Kaizen 221 - Workflow & Actions Reports APIs
But as their automated ecosystem has grown to nearly 100 workflow rules, a new challenge has emerged for the system administrators: Are these workflows actually doing what they were built to do? Are these automations actually working day-to-day?
A workflow can be perfectly configured yet have no impact if it never runs. A webhook could be sending data to a dead endpoint, or a critical email notification might go silent without anyone noticing.
While the CRM UI allows them to click into any single workflow to see its execution details or check the status of a specific webhook, this data is trapped in dozens of individual screens. To answer strategic questions like "What's the overall health of our automation?" or "Where should we focus our optimization efforts?", they would need to manually open, check, and compile data from over a hundred different places.
This is where the Reporting APIs become indispensable. They allow Zylker to aggregate all this scattered UI data into their central dashboard, which supports proactive governance at scale.
STEP 1: Find workflows with heavy or complex actions
Using Get Actions Count in Workflow Rules
During their initial audit, Zylker noticed something interesting: within the same module, some workflows had just one or two actions, while others had ten or more bundled together. While this inconsistency wasn't necessarily wrong, after years without a cleanup they wanted to review which workflows had become particularly complex and decide whether they needed updating or splitting.
To identify such rules systematically, they call:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/workflow_rules/actions/actions_count?ids={id1, id2, id3, ..}
This API returns a detailed count of how many actions each rule contains. Using the response from API, the admins can choose to work on the Workflow Rules by complexity. In the UI, this requires inspecting workflows one by one. But using this API, up to 100 Workflows can be inspected in a single API call. The entire system can be analyzed in a matter of seconds!
Here is what the response looks like:
|
{ "workflow_rules": [ { "id": "4876876000016390024", "conditions": [ { "sequence_number": 1, "instant_actions": { "actions_count": [ { "type": "field_updates", "value": 1 }, { "type": "add_tags", "value": 1 }, { "type": "email_notifications", "value": 1 }, { "type": "webhooks", "value": 1 } ] }, "scheduled_actions": [ { "actions_count": [ { "type": "tasks", "value": 1 } ] } ], "id": "4876876000016390025" } ] }, { "id": "4876876000011208001", "conditions": [ { "sequence_number": 1, "instant_actions": { "actions_count": [ { "type": "assign_owner", "value": 1 } ] }, "scheduled_actions": null, "id": "4876876000011208002" }, { "sequence_number": 2, "instant_actions": { "actions_count": [ { "type": "assign_owner", "value": 1 } ] }, "scheduled_actions": null, "id": "4876876000011208004" }, { "sequence_number": 3, "instant_actions": { "actions_count": [ { "type": "assign_owner", "value": 1 } ] }, "scheduled_actions": null, "id": "4876876000011208006" } ] } // ...other workflow rules omitted for brevity ] } |
The response is a granular breakdown, not just a simple total. For each workflow rule (id), you see every condition (sequence_number). Within each condition, the actions_count array under instant_actions and scheduled_actions lists the type of each action (email_notifications, webhooks, tasks, etc.) and the count (value) of that specific action type in that section.
In simple terms, the API tells us: For every workflow, for every condition, how many actions does it perform, and what kind are they?
STEP 2: Diagnose execution health: Is it working or just configured?
Using get Workflow Rule usage report API
Identifying complex workflows is important, but Zylker’s admins also need to figure out if they are are actually working. This is a crucial part of automation governance.
A workflow might be executing regularly, but an email notification configured inside it may bounce every time. A webhook may silently fail due to a server issue. These operational issues are difficult to detect by simply knowing whether a workflow has executed.
In the CRM UI, admins can click View Usage for a workflow. But this still exposes information one rule at a time and without aggregation across rules. When you operate nearly a hundred workflows, this method does not scale.
To understand action-level outcomes inside a specific workflow, Zylker uses:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/workflow_rules/{workflow_rule_ID}/actions/usage?executed_from={from_date}&executed_till={to_date}
This API returns rich statistics, including:
-
how many times the workflow executed
-
how many times each action inside it succeeded or failed
-
delivery metrics for emails (open, sent, delivered, bounced, clicked)
-
scheduled vs. instant action performance
-
which conditions executed successfully
Here is a sample response:
|
{ "workflow_rules": [ { "trigger_count": 3, // Total times this workflow was triggered "name": "High Value Lead Rule", // Workflow name "id": "4876876000013248001", // Workflow ID
"conditions": [ // Usage details grouped per condition { "instant_actions": { "actions": [ //Instant actions execution details { "queue_count": 0, //Asynchronous actions pending for execution in the queue "related_details": { //Email delivery metrics for bulk email_notifications actions "bulk_mail": false, "unopened": 0, "sent_percentage": 100, "opened": 1, "delivered": 1, "unsent": 0, "bounced": 0, "clicked": 0, "sent": 1 }, "name": "High revenue Lead added", //Action name "success_count": 1, // Number of successful executions "failure_count": 0, // No failures for this action "id": "4876876000016390103", // Action ID "type": "email_notifications", // Action type "associated_time": "2025-10-16T16:19:58+05:30" // When this action was added to the workflow }, ...... //omitted for brevity
] },
"scheduled_actions": [ // Scheduled actions usage metrics { "id": "4876876000016390118", // ID of the scheduled action block "actions": [ { "queue_count": 0, //Asynchronous actions pending for execution in the queue "related_details": { //Email delivery metrics for bulk email_notifications actions "bulk_mail": false, "unopened": 0, "sent_percentage": 100, "opened": 1, "delivered": 1, "unsent": 0, "bounced": 0, "clicked": 0, "sent": 1 }, "name": "High revenue Lead added", "success_count": 1, // Number of successful executions "failure_count": 1, // Number of failures "id": "4876876000016390103", "type": "email_notifications", "associated_time": "2025-10-16T16:19:58+05:30" } ] } ],
"usage_count": 2, // The number of times this condition matched "id": "4876876000013248002" // Condition ID },
// more condition blocks omitted for brevity ],
"reset_time": "2025-10-16T16:23:04+05:30" //When usage metrics were last reset } ] }
|
This single API call provides what would take hours of manual UI investigation, i.e., a complete performance audit. By scripting this for their key workflows, Zylker transforms workflow management from a time-consuming manual task to an easy, automated process.
STEP 3: Monitor system-wide integration health
The workflow usage report gave Zylker deep insight into individual workflows. But they still have unanswered questions about their external integrations.
Zylker relies on webhooks to push deal data to their project management tool, sync contacts to their marketing platform, and notify their support system. A single failing webhook can break an entire business process, and these failures often happen silently.
The CRM UI provides detailed views of each webhook's activity. However, identifying patterns across all integrations, like silent failures or volume anomalies, requires manually consolidating data from multiple screens. For teams with many integrations, this consolidation becomes time-consuming to perform regularly.
Zylker solves this by using the Webhooks Actions Usage Report API to get time-series data for all integrations at once, followed by the Get Action Failures API for diagnostics.
3.1 Track volume trends and spot anomalies using Webhooks Actions Usage Report API
They call the usage report API grouped by date and resource to see daily call volumes:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/webhooks/actions/usage_reports?group_by=date,resource&type=webhooks&from_date={date}
Sample Response:
|
{ "data_usage": [ { "date": "2025-12-09", "resource": { "name": "Premium Lead Alert", "id": "4876876000016390771" }, "count": 4, "type": "webhooks" }, { "date": "2025-12-09", "resource": { "name": "Deal to Project Sync", "id": "4876876000017550012" }, "count": 4, "type": "webhooks" }, { "date": "2025-12-09", "resource": { "name": "Contact to Marketing Platform", "id": "4876876000017550018" }, "count": 8, "type": "webhooks" }, { "date": "2025-12-08", "resource": { "name": "Deal to Project Sync", "id": "4876876000017550012" }, "count": 8, "type": "webhooks" }, // ...omitted for brevity ... { "date": "2025-12-07", "resource": { "name": "Deal to Project Sync", "id": "4876876000017550012" }, "count": 1, // Anomaly: very low number "type": "webhooks" }, // ... remaining entries omitted for brevity ... ], "info": { "max_limit": 2500, "per_page": 200, "count": 12, "page": 1, "more_records": false } } |
The response provides a daily log of which webhooks fired and how often. The real insight comes from analyzing two key patterns:
-
Missing activities: If a webhook that typically appears daily suddenly has no entries for multiple days, it indicates the upstream workflow has stopped. This is a silent business process failure.
-
Volume Anomalies: If a normally steady webhook shows a 300% spike in daily calls, it could indicate system errors generating duplicate records, or legitimate business surges worth investigating.
From the response data, Zylker can instantly spot that the Deal to Project Sync webhook's execution dropped to just 1 call on a specific day, which is a volume anomaly. Meanwhile, the Premium Lead Alert webhook may be missing entirely from recent dates, which is a missing activity alert.
3.2 Investigate Webhooks failures with Get Action Failures API - Webhooks
Volume anomalies tell Zylker that something is wrong. To understand what went wrong and where, they need detailed failure diagnostics.
For this, they use the Get Action Failures – Webhooks API:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/webhook_failures?from=2025-10-15&to=2025-10-22
You can optionally filter by:
-
webhook_id : to focus on a specific webhook
-
module : to see failures only for a specific module
-
from and to : to restrict the date range (max 90 days).
Sample Response:
|
{ "webhook_failures": [ { "webhook": { // The webhook that failed "name": "Premium Lead Alert", "id": "4876876000016390771" }, "entity_details": { // Record that triggered the webhook "module": { "api_name": "Leads", "id": "4876876000000002175" }, "name": "Freelancer.com", "id": "4876876000016474049" }, "failure_time": "2025-10-21T17:08:07+05:30", // When the failure occurred "failure_reason": "page_notfound", // Why it failed (e.g., page_notfound, unauthorized, timeout) "id": "4876876000016474075", // Failure entry ID "workflow_rule": { // Workflow that triggered this webhook "name": "WF-C", "id": "4876876000016390881" } }, //... omitted for brevity ], "info": { "per_page": 200, "count": 17, "page": 1, "more_records": false } } |
With a single request, Zylker now has a clear picture of exactly which workflows are causing failures, which records are impacted, and the precise technical reason for the failure. With this information at hand, they can promptly fix the issues and ensure that critical integrations do not silently break.
STEP 4: Ensure reliable communication through Email Notifications usage reports
Emails sent through workflows drive essential actions at Zylker. Sales managers get notified when high-value leads enter the system, account directors get alerted on lost deals, and service teams receive escalations. If these triggered emails are not sent consistently or begin spiking unexpectedly, decision-makers may be blind to critical updates.
To understand how workflow-triggered emails are being used over time, Zylker uses the Email Notification Actions Usage Report API.
Sample Request:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications/actions/usage_reports?group_by=date,resource,type&type=email_notifications&from_date=2025-12-01
Sample Response:
|
{ "data_usage": [ { "date": "2025-12-09", // When the email was triggered "resource": { "name": "Lost Deal Alert", // Email notification name "id": "4876876000013500873" }, "count": 5, // Number of times it was sent that day "type": "email_notifications" }, { "date": "2025-12-09", "resource": { "name": "High Value Lead Notification", "id": "4876876000016390889" }, "count": 2, "type": "email_notifications" }, { "date": "2025-12-08", "resource": { "name": "Lost Deal Alert", "id": "4876876000013500873" }, "count": 8, // Higher usage on this day "type": "email_notifications" } // ... additional entries omitted ], "info": { "max_limit": 2500, "per_page": 200, "count": 18, "page": 1, "more_records": false } } |
By reviewing usage trends over time, Zylker can spot early signs of issues at either layer. If an email notification that normally triggers every day suddenly shows zero usage, it could mean the workflow condition has stopped matching, or it might indicate a failure due to factors like bounced addresses, inactive users, or restricted mail settings. Likewise, an unexpected spike in email executions might reveal either a legitimate business surge or a workflow repeatedly triggering because of duplicate records, import errors, or incorrect criteria.
In either case, Zylker is now in a position to take informed decisions.
Conclusion
Zylker began this journey wanting stronger workflow automation. Along the way, they learned how to discover, configure, update, and extend workflow rules and actions using APIs. But as their automation ecosystem grew, a new responsibility emerged regarding governing what they had built.
The Reports APIs complete that responsibility.
-
Action Counts reveal how complex each workflow has become
-
Workflow Usage Reports show whether actions are actually executing, succeeding, or quietly failing.
-
Webhook Usage and Failure Reports give a clear picture on the Webhook execution health.
-
Email Usage Reports highlight patterns in email communication actions.
With this complete toolkit, Zylker no longer just has automations. They understand them, analyze them, and continuously improve them. Their workflows have evolved from fragile scripts to managed business assets with known performance characteristics and early warning systems.
This concludes our Kaizen series on Workflow & Actions APIs. We hope this series has helped you to build, manage, and govern automation systems in your own organization.
If you have any feedback or questions, please let us know in the comments or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com.
Until next time, Happy coding!
Additional Reading:
Topic Participants
Anu Abraham
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 thisKaizen #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 howKaizen #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
Add an background image to an email template in CRM
Hi all, We wants to put an background image behind all our email templates. Is there a way to import this thru html. If i put the option background image in <body style="background-image:...</body> and i look to the preview it shows our background, butIs there a way to show contact emails in the Account?
I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detailHow do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects
Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapilCopy contents of File Upload Field into Workdrive
Hello, I have set up our CRM so that a Workdrive folder is automatically created for each Deal via workflow, this adds the id of the folder into a dedicated field. We also have a field on each Deal called 'Approved Layout', which is a file upload field.Deleting a memorized email address
How can I delete a memorized email address? Even though the address has been deleted from Contacts, Zoho mail still auto suggests the address when typing it into the TO field. Thanks!ZeptoMail API
Hello Since today, we experience issues with the ZeptoMail API. When trying to send e-mails using: https://api.zeptomail.eu/v1.1/email we receive the error: (503) Site unavailable due to a traffic surge. Please try again shortly. I kindly ask you to identify553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain - gzkcompany.ro
Hi there, Can you please assist me in getting the right domain settings? I just renewed my domain subscription, after expired and i got error: 553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain - gzkcompany.ro Zoho mail can receive emails, but its impossible toNot able to receive emails for a while
I am not able to receive emails for a while now.Confirmation requested: eligibility and process to downgrade to Forever Free — tenant bigbanghawking.com
Thank you for your reply. I am testing Zoho Mail from Brazil with the tenant bigbanghawking.com (endpoint: mail.zoho.com) and we are currently on the Premium trial that expires 21/01/2026. Before deciding whether to pay or cancel, I need written confirmationZoho API v2.0 - get ALL users from ALL projects
Hello, I've been trying to work on an automatization project lately and I find it difficult to work with this strict structure. To be more explicit, if i would like to get all users participating in a project i would need to get all projects first. Same thing with projects. If i want to get all projects, I would need to get all portals first. The problem with this aproach is that it consumes a lot of time and resources. I want to ask if there is another way of gettingالموقع لا يقوم بالسداد
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته وبعد من أمس وانا احاول السداد للدومين YELLOWLIGHT ولا اتمكن من السداد اقوم بتعبئة جميع البيانات ولكن دون جدوى يطلع لى حدث خطأ ماNew in Office Integrator: Enhanced document navigation with captions and cross references
Hi users, We're pleased to introduce captions, table of tables and figures, and cross-references in the document editor within Zoho Office Integrator. These features allow you to structure documents efficiently and simplify document navigation for yourWhere Do I set 24h time format in Cliq?
Where Do I set 24h time format? Thanks🎉 ¡Seguimos trayendo novedades a Español Zoho Community! 🎉 Confirmada la agenda y ubicación para los Workshops Certificados
Si todavía no te has hecho con tu entrada para nuestros Workshops Certificados del próximo 26 y 27 de marzo o, por el contrario, estabas esperando que confirmáramos dónde los celebraremos, ¡este post es para ti! 📍¿Dónde nos vemos?📍 Nuestros WorkshopsUser is already present in another account error in assigning users to marketing automation
Hello everyone Greeting, I had a problem in assigning user in marketing automation, when I try to add it I see this error: (User is already present in another account error) what should I do?How do I get complete email addresses to show?
I opened a free personal Zoho email account and am concerned that when I enter an email address in the "To", "CC", fields, it changes to a simple first name. This might work well for most people however I do need to see the actual email addresses showingWhat's New in Zoho POS - January 2026
Hello everyone, Welcome to Zoho POS’s monthly updates, where we share our latest feature updates, enhancements, events, and more. Let’s take a look at how January went. Sort and resolve conflicts Conflicts are issues that may arise when registers andOutlook is blocking incoming mail
Outlook is blocking all emails sent from the Zoho server. ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately, messages from [136.143.169.51] weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list (S3150). It looksNot receiving email from customers and suppliers
I am getting error . most of the customers tell me not able to send me email please check i have attached screenshotCreate user
Hello I want to create user, but i get this error Unusual activity detected from this IP. Please try again after some time.File emails in Shared email folder
Hi, I am unable to allow users to collaborate in Shared email folders: User 1 shares a folder let's say "SharedTopic" with full permissions Users 2 and 3 can see this folder but are unable to add emails to this folder or search in this folder. For example,Consolidated report for multi-organisation
I'm hoping to see this feature to be available but couldn't locate in anywhere in the trial version. Is this supported? The main aim to go to ERP is to have visibility of the multi-organisation in once place. I'm hopeful for this.How to Switch from Outlook for Mac to Outlook for Windows
The most often used file formats for users to manage crucial data are OLM and PST files. PST files keep a copy of data on the configured system from Outlook, while the OLM file contains the Mac Outlook data items, which are only accessible with OutlookName autocomplete
Hi, During searching emails the web tool does not always propose the auto-completion of the saved emails. As a result I either have to go to contacts and look up the exact email, or the exact full name including the middle name and any dots, which isAre custom portals accessible on the Zoho learn smartphone app?
In other words, can users external to my organisation, once signed up, use the app in the same way as internal users? ThanksHow to increase my Zoho sign limit.
I cannot send a document/contract for signature. Zoho sign says I reached my monthly limit. May I know how to fix this please? Thanks!Can not add m365 outlook account to zohomail.
I am attempting to use zoho mail as an imap client to add my outlook.com m365 account. In the m365 exchange admin center i have made sure the imap is enabled. In zoho mail i go to settings, mail accounts, add account, add imap account, i select "outlook",Unable to attach Work Order / Service Appointment PDF to Email Notifications (Zoho FSM)
I’m trying to include the Work Order PDF or Service Appointment PDF as an attachment in Email Notifications (automation/notification templates), but I don’t see any option to attach these generated PDFs. Is this currently supported in Zoho FSM? If not,local file csv import problem
The issue occurs when I upload a CSV file via Databridge. In the preview, everything looks correct — the values are in the proper columns. However, after clicking Import, the first column becomes empty, and the values from that column appear in a newFunción Deshacer y Rehacer
Hola. Soy un reciente usuario de Zoho Notebook que he migrado desde Evernote. He encontrado en falta una función que considero muy importante: un botón para "deshacer". Es frustrante cuando se borra un parte del texto o un archivo de una nota, generalmenteTip #59- Technician Console: Exploring View option- 'Insider Insights'
Hello Zoho Assist Community! Ever wondered how technicians adapt quickly during a live support session? Imagine a customer reaching out with an issue that’s disrupting their work. The technician starts a remote session and begins troubleshooting rightMRP or Manufacturing Module for Zoho
We have been searching for options for a production planning or MRP that will integrate with Zoho. Zoho Creator is pushed as a platform that can have an MRP built from scratch but we would like to find more of an out of the box solution and modify it to fit our needs. Are there any recommendations? Would Zoho consider creating a custom solution in Creator to support this need?encountering an error when attempting to associate an email with a Deal using the Zoho CRM extension in Zoho Mail.
When I click "Yes, associate," the system displays an "Oops!! Something went wrong" error message. I have attached a screenshot of the issue for reference.Can 1 Zoho CRM instance sync with 2 Zoho Marketing Automation instances?
Can 1 Zoho CRM instance sync with 2 Zoho Marketing Automation instances?Can I add Conditional merge tags on my Templates?
Hi I was wondering if I can use Conditional Mail Merge tags inside my Email templates/Quotes etc within the CRM? In spanish and in our business we use gender and academic degree salutations , ie: Dr., Dra., Sr., Srta., so the beginning of an email / letterZoho mail account ownership transfer
We recently took over another company and have assumed responsibility for its Zoho account, including Zoho Mail and all related services. We would like to formally transfer ownership of this account to our organization. Could you please outline the completeEmail Authentication is Failing
I'm trying to setup gitlab with email authentication. I used the following configs picked up from: https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/smtp/ gitlab_rails['smtp_enable'] = true gitlab_rails['smtp_address'] = "smtp.zoho.com" gitlab_rails['smtp_port']DMARC reports for mail I didn't send: how to deal with?
I know the enthusiastic amateur's bare minimum about e-mail; am able to set up a Thunderbird account and know the basic acronyms. I have a Zoho Mail account connected to my domain, and have set up SPF, DMARC and DKIM successfully according to Zoho's instructionms
Email set up for communicationFix the speed
It takes ages to load on every step even though my dataset is quite small.Next Page