Kaizen #188 - Building a Timer and Worklog Widget (Part 2)

Kaizen #188 - Building a Timer and Worklog Widget (Part 2)



Welcome back, Tech Wizards!

In Part 1, we developed a Timer Widget that logs active work sessions into the Timer Entries module. 

Now, let's enhance this functionality by transferring these entries into the Work Log subform within the Cases module using a workflow with Deluge function and APIs. We will also explore how to generate insightful reports from the Timer Entries module data.

Here is a consolidated view of the outcomes we aim to achieve through these sequential posts.



The following data model illustrates the modules and subforms involved in this use case to help you understand the structure more clearly.


Learn more about the Data Model and how it helps to simplify the understanding of complex processes.

Auto-Syncing Timer Entries to Case Work Logs

For automating the data transfer from the Timer Entries module to the Work Log subforms within Cases module, we will create a workflow rule with an instant action defined in Deluge function. 

Prerequisites

Create a subform named Work Log in the Cases module with the following fields. 

Field Name
Data Type
Actual Time Taken(in mins.)
Aggregate

(sum of Total Duration (in mins.) field in related case )
End Time
DateTime
Related to Case
Lookup to Cases
Related to Current Case
Checkbox
Start Time
DateTime
Timer Entry
Lookup to Timer Entries
Total Duration
Aggregate 

(sum of all the Total Duration (in mins.) field )
Total Duration (in mins.)
Number
Work Description
Multi Line

Follow the Building a Subform and  Working with Custom Fields help pages for creating the subform and fields in Zoho CRM UI, or you can also make Post Custom Fields API calls to create the custom fields in the subform. 

Step 1: Create a Workflow

  • Login to your Zoho CRM and go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules and click Create Rule.
  • Choose the Timer Entries module from the dropdown. Provide name and description for the workflow rule.
  • In the 'When' section of the workflow, choose the trigger as Record Action. In record action, define the trigger as when the End Time field is modified to any value. 
  • In the 'Condition' section, choose all timer entries. In the 'Instant Actions' section, select Function and choose Write your own. 

Step 2: Create a Deluge Function

  • In the pop box that appeared after choosing to write your own function. Fill in the following details as shown in the image and click Create.
  • A code editor will open, where you have to define the data transfer logic in Deluge. 

Code logic

The UpdateDataInWorkLog function automates the process of syncing a completed Timer Entry with its associated Cases in Zoho CRM by populating the Work_Log subform for each case.

Fetches Target Case Records

The function uses a predefined custom view (cvid) that we created in Part I of this post to retrieve a list of Case records that are eligible for update. It extracts their record IDs and prepares them for bulk processing.

paramMap = Map();
paramMap.put("cvid","5545974000011183885");
getRecordsResponse = invokeurl
[
type :GET
parameters:paramMap
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
responseDataArray = getRecordsResponse.get("data");
idList = List();
for each  item in responseDataArray
{
idList.add(item.get("id"));
}
caseRecordsToUpdate = idList;

Retrieves Timer Entry Details

The selected Timer Entry (identified by recordId received through workflow trigger) is fetched to extract its key details like, Start and end times, Total time spent (duration), Work description, the Case it’s directly related to (if any).

record = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Timer_Entries",recordId,Map(),"crm_oauth_connection");
startTime = record.get("Start_Time");
endTime = record.get("End_Time");
totalTime = record.get("Total_Duration");
workDescription = record.get("Work_Description");
relatedToCaseId = "";
if(record.get("Related_to_Case") != null)
{
relatedToCaseId = record.get("Related_to_Case").get("id");
}

Prepares Work_Log Subform Entries

For each retrieved Case, a new subform entry is created in the Work_Log subform. This entry contains the time details, work description, and a reference to the Timer Entry. A flag (Related_to_Current_Case) marks whether the Timer Entry is directly associated with the Case.

caseRecordIds = caseRecordsToUpdate;
if(!caseRecordIds.isEmpty())
{
recordUpdateArray = List();
for each  caseRecordId in caseRecordIds
{
TimerArray = List();
TimerObj = Map();
TimerObj.put("Work_Description",workDescription);
TimerObj.put("Timer_Entry",recordId);
TimerObj.put("Related_to_Case",relatedToCaseId);
TimerObj.put("Start_Time",startTime);
TimerObj.put("End_Time",endTime);
TimerObj.put("Actual_Duration_in_mins",totalTime.toNumber());
info totalTime;
TimerObj.put("Related_to_Current_Case",caseRecordId == relatedToCaseId);
TimerArray.add(TimerObj);
recordUpdateObj = Map();
recordUpdateObj.put("id",caseRecordId);
recordUpdateObj.put("Work_Log",TimerArray);
recordUpdateArray.add(recordUpdateObj);
}

Bulk Updates Case Records

All Case records are updated in bulk via the Update Records API. Each gets its Work_Log subform updated or appended with the latest Timer Entry details.

updateRequestBody = {"data":recordUpdateArray};
updateResponse = invokeurl
[
type :PUT
parameters:updateRequestBody + ""
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
}

Once done, click Save and associate the merge field (Timer Entry ID) with the function.


This workflow is triggered when the timer widget is stopped and the end time is updated in the corresponding timer entry record. 

Following is a GIF that illustrates how the data sync reflects in the case records.

Generating Reports from Timer Entries

With the Timer Entries and Work Log data in place, you can create comprehensive reports to analyze work patterns, SLA adherence, and productivity trends.
  1. Navigate to the Reports module and click Create Report.
  2. Choose Cases as the primary module and include the Work Log subform.
  3. Select the desired fields like Case Subject, Start Time, End Time, Total Duration, and Work Description. 
  4. Group data by fields like Case Owner or Status to gain insights into workload distribution and case progress.
  5. Apply filters as needed, such as date ranges or specific case statuses.

Refer to the Understanding and Building Report help page for more details. 

With the Timer Widget, automated data transfer to Work Logs, and insightful reporting, we have established a robust system to track and analyze multiple active work times within Zoho CRM.

If you have specific scenarios or challenges you'd like us to address in future Kaizen posts, feel free to share them in the comments or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com.

Cheers!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Reading 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    • 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

    • Community Digest Julio 2025 - Todas las novedades en Español Zoho Community

      ¡Hola, Español Zoho Community! Ha pasado un tiempo desde el último Digest pero, ¡ya estamos de vuelta con las novedades más relevantes en las aplicaciones de Zoho y su universo! Si no te quieres perder ninguna de las novedades que vamos publicando, te

    • Tip #35- How to use Notifications in Zoho Assist to stay on top of session activities- 'Insider Insights'

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! This week, we’re exploring Zoho Assist’s built-in notification system for improved visibility and accountability. Keeping track of session activity is crucial, especially when you're managing multiple remote devices and technicians.

    • Assistance with Exporting Specific Data from Zoho CRM

      Hi, Could you please guide me on how to export specific information, such as the model number and serial number, from the Accounts module in Zoho CRM? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

    • Coming Soon in Zoho Invoice: Send Invoices Instantly via WhatsApp

      We're working on bringing a new level of convenience to your invoicing experience. Introducing a much-requested feature in Zoho Invoice: You can now share invoices directly to your customers via WhatsApp! With this new option, you can: Share invoices

    • field update from the value of another field

      Hello, I need to do a field update from the value of another field, but i don´t know how can i do it. In the mass update option it is not possible... I need to put the last name value form the leads module to other custom field that i have created. thanks for your help

    • What is a realistic turnaround time for account review for ZeptoMail?

      On signing up it said 2-3 business days. I am on business-day 6 and have had zero contact of any kind. No follow-up questions, no approval or decline. Attempts to "leave a message" or use the "Contact Us" form have just vanished without a trace. It still

    • Is there any way to prevent the row cloning feature(on edit page)

      My initial requirement is to prevent some users from adding new rows in the subform. For that, I have implemented the client script, and the script is working fine. But users are able to clone the row and make changes. For that, I was unable to find any

    • How Do I Change Business Location

      Ive just shifted my business to a new country and would like to update my address and Business location in the "Organisation Profile" page but it is locked in the previous country. How do I unlock it / change it? Thanks

    • Verify details pop-up windows

      Hi, Is it possible to turn-off the anoying "Verify details" window that ask for closing date, "Reason for Lost" or other concepts. If I would like the user to enter such data, I will implement a rule .... How can I turn-off such pop-up? it's not necessary

    • Monthly overtime wrong after adding/changing attendance time for past month

      Hi there, as I understand it, the montly overtime overview under attendance is calculated at the end of each month. If someone was not able to enter his attendance in time but entered it in the new month, this time will not be considered in the overview.

    • As a security measure, you need to link your phone number with this account and verify it to proceed further.

      I want to disable this feature as my one staff travels with different phone numbers so it is hard to verify by phone. How do I do that?

    • Asset Tracking

      I am looking to create custom modules to track customer assets. We install serialized and non-serialized equipment into customers vehicles. So we will have vehicles belonging to the customer then equipment that will belong to a vehicle (if installed)

    • 【参加無料】8月8日(金) 福岡 ユーザ交流会 参加登録 受付開始！

      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。 8月8日(金)に1年ぶりに、福岡でZoho ユーザー交流会を開催します！ ユーザー事例セッションでは、CreativeStudio樂合同会社の前田 美知太郎さまが、労働時間を削減したZoho活用のリアルな工夫を語ります。 Zoho社員セッションでは、データ収集から自動処理まで一気に効率化できるZoho Formsの最新活用アイディアをお届けします。 ▷▷詳細はこちら：https://www.zohomeetups.com/Fukuoka2025#/?affl=fuk2508forumpost

    • Unusable due to "server" issues but there's nothing on Zoho or Down Detector saying there's an outage

      I just started the Zoho trial and I cannot do anything because no apps or even the "contact support" will actually load. I tried to create a project but it keeps giving me the error "server is unable to process your request at this time". I tried to load

    • Issue After Updating to Zoho Desk Android SDK v4.5.0 – Authentication Fails (Status Code 204)

      Hi Zoho Support Team, I was previously using the Zoho Desk Android SDK with the following dependency: implementation 'com.zoho.desk:asapsdk:3.0_BETA_17' Everything was working as expected — including user authentication, the tickets section, and the

    • add another department to helpcenter

      After activating multi-brand, how to add another department to help center? For example department A has associated with help center 1. We have another department B and would like user to be able to submit ticket to department B via help center 1, how

    • Task and Milestones - Dependency feature needed

      I'm sure we're not the first to bring this up. We've been using zoho project for a while. Every project manager knows that to manage a successful project you need option to stack tasks and milestones and be able to create dependencies between tasks and milestones. I think you get the idea... Can you let us know if this feature is in the making or not? any chance we'll see this in future releases? If you need customer feedback about this feature or other enhancements, we'll be happy to test new products

    • ZOHO DESK | SET PERMISSION NOT TO ALLOW SPECIFIC AGENTS TO CREATE TICKET

      Hi Zoho Team, I have a question regarding this: "Team Desk are the ones to have the permission to create a ticket, Team OPS resolvers must not create a ticket." - How to set permission to Team OPS resolvers for not creating a ticket? Only Team Desk should

    • On success Workflow not triggering from external Zoho Form submission

      Hello everyone, I'd really appreciate your help. I'm building a system, where I'm using Zoho Creator as a crm/spreadsheet to manage movements of inventory. I have 3 "forms" or tables, where one is a main table for obersving status on all inventory, another

    • Tax is missing in expense unable to submit report

      Im getting the above error when submitting a report with an expense. Its complaining about the Tax is missing but there is no Tax area just "Amount". And if I try to Itemize the amount to break out the tax portions with the initial product portion it

    • Time-based Automations updates does not trigger Webhook

      Hi, When a ticket is updated by Time-based automation, it doesn't seem to trigger the webhook event. I looked at the ticket history for the problematic tickets, they were all changes made by action with this label: `Ticket was updated through a Time-based

    • Can't find parent child ticketing

      Hi I can't find parent child ticketing under tickets in this new organization... I have in the past on other organizations

    • Filtering Parent and Child Tickets in Analytics

      Hello Zoho Support Team, We’ve noticed that when checking our ticket analytics in Zoho Desk, the data merges both parent and child tickets for key metrics like the number of new tickets, closed tickets, and first response time. This results in inaccurate

    • Link Zoho Inventory Sales Order with Zoho Desk Ticket

      I'd like to, in a Zoho Inventory Sales Order, see linked/related Zoho Desk tickets. When I'm in Zoho Desk, I can look up related tickets to the sales order, but I can't seem to do it in the reverse manner (where when I'm in a Zoho Inventroy Sales Order,

    • Shopify integration

      I need to integrate Shopify with Zoho Books

    • Can't type latin characters Mac x Windows

      I access a Win XP machine using Chrome on Mac OS X High Sierra and I can't get special characters like á é ó â ê ô ã õ à í ú to work. I tried a few different keyboard layout setups, but nothing worked. I end up having to type a lot of stuff in a local notepad for further copy and paste, which is not convenient at all. Am I missing anything? How can I make this work? Thanks.

    • How to add Leave Type Permission Start Time

      Hi, I have a requirement to add Leave Type : Permission Start Time on the email template to which is end to the reporting manager. But I am unable to find the field in the list of fields. How to achieve this?

    • How to get batch number of item by api?

      Hi there, Is there any way to get batch number of item by api? Batch number is the batch reference number in https://www.zoho.com/inventory/help/advanced-inventory-tracking/batch-tracking.html . When I call the https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/#Items_Get_an_item

    • Questions about ACH in Zoho Billing

      We have ACH enabled for subscriptions in Zoho Billing and we have the option enabled for users to be able to log in to their bank to add the account to their payment methods. Questions: 1) If the user's bank isn't supported via the log-in method, will

    • Zoho Writer Default Publish Setting for Mail Merge

      Hello, I was thinking of using Mail Merge to create documents from CRM and automatically link them. However, I noticed the "publish" function and it seems the default is "to the world". This creates some anxiety as it is not clear what this "to the world"

    • Contacts Profile

      Is there a way to add a picture to my contacts profile? You have an outline of a person but no way I can see to import a picture.

    • Tip 46: View resource allocation while adding or editing tasks

      Keeping track of employees workload can be daunting but also necessary. Overloading employees with work can cause burnout and reduce productivity.  Managers should be able to identify resources who are less engaged when assigning tasks. This will ensure a balanced workload and also improve employee's efficiency. Zoho Projects lets you identify resources who are available to take up a job when you add or edit a task.  ​ Assign the task to team members and the calendar in the Start Date field will display

    • Switching Between Multiple Zoho One Organizations in New UI

      Here’s a polished version in English that you can use on Zoho’s support or community forum: Subject: Switching Between Multiple Zoho One Organizations in New UI Hello Zoho Community / Support Team, I’m currently managing two independent Zoho One organizations.

    • .ds import error from .ds file

       Problem encountered while creating the application Exception occured while publishing message to the topic :: [DataModelTopic]

    • Fully functional FSM workflow

      I am using Books, FSM, Begin and Desk. At this moment, FSM is not fully functional even on its own. For example, Customer A buys 4 air-cons and 3 brackets from us. We are fine to create WO manually in FSM. This should be the full loop for a FSM workflow:-

    • Connect Woocommerce new order to zoho books via zoho flow

      Hello i want help to create a flow to create a new sales order from woocommerce to zoho books. Can someone send me step by step flow, functions and fields?

    • What's New in Zoho Invoice | April - June 2025

      Hello everyone! We're excited to share the latest feature updates and enhancements we've made to Zoho Invoice from April to June 2025. In this, you will learn more about the following features: New Integrations via Zoho Marketplace Add Images to Email

    • PROJECTS - More flexibility with task and pricing

      Hi Everyone, I would like to use PROJECTS in my Zoho Booking app but it does not fit into my business. For example: I charge per sessions fixed price. My session usually are 2 hours and I bill the customer on the end of the month. My session can have

    • Is it possible to change default payable account for a bill?

      We have a case where we need to change a bill account from the default accounts payable to another account (it can be current asset or current liability, depending on the case). However, Zoho Books has set default account for bills, (accounts payable)

    • how to upload a reviewed price list in zoho to replace the existing price list

      Price list upload for my zoho books

    • Next Page