Automation#21: Track Ticket Transfers Across Departments

Hello Everyone!

With Halloween just around the corner, we'd like to let you know the Zoho Desk team is always there to sweep away your customer service troubles!

This week, we’re excited to introduce a custom function that tracks tickets moved between departments.

While Zoho Desk has simplified customer service, keeping your support team stress-free and your customers happy often requires thoughtful adjustments. Zylker Techfix found a great solution with this feature. They handle services for different gadget types under specific departments, but sometimes tickets accidentally end up in the wrong department. Agents moved them to the correct one, but needed a way to track these transfers. By using the Time Entry feature and a custom function, they generated reports of all moved tickets effortlessly.

Here’s the custom function that utilizes the Time Entry feature to track tickets transferred between departments.

Prerequisites

1. Create Custom Fields

To track tickets moved from one Department (call it Dep A) to the other Department (call it Dep B) or vice versa, 

1.1 Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields. Select Time Entry under Layouts and the Department (let's say Dep B) to which you would like to move the ticket. 

1.2 Create three custom single line fields in the Time Entry layout of the respective department (Dep B) . Click on the layout, 

1.2.1 Add a single line field with a label From department.

1.2.2 Add another single line field with a label To Department.

1.2.3  Add the third single line field with the label Agent Name.

1.3 Note the API names for the the single line fields to insert into the custom function. 

To find the API name, Click on the Gear wheel icon of the single line field. Click on Edit Properties, you will find the API Name under the Edit Field. Refer to Create Custom Fields. 

If you would like move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create the similar fields in the time entry layout for Dep A.

2. Create a connection

      2.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.

      2.2 Click Create Connection.

      2.3 Select Zoho OAuth under Default Connection.

      2.4 Set the connection name as ticket_time_entry_add.

      2.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:

             Desk.tickets.READ

             Desk.tickets.UPDATE

      2.6 Click Create and Connect.

      2.7 Click Connect and click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule

1. Go to Setup(S), choose Workflows under Automation. 

2. In Workflow Rules, select the Department (Dep B) to which you want to move the tickets. 

3. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,

4. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.

5. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.

6. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.

7. Click Next.

In the Execute on section, follow these steps:

8. Select Create.  

9. Click Next.

10. Leave the Criteria section blank and click Next. 

11. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.

12. Under Basic Information, enter a Name and Description for the custom function.         

13. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the argument mapping as below: 

       13.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and from the Value drop-down list, select Ticket Id under the Tickets Section.                                         

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

1. //----------- User Input -------------
2. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
3. fromDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_from_department";
4. toDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_to_department";
5. agentAPIName = "cf_agent_name";
6. //----------- Configuration ------------------
7. logs = Collection();
8. timeEntryParam = Map();
9. cf = Map();
10. historyParam = Map();
11. historyParam.put("from",0);
12. historyParam.put("limit",1);
13. historyParam.put("fieldName","departmentId");
14. ticketHistory = invokeurl
15. [
16. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/History"
17. type :GET
18. parameters:historyParam
19. connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
20. ];
21. logs.insert("ticketHistory":ticketHistory);
22. if(ticketHistory != null && ticketHistory.get("data") != null)
23. {
24. historyDetails = ticketHistory.get("data").get("0");
25. logs.insert("historyDetails":historyDetails);
26. if(historyDetails.get("eventName") == "TicketUpdated" && historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get(0).get("propertyName") == "Department")
27. {
28.   departmentDetailsChanges = historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get("0").get("propertyValue");
29.   previousDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("previousValue").get("name");
30.   currentDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("updatedValue").get("name");
31.   agent = historyDetails.get("actor").get("name");
32.   departmentChangedTime = historyDetails.get("eventTime");
33.   cf.put(fromDepartmentFieldAPIName,previousDepartment);
34.   cf.put(toDepartmentFieldAPIName,currentDepartment);
35.   cf.put(agentAPIName,agent);
36.   timeEntryParam.put("executedTime",departmentChangedTime);
37.   timeEntryParam.put("cf",cf);
38.   logs.insert("timeEntryParam":timeEntryParam);
39.   createTimeEntry = invokeurl
40.   [
41.   url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/timeEntry"
42.   type :POST
43.   parameters:timeEntryParam.toString()
44.   connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
45.   ];
46.   logs.insert("createTimeEntry":createTimeEntry);
47. }
48. }
49. info logs;

NOTE

a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.

b. In Line 3, add the API name of the From Department created in the Time Entry Layout.

c. In Line 4, add the API name of the To Department created in the Time Entry Layout.

d. In Line 5, add the API name of the Agent Name created in the Time Entry Layout.

15. Click Save to save the custom function.

16. Click Save again to save the workflow.

If you would like to move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create  the workflow rule in Dep A as well. 

Creating Ticket Tracking Reports

To track the ticket moved from one department, you can generate Reports under Analytics. 

Go to the Analytics module >> Choose Reports >> Add Report >> Select Tickets module and Time Entry under Related modules. Refer to Create Custom Report.

This custom function will help you keep an eye on your ticket movements, ensuring that none of your important tickets go missing!

Wishing you a delightful Halloween filled with joy and treats, along with a wonderful fall season! 🎃🍂

Until next week,

Warm regards,

Lydia Kiruba | Zoho Desk 

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• Mohd Hayzee

• Ajith(AJ) | Zoho Desk

  

• Shivani | Zoho Desk

  

• 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

• were can i find my invoices i need this for my accountant

  were can i find my invoices i need this for my accountant, how can i get id direct to my email?

• ONLY email field not populating Writer fillable document (randomly)

  I have a Zoho Writer fillable document that has pulled all my data from my Zoho Sheets file, EXCEPT the email column. It pulled every data before and after that column with no issues. Screenshots attached. It's not my first time using the app or the feature,

• My number is marked as spam

  Hello Zoho Mail Support, My phone number was incorrectly flagged as “spam” during sign-up. This is my personal number, and I have not engaged in any spam activities. Kindly review and verify my account so I can proceed with my email setup. Thanks.

• Personnalisation des paramètres dans Zoho Mail

  Pourquoi cela compte-t-il ? La personnalisation des paramètres dans Zoho Mail permet aux administrateurs de configurer l’environnement de messagerie en fonction des besoins spécifiques de leur organisation. Que ce soit pour alléger l’interface pour certaines

• How To Save Data Into Zoho CRM Sandbox

  Hi Community, I want to save data into my zoho sandbox , for this I am using this api endpoint - https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Patients but I am getting this error - { "success": false, "message": "Zoho API request failed", "error": { "code": "INVALID_MODULE",

• Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

  Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They

• Question about retrieving unsubscribed contacts (outside of lists) via API

  Hello, I am currently using Zoho Marketing Automation and would like to integrate it with our company’s core system. For this purpose, I am exploring the API options available to retrieve contact information. Specifically, I would like to know if there

• Getting “mandatory field missing: Service_Line_Items” When Creating Work Order via Zoho Flow Deluge

  Hi Team, I’m trying to create a Work Order in Zoho FSM with only a Service Line Item (no Parts). However, I keep getting this error: Work Order Response: {"code":"MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND","details":{"api_name":"Service_Line_Items"},"message":"required field

• How to customize the colors of the Client Portal login screen and add the company logo?

  As title, how to customize the colors of the Client Portal login screen and add the company logo?

• Daily updates/fixes and how to see what was changed?

  When I receive the notification that zoho was updated and I need to refresh it. How can I see what was changed or fixed? Sometimes they change things that effect my books and I need to know what they did. For example over this past weekend something was

• Upcoming Change: Snowflake Username/Password Authentication Deprecation – Action Required

  Hello Users, Snowflake has officially announced that username and password-based authentication will be deprecated by November 2025. You can find the official announcement [here]. If you're using a Snowflake connection in Zoho Analytics to import data,

• Why should I choose Zoho Inventory vs Odoo?

  Hello there! I have used Zoho in different companies I've worked in, and I have a positive perception of it. I am starting a new import business for pipes, tubes, fittings, valves, elbows, etc., which all have serial numbers, cast numbers, etc., so I

• Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | July 2025

  Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this July. Zoho Mail Import bookmarks from Pocket Worried about losing your Pocket bookmarks? Don't worry we have got you.

• PLEASE FIX YOR BUGS

  PICTURES ARE BEING REJECTED DESPITE THEM FOLLOWING THE GUIDELINES ON DIMENTIONS.

• Kaizen# 204 - Answering Your Questions | Perform Field Updates before Blueprint transition via Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. One of the questions we received through your Kaizen feedback was: “How can I update fields before Blueprint transition and how to prevent a transition based on a condition using Client Script?”

• Create online meetings for Booking Pages with Zoho Meetings and Zoom

  Greetings, We hope you're all doing well. We're excited to share some recent enhancements to Bigin's Booking Pages. As you know, Booking Pages let you create public pages to share your availability so that your customers can easily book time slots with

• Filters in audit logs

  Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin. We'll go over each one in detail. Previously, there were no filters available to narrow down data in audit logs. Now, we've introduced

• Enhanced help options in Bigin

  Greetings, We're excited to introduce a new enhancement to Bigin's Help section: a comprehensive Help Options panel that brings together all your support resources in a single, well-organized space. Previously, the Need Help? menu provided only a limited

• Zoho FSM API Developer Needed

  Hi, I’m looking for a developer with experience using Zoho FSM APIs. Scope: Connect WordPress website booking form to Zoho FSM Check availability (date, time, region) Create Work Orders + Service Appointments automatically Notify both customer and scheduler

• Revenue Management: #4 What if there are uncertainties in project or service delivery?

  Our previous post taught us how Zoho Billing makes life easy for businesses with its automated revenue recognition rule. However, certain businesses have more challenges that an automated system cannot handle, and there are certain situations where automated

• This mobile number has been marked spam. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com

  Bom dia, estou tentando colocar o número 11 94287-6695 e esta com erro "This mobile number has been marked spam. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com" pode me ajudar, por favor?

• Items Serial Tracking Issue

  We enabled Zoho Items inventory tracking then disabled it after some time now we want to enable it again When I check the missing serial number reports I see one item But I cant see any option to Add the serial numbers Where and how to add the serial

• Composite Services and Account Tracking

  I am looking to garner support/request the ability to make composite services. A quick search in the forums brings up multiple requests for this feature. I fail to see why an item is mandatory while services are optional. I also would like to see the

• Zoho Payroll integration with Zoho Books - unable to match multiple bank feeds to one wage payment

  For one employee's wage, I make two partial payments. Those bank feed transactions come into Zoho Books via bank integration. I make one pay-run for the month in Zoho Payroll and that comes into Zoho Books via the Zoho integration. Zoho Books doesn't let me match multiple bank feed transactions against a single wage item. Please fix urgently. I can't complete my books because of this.

• Add Checkbox Selection & Bulk Actions to Delivery Challans Module

  Hi Zoho Team, I’ve noticed that in the Sales Orders module, there are checkboxes beside each entry that allow users to select multiple records for bulk actions such as print, email, or delete. However, in the Delivery Challans module, this option appears

• Can't be able to check-in in laptop

  even after giving location access still i can't be able to check-in in laptop.

• Compensation Cess on Coal ₹400 per tonne. ?????

  The compensation cess rate varies by the type of product. And the cess is calculated based on the value of the product without GST. Coal, for example, comes with a cess of ₹400 per tonne. That means that if you sell 2 tonnes of coal that have a value

• 7 month over zoho book purchase but still not immpliments Golive

  7 month over zoho book purchase but still not immpliments Golive one problems zoho team short out then other problems come still very poor mangments and immliments team . struggling with the templates in ZOHO Books. Especially with the placement of some

• Average Costing / Weighted Average Costing

  Hello fellow maadirs. I understand Zoho Books uses FIFO method of dealing with inventory costing, but do you guys have any plans to introduce average costing? We indians need average costing. It's part of our culture. Please. I beg thee. Thanks.

• SMS to customers from within Bigin

  Hi All, Is there anyone else crying out for Bigin SMS capability to send an SMS to customers directly from the Bigin interface? We have inbuilt telephony already with call recordings which works well. What's lacking is the ability to send and receive

• How to update/remove file in zoho creator widgets using javascript API

  Hi Team, I have developed a widget which allows inserting and updating records I have file upload field with multiple file upload. Now while doing insert form record, I am using uploadFile API to upload files for that record. I am using updateRecord API

• Parent & Member Accounts (batch updating / inheritance)

  Hello, I find the Parent Account functionality very useful for creating custom views and reports, but was wondering if I can also carry out batch editing on all members (aka children) of a Parent Account at the same time. Alternatively, can I set members to automatically inherit the values of the parent? For example: We have a chain of supermarkets that buy our products. These supermarkets are all members of a Parent Account in our CRM. We release a new product and all of the member stores wish to

• Edit Legend of Chart

  I would like to edit the legend of the chart. Every time I enable the legend, I get a very unhelpful (1), and when I try to type to change to what I would desire, nothing happens, which is very frustrating. I've gone through your online tutorials and nowhere can I find a legend settings button. This seems a simple fix, where can edit the legend? Thanks.

• Extended timeouts for APIs beyond 40secs for to accomodate LLMs

  A 40 second max response time for API calls is fine when connecting to most services, however is unsuitable when dealing with LLMs (ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini) where the response timing is very uncertain. Is there any way to increase this? It would be great

• Deletion of Zoho Account

  To whom it may concern, Good day, My account has been created incorrectly in Zoho and I am not able to join my Company's Zoho account - attached screenshot for your kind reference Alphatronmarine - Portal Kindly advise procedure to delete this current

• Workflow for deposit to bank account

  Hello, Is it possible to make a workflow when a deposit is made to your bank account which is coupled to Zoho books? I want Zoho to sent an email each time a deposit is made to our bank account via a workflow. Regards, Steven

• Marking Retainer invoice paid through Deluge

  Hey Everyone, We have a scenario where we are collecting deposit payments on our website. Now, in zoho books, we need to create a retainer invoice and mark it as paid automatically using deluge just like we can mark normal invoices as paid. I have tried

• Create a new record in custom module vi custom button

  I have zoho books premium plan . I have 2 custom modules in zoho books. 1. Goods Receipt 2. Delivery Order, I need to select multiple records from Goods Receipt and create a new Delivery order from these multiple records. (like multilple sales order into

• Profile date settings

  At present I have "EEE, MMMM dd, yyyy" but this takes an exessive amount of column space, we should be able to input our own format. I would like to use "EEE, MMM dd, yy" - a much shorter version of the above but with the same abbreviated info, requiring

• Delivery Method Field in Sales Order Module

  In Books and in Sales orders, the "Delivery Method" field seems to allow for anything to be entered and it seems to store those entries for future use.  When you chose to convert a sales order to a purchase order, the related field is now called "Shipment

• Next Page