the business process.

Workflow rules help us automate repetitive tasks and standardize business processes within the CRM system.

Workflow rules are useful in simple automations that the sales person does on a regular basis, like sending an email after record creation.

Builder View and Code View of a Circuit

Builder View

This view offers an easy drag-and-drop interface to build your circuit. The left pane in this view comprises all the states that can be added to a circuit.

The right pane comprises Configuration and Input/Output.

The Configuration tab lets you give a name to the state, choose its type, and select its next state.

The Input/Output tab allows you to control how JSON data must flow from one state to another through Paths.

Paths are strings beginning with $ that identify the components within the JSON. Specific parts of a JSON can be accessed by denoting their attributes in Input Path, Result Path, and Output Path.

This tab contains the following.

1. Input Path

Input path selects parts of the input JSON to pass to the state. You can also pass parameters to the input as a collection of key-value pairs. The values of Parameters can either be static or parts of the input JSON selected as a Path. For example, if your state's input is

{

"Entry1": {...},

"Entry2": {...}

}

then, you can apply the input path as $.Entry2 within the state definition. So, only the data inside the "Entry2" object will be passed as input to the state.

2. Result Path

After the input is processed by the state, Result Path selects what combination of the state result and the actual state input has to be passed to the output.

3. Output Path

Output Path further filters the data from the Result Path to pass it as state output.

Code View of a Circuit

In Code View, you can define your state machine in a simple JSON-based, structured language. Once a circuit is created, a sample workflow with the pass state as 'State 1' is created by default.

States of a Circuit and Flow Controls

Circuits offer a cascading structure to different states in a business process, allowing you to write functions that each feed their output into the next one, or any other one you pre-define, individually. You can also reroute, pause for a certain period, or feed it in batches to enable just about any sort of action.

Simply put, Circuits have different 'functional states' and 'flow controls' that allow you to automate execute your business process.

Flow Controls

Flow Controls let you control the flow of your circuit. To achieve this, Circuits make use of different states that allow you to make the execution, 'Wait' for another state, 'Pass' the input of a state to another, use 'Success' and 'Failure' to stop the execution of the Circuit.

The different states available are:

• Pass: Transfers the input from one state to another.
  
• Branch: Decides between branches of execution based on input.
  
• Parallel: Performs simultaneous executions.
  
• Wait: Inserts a delay for a specific time. The maximum wait time is 30 days.
  
• Batch: Implements multiple group executions. You can have a maximum of 10 jobs per batch.
  
• Success: Terminates an execution, returning 'Success'.
  
• Failure: Terminates an execution, returning 'Failure'.
  

For more details on states, refer to this article.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM states help you execute business logic in circuits with respect to the data available in CRM.

You can write functions in the built-in editor or orchestrate existing ones, get the details of a record as an input to other the states, get the details of your org, user, CRM variables and use them in your Circuit.

You can also trigger another Circuit within a Circuit using the 'Circuit' flow control.

'Function' State

Use this state in your Circuit to use an existing function in CRM. Depending on your need, you can configure the input and output, and control data flow in your circuit. Only the functions that are REST API-enabled are shown here.

'Circuit' State

You can use another Circuit in one of the states and configure the flow accordingly.

'Record' State

This state fetches the details of a particular record in a module in CRM. You can choose to pass a portion or all of this state's result as an input to the next state in the circuit. Note that the information displayed will be based on the scope provided to the user.

Depending on where the Circuit is associated(Blueprint, Workflow, Button - Create/Clone/Details/Edit View pages, individual record, mass action), the response of the Record State differs.

'Org' State

This state gives you the details of your CRM org that you can use in your circuit.

'User' State

Use this state in your circuit to get the details of the current user in your org and process this information in other states.

'Org Variable'

This state gives you the details of all CRM Variables in your org.

Error Handling

When you use any of the Zoho CRM states, you can also perform error handling as these functional states tend to have runtime errors.

On TimeOut

When a functional state runs longer than the expected time, timeout errors occur. For handling timeout errors in code view, the field value "errorType": "Error.TimeOut" will be added.

On Execution Failure

When a state's execution fails due to some exception that cannot be processed, it can be handled using execution failure. In code view, key-value "errorType": "Error.ExecutionFailure" is appended.

Custom Error

You can also have custom error handling for your states.

Configure Exception Type and Exception Value to set the error handling options based on the error code or error message delivered by the state's output.

Retry the function in case of failure or timeout, set the Attempt (number of retries) and Delay (wait time after failure for every retry attempt).

In case of failure, if the retries fail to fix the error, the State will Fallback the error output to the Next state in the Result field.

We hope you found this post useful. Stay tuned for part 2!

Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Cheers!

Shylaja S

• Topic Participants

• Shylaja S

  

• Ash-Tech.co.il

• Pheranda Nongpiur

  

• Nicolás

• Sam Stemp

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Recent Topics

• Windows Desktop App - request to add minimization/startup options

  Support Team, Can you submit the following request to your development team? Here is what would be optimal in my opinion from UX perspective: 1) In the "Application Menu", add a menu item to Exit the app, as well as an alt-key shortcut for these menus

• Creating meetings from an email

  Hi. Similar to Outlook, it would be helpful if a meeting can be scheduled from an email so that the attendees need not be manually entered every time it's created.

• 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,

• Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

  Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were

• CRM Percent custom fields: When will it show the % symbol and behave like %?

  1. Actually Percent custom fields fail to show the % symbol. 2. When in formulas Percent fields work like number: 100 x 5% = 5 ideal world 100 x 5% = 500 what happens actually 3. When importing Percent fields the % symbol has to be removed and the data

• 【Zoho CRM】商談タブへのデータインポート

  Zoho使用前にエクセルで管理していた商談情報を、Zoho一括管理のため、商談タブにインポートしたいのですが、お客さまの氏名だけが紐づけられませんでした。 「Zoho CRMにインポートする項目を関連付ける」のところが画像のようになっています。 （弊社では、「姓」を「★個人データ名」という項目名に変更し、フルネームを入れて使用しています。） どのようにしたら氏名をインポートできるかご存じの方がいらっしゃいましたら、ご教示いただきたく、よろしくお願いいたします。 （投稿先が間違っていましたらご指

• Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

  Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector

• Implement Date-Time-Based Triggers in Zoho Desk

  Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, We are writing to request a new feature that would allow for the creation of workflows triggered by specific date-time conditions. Currently, Zoho Desk does not provide native support for date-time-based triggers, limiting

• Different Task Layouts for Subtasks

  I was wondering how it would be possible for a subtask to have a different task layout to the parent task.

• URGENTImpossible to book an appointement

  J'essaie plusieurs fois mais aucun créneau n''est disponible Message d'erreur lorsque j'essaie de sélectionner une date

• RouteIQ for Zoho FSM

  Beste, Zou wel top zijn dat we een RouteIQ hebben voor FSM aangezien we constant moeten zien wat de beste route is voor onze monteurs. Nu moeten we een speciale aparte programma hebben om de beste route te berrekenen voor onze monteurs aangezien de planning

• Let us view and export the full price books data from CRM

  I quote out of CRM, some of my clients have specialised pricing for specific products - therefore we use Price Books to manage these special prices. I can only see the breakdown of the products listed in the price book and the specialised pricing for

• What's new in Zoho Sheet: Simplify data entry and collaboration

  Hello, Zoho Sheet community! Last year, our team was focused on research and development so we could deliver updates that enhance your spreadsheet experience. This year, we’re excited to deliver those enhancements—but we'll be rolling them out incrementally

• Changes to the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM

  Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously enhance our security measures to ensure a safer experience for all users. As part of our ongoing security enhancements, we're making an important update on using the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM. What's changing?

• How to Invoice Based on Timesheet Hours Logged on a Zoho FSM Work Order

  Hi everyone, We’re working on optimizing our invoicing process in Zoho FSM, and we’ve run into a bit of a roadblock. Here’s our goal: We want to invoice based on the actual number of hours logged by our technicians on a job, specifically using the timesheets

• Why is my Lookup field not being set through Desk's API?

  Hello, I'm having trouble setting a custom field when creating a Ticket in Zoho Desk. The endpoint I'm consulting is "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/tickets" and even though my payload has the right format, with a "cf" key dedicated to all custom fields,

• Zoho Books | Product updates | January 2026

  Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From e-filing Form 1099 directly with the IRS to corporation tax support, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. E-File Form 1099 Directly With the

• Inclusion is the new engagement

  When in a very challenging situation, you may have peers or friends around you saying, “Everything will be okay.” They speak to you in a way that they are connected or in a language or tone that feels close. But your inner voice comes to you in a truly

• DKIM verification for Squarespace website - Corrections to instructions

  Zoho Campaigns DKIM TXT record instructions for Squarespace show that Host field should show: 22111._domainkey.[domain name, e.g. mywebsite.com] However, after 72hrs, I had to reach out to Squarespace tech support, and they confirmed that the domain name

• Passing the image/file uploaded in form to openai api

  I'm trying to use the OpenAI's new vision feature where we can send image through Api. What I want is the user to upload an image in the form and send this image to OpenAI. But I can't access this image properly in deluge script. There are also some constraints

• My client requires me to have custom pdf file names to except payment for invoices, how can I customize this before emailing.

  Hello! I love the program so far but there are a few things that are standing in the way. I hope you guys can code them in so I can keep the program for years to come. My client requires I customize the pdf file names I send in for billing. Can you please

• Disable All

  I want to disable all the fields on the form when it loads.  I know there is a way to do this by listing all the fields as follows: disable Name; disable Address; disable City;  ... I have over 50 fields on my form and i am wondering if there is a single command or way to just disable all fields on load.   On load = disable All Thank you for any help.  

• Migrating my email from GMAIL to ZOHO MAIL..........

  I am a long time GMAIL user and I really only understand how they operate, but after reviewing your tutorials and forums online, it is quite unbelievable how much more and how much more streamlined ZOHO mail is, not to mention ZOHO's wonderful, more advanced capabilities. I do have several questions about transitioning over to ZOHO.  Primarily, where is the best place to start, what do I do first? And how hard is it actually to move all my business and personal accounts over here?  When I sign up

• iOS Zoho Mail App Crashesruni

  Whenever I trying to search emails via the Zoho Mail app on my iPhone the app crashes, I am running the latest version of the app and the latest iOS version. I have all set reset the app and deleted the app and still have the same issue. Thank you in

• Assessment Answered - Automation (Related List)

  Hello everyone, We have linked a candidate assessment to our job posting. When someone applies, they are required to answer all the assessment questions. However, some candidates submit their applications without completing the questions. In such cases,

• Rebrand your CRM with the all-new custom domain mapping setup

  UPDATES TO THIS FEATURE! 19th Jan, 2024 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for portal users in Zoho One and CRM Plus. 23rd June, 2023 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for all users, in all DCs. Hello everyone! We are elated

• Paid Support Plans with Automated Billing

  We (like many others, I'm sure) are designing or have paid support plans. Our design involves a given number of support hours in each plan. Here are my questions: 1) Are there any plans to add time-based plans in the Zoho Desk Support Plans feature? The

• How Does Knowledge Base Search and Article Recommendation Work?

  Hello, I would like to understand how the Knowledge Base search engine works. Specifically, does it search based on: The article title only? The full article content? Both, the article and the content? Keywords? Tags? Also, how does the system determine

• Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

  Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything

• Can't change form's original name in URL

  Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new

• Calendar report with order options and more quick view templates

  I think many of us regularly work with calendar-style reports. It would be great to be able to customize the quick view with new templates and have options to sort the entries for each day of the calendar by different criteria. I think this is an interesting

• Shared Views

  Hello, is there a way to prevent an agent from changing a shared table view? I have no issues with agents being able to create and customize their own view, but when I create a view and share it to my team -- the expectation is that they are viewing it

• Using Zoho answer bot across departments (help center articles from another department)

  Hi Zoho Community, I’ve run into a major issue and hope someone here has experience with this setup. We currently have a Help Center in the department A where all of our knowledge base articles are maintained. However, we would like to use a Zoho Answer

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• Canvas templates and font-family

  i dont understant why its always the smallest things that waste all of my time! why in some videos i see they have tamplates in the Canvas editor and i cant seem to fint it? and why oih why cant i cange the font? i just want simple Arial! help meeee

• how to avoid duplicate customer

  How can i avoid to create a duplicate customer. I charged a same customer with two different plans and it showed up twice in my customer list and subsequently in Zoho books contacts. It creates confusion to have a same customer appears multiple times in customer or contact list. How can i avoid it.

• The Social Wall: January 2026

  Hello everyone, We’re back with the first edition of The Social Wall of 2026. There’s a lot planned for the year ahead, and we’re starting with a few useful features and improvements released in January to help you get started. Create a GBP in Social

• API keys not showing in ZeptoMail dashboard

  Hi there, I'm hoping someone can provide some assistance as support isn't replying. I am trying to configure my transactional emails, but the dashboard doesn't show any of my API details - the `div` is there but it's emtpy. Every time I click "Generate

• Pipeline: Copying rulesets from one data source to another

  When creating and editing data pipelines, it would be really helpful to be able to copy the ruleset from one data source and 'paste' it to another. This would save time and reduce manual mistakes.

• Doubt about maximum email reach

  Good morning, greetings. This is Bramdon García from EDULABS S.A.S ESP, located in Colombia. I'm writing to inquire about the possibility of sending an email to 35,000 people simultaneously. Our company has a Zoho account, but we'd like to know if there's

• Next Page