Kaizen 224 - Quote-driven Deal Reconciliation Using Zoho CRM Functions and Automation

Kaizen 224 - Quote-driven Deal Reconciliation Using Zoho CRM Functions and Automation


Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another instalment in the Kaizen series.

This post covers quote-driven deal reconciliation, emphasizing Functions and Automation to address practical sales challenges.

Business Challenge

Sales organizations often mark deals as Closed Won before commercial transactions fully conclude. Quotes generate promptly upon closure, yet businesses typically provide a brief window such as one week for renegotiation or payment. During this period, currency fluctuations, payment delays, and risk thresholds can significantly alter the final deal value.

This Kaizen demonstrates how Zoho CRM Functions and Automation work together to reconcile deal financials with quote activity over time. Sales, finance, and operations teams can thus access accurate, policy-compliant values.
Here is a typical sequence:
  1. Deal closes with Closed Won status
  2. Quote generates immediately
  3. Customer receives grace period (e.g., one week) for payment or adjustments
Key factors during this window:
  1. Exchange rates fluctuate
  2. Payments may succeed or fail
  3. Business absorbs limited losses(up to 10%, for example)
  4. Major variances trigger renegotiation
CRM must reflect actual outcomes rather than initial closure assumptions. Quotes serve as the authoritative commercial record, with final deal values depending on execution timing. This approach captures intermediate and final financial states to enable automated decisions and audits.

Key business scenarios covered

Scenario 1: Payment is made during the grace period

  1. Quote is generated on day 0
  2. Customer completes payment on day 7
  3. Exchange rate has changed since quote generation

Business Requirement

The business wants to calculate the actual payable amount using the exchange rate on the payment day and store it explicitly in CRM.

Outcome

The realized value is captured and stored, ensuring that reports and downstream systems reflect the true commercial result.

Scenario 2: Acceptable loss threshold (10%)

  1. Exchange rate movement results in a loss
  2. The business is willing to absorb losses up to 10%
  3. Loss exceeds the acceptable threshold

Business requirement

If the loss exceeds the defined tolerance, the quote should move to renegotiation instead of being accepted automatically.

Outcome

CRM enforces pricing policy consistently, without manual intervention or subjective judgment.

Scenario 3: Significant currency fluctuations

  1. Exchange rate volatility is unusually high
  2. Even if loss is within limits, risk exposure is significant

Business requirement

Large fluctuations should trigger renegotiation, regardless of absolute loss percentage.

Outcome

Financial risk is handled proactively based on measurable criteria.

Scenario 4: No payment after the grace period

  1. Customer does not pay within the allowed window
  2. Updated exchange rate is favorable to the business

Business Requirement

If the updated rate is profitable, the quote can be revised and reissued with the new amount.

Outcome

CRM reflects market-aligned pricing while maintaining transparency around why the amount changed.

Why Zoho CRM Functions is the best fit?

This reconciliation pattern requires the following capabilities beyond static configuration.
  1. Reading and reconciling data across Deals and Quotes
  2. Applying time-based and threshold-based business rules
  3. Writing calculated values into dedicated fields
  4. Supporting multiple decision paths(accept, renegotiate, revise)
  5. Running logic at specific business moments
Zoho CRM Functions provide the flexibility and control required to implement this logic cleanly, while automation ensures it runs consistently and reliably.

Custom fields used in this post

Deals

  1. Final Accepted Amount - Currency - Amount finally agreed and accepted
  2. FX Impact Percentage - Percent - Gain or loss due to exchange movement
  3. Reconciliation Status - Picklist - Accepted or Renegotiate
  4. Reconciled On - DateTime- Timestamp of final reconciliation

Quotes

  1. Quote Reference Amount - Currency - Amount at quote generation
  2. Quote Exchange Rate - Decimal - Exchange rate used in quote
  3. Payment Due Date - Date - End of grace period
  4. Potential Payable Amount - Currency - Recalculated amount at evaluation time
  5. FX Variance Percentage - Decimal - Difference vs quoted amount
  6. FX Evaluation Status - Picklist - Pending or Evaluated
  7. Recalculate FX - Checkbox - Explicit recalculation trigger
These fields capture commercial intent and outcome, not just static numbers.

High level automation flow

  1. Deal is marked Closed Won
    1. Workflow triggers a function to generate a Quote
  2. Business updates evaluation inputs when needed
  3. User explicitly triggers FX recalculation
  4. Function
    1. Calculates financial impact
    2. Updates quote and deal
    3. Applies business decisions
  5. CRM reflects finalized commercial reality

Function 1: Generate a Quote from the Deal

This function creates a Quote automatically when a Deal is closed, ensuring downstream processes start immediately and consistently.
void automation.generateQuoteFromDeal(int dealId)
{
deal = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Deals", dealId);
if(deal == null) return;

amount = deal.get("Amount");
exchangeRate = deal.get("Exchange_Rate");
account = deal.get("Account_Name");

productItem = Map();
productItem.put("product", {"id":"<PRODUCT_ID>"});
productItem.put("quantity", 1);
productItem.put("list_price", amount);

productList = List();
productList.add(productItem);

quoteMap = Map();
quoteMap.put("Subject", "Quote for Deal");
quoteMap.put("Deal_Name", dealId);
quoteMap.put("Account_Name", account.get("id"));
quoteMap.put("Product_Details", productList);
quoteMap.put("Quote_Stage", "Draft");
quoteMap.put("Valid_Till", zoho.currentdate.addDay(7));
quoteMap.put("Quote_Reference_Amount", amount);
quoteMap.put("Quote_Exchange_Rate", exchangeRate);

zoho.crm.createRecord("Quotes", quoteMap);
}

Function 2: Reconcile Deal from Quote

This function calculates payable values, evaluates financial impact, and updates the Deal with finalized financial information.
void automation.reconcileDealFromQuote(Int quoteId)
{
info "Starting FX reconciliation for Quote ID: " + quoteId;

// -------------------------------------------------
// Fetch Quote
// -------------------------------------------------
quote = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Quotes", quoteId);
if(quote == null)
{
info "Quote not found";
return;
}

dealInfo = quote.get("Deal_Name");
if(dealInfo == null)
{
info "Quote not linked to Deal";
return;
}

dealId = dealInfo.get("id");

deal = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Deals", dealId);
if(deal == null)
{
info "Deal not found";
return;
}

// -------------------------------------------------
// Mark FX Evaluation as PENDING
// -------------------------------------------------
zoho.crm.updateRecord(
"Quotes",
quoteId,
{"FX_Evaluation_Status" : "Pending"}
);

// -------------------------------------------------
// Read required FX inputs
// -------------------------------------------------
quotedAmount = quote.get("Quote_Reference_Amount");
quoteRate = quote.get("Quote_Exchange_Rate");
evaluationRate = quote.get("Evaluation_Exchange_Rate");

info "Quoted Amount: " + quotedAmount;
info "Quote Rate: " + quoteRate;
info "Evaluation Rate: " + evaluationRate;

if(quotedAmount == null || quoteRate == null || evaluationRate == null)
{
info "Missing required FX inputs";
return;
}

// -------------------------------------------------
// FX Calculations(rounded)
// -------------------------------------------------
payableAmount = (quotedAmount * evaluationRate / quoteRate).round(2);
fxVariance = (((payableAmount - quotedAmount) / quotedAmount) * 100).round(2);

info "Payable Amount: " + payableAmount;
info "FX Variance %: " + fxVariance;

// -------------------------------------------------
// Decide Quote Stage(Business decision here)
// -------------------------------------------------
quoteStage = "";
reconciliationStatus = "";

if(fxVariance <= 10)
{
quoteStage = "Acceptable FX Impact";
reconciliationStatus = "Accepted";
}
else
{
quoteStage = "FX Impact Exceeds Threshold";
reconciliationStatus = "Renegotiate";
}

// -------------------------------------------------
// Update Quote(Final state)
// -------------------------------------------------
quoteUpdate = Map();
quoteUpdate.put("Potential_Payable_Amount", payableAmount);
quoteUpdate.put("FX_Variance_Percentage", fxVariance);
quoteUpdate.put("FX_Evaluation_Status", "Evaluated");
quoteUpdate.put("Quote_Stage", quoteStage);
quoteUpdate.put("Recalculate_FX", false);

quoteResp = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Quotes", quoteId, quoteUpdate);
info "Quote update response:";
info quoteResp;

// -------------------------------------------------
// Update Deal
// -------------------------------------------------
dealUpdate = Map();
dealUpdate.put("Final_Accepted_Amount", payableAmount);
dealUpdate.put("FX_Impact_Percentage", fxVariance);
dealUpdate.put("Reconciliation_Status", reconciliationStatus);
dealUpdate.put(
"Reconciled_On",
zoho.currenttime.toString("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXX")
);

dealResp = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Deals", dealId, dealUpdate);
info "Deal update response:";
info dealResp;

info "FX reconciliation completed successfully";
}

Workflow


Module: Quotes
Trigger: On create or edit
Condition: Recalculate FX = true
Action: Execute reconcileDealFromQuote
Argument: quoteId -> ${Quotes.id}

All decision logic lives inside the function.

Business Outcome

After implementing this pattern,
  1. Deals and quotes stay aligned with real-world behavior
  2. FX risk is measurable and auditable
  3. Renegotiation is policy-driven
  4. Reports reflect finalized values, not assumptions
  5. Sales and finance operate on the same truth.

Summary

Zoho CRM extends beyond static closures by reconciling deals against quote behavior. Functions plus Automation enforce pricing, limit exposure, and capture true outcomes reliably at scale.
The true value of this implementation is not the calculation itself, but the fact that it produces stable, auditable financial states that can be reused across reporting, approvals, integrations, and policy enforcement.

Further extensions

Executive reporting and dashboards

You can build Dashboards that answer questions like
  1. Total revenue before vs after FX reconciliation
  2. Total FX gain or loss by
    1. Region
    2. Currency
    3. Quarter
  3. Sales owner
  4. Percentage of deals renegotiated due to FX risk
Without the function,
  1. FX impact is implicit
  2. Numbers keep changing
  3. Finance does not trust reports
With the function,
  1. Final Accepted Amount is stable
  2. FX Impact % is explicit
  3. Reconciled On gives a time anchor

Policy enforcement and compliance

Examples
  1. Automatically flag deals where FX loss > 10% but status = Accepted
  2. Audit trail for
    1. Who recalculated FX
    2. When renegotiation was triggered
  3. SLA checks when Deals are not reconciled within 'X' days of quote creation
For many companies, FX policy violations are discovered at a later point in time, but you now enforce them at the moment of decision.

Sales coaching and deal hygiene

Unlock insights such as
  1. Which sales reps close deals with high FX volatility or frequently trigger renegotiation?
  2. Which regions or currencies produce unstable deals?
  3. Which deals are consistently over-optimistic at closure?

Other scenarios

  1. Approval and exception workflows
  2. Integration with ERP or accounting systems
  3. Predictive insights to forecast FX risk
  4. Historical snapshots for audit and analytics

We hope you found this post useful. Let us know your feedback in the comments or write to us at support@zohocrm.com.

Thanks!



=============================================================================



    • 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

    • Special characters (like â, â, æ) breaking when input in a field (encoding issue)

      Hey everyone, We are currently dealing with a probably encoding issue when we populate a field (mostly but not exclusively, 'Last Name' for Leads and Contracts). If the user manually inputs special characters (like ä, â, á etc.) from Scandinavian languages,
    • Set Custom Icon for Custom Modules in new Zoho CRM UI

    • Notes badge as a quick action in the list view

      Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associated
    • Is Zoho Live Chat compatible with WordPress CMS?

      Hello, I have a website called www.jjrlab.com and I'm interested in using Zoho Chat on it. Does it support WordPress CMS? Thanks.
    • Introducing spam detection for webforms: An additional layer of protection to keep your Zoho CRM clean and secure

      Greetings all, One of the most highly anticipated feature launches—Spam Detection in webforms—has finally arrived! Webforms are a vital tool for record generation, but they're also vulnerable to submissions from unauthenticated or malicious sources, which
    • Bring your CRM and Desk app inside SalesIQ with widgets

      Have you ever been confused and frustrated with multiple open tabs and switching back and forth from SalesIQ to other apps to perform your business-specific operations? How effective would it be to have all the required tools and data of the apps you
    • Speak Your Customers' Language: SalesIQ's chatbots now support 30 languages 🤖

      We're unveiling some major upgrades to our chatbot that are set to revolutionize your experience! Now SalesIQ support 30 languages for both Zobot and Answer bot. By speaking your customers' language, you can enhance engagement, improve customer satisfaction,
    • Repeat Column merge in ZOHO writer columns doesn't allow to set max columns per row

      I'm using ZOHO writer to merge data from a ZOHO CRM subform and I want it to make a table. We're using Insert Table for Column Repeat, because this is what we need. (Name of column (Teamname) and underneath that a list of names of teammembers). It works
    • Persisting email signals to contact timeline?

      Hello there. Regarding the email signals that are logged when a contact opens an email, am I correct that these signals are not logged to a contact's timeline? Ideally, I would like to have this context available for future follow-ups, if the contact
    • Trouble with using Apostrophe in Name of Customers and Vendors

      We have had an ongoing issue with how the system recognizes an apostrophe in the name of customers and vendors. The search will not return any results for a name that includes the mark; ie one of our vendors names is "L'Heritage" and when entering the
    • Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

      Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!
    • Upcoming update to Google Drive integration in Zoho Creator

      Hello everyone, We're writing to inform you about an upcoming update to how Zoho Creator integrates with Google Drive. In Zoho Creator, during actions like importing files to create an app or attaching files to fields, you can choose files directly from
    • Changing Account Type in Chart of Accounts

      Does anyone know how to change/edit the account type for an Account name in Chart of Accounts. Zoho will not let me do this for some reason
    • Managing Scheduled Replies

      Communication is most effective when the intended message reaches the right person at the right time. However, this can be challenging when communication occurs across different time zones. By scheduling replies, businesses can ensure that responses reach
    • Show price book list price

      When using price books, once you add products to the price book in the Products related list you can display the Unit price which is the default list price; however, there is no option to show the price book list price. To see the price book list price
    • Allow Attaching Quartz Recordings to Existing Zoho Support Tickets

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request an enhancement to how Zoho Quartz recordings integrate with Zoho Support tickets. Current Behavior: At the moment, each Quartz recording automatically creates a new support ticket. However, in many real-world scenarios:
    • Can I hide empty Contact fields from view?

      Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would be
    • Manage user roles and profiles from the Bigin app (iOS and macOS)

      Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that you can manage user roles and profiles from the Bigin mobile app. The Users & Controls section has three subsections: Users, Profiles, and Roles. Users Employees who belong to your Bigin organization are called
    • Support Bots and Automations in External Channels

      Hello Zoho Cliq Team, How are you? We actively use Zoho Cliq for collaboration, including with our external developers. For this purpose, external channels are a key tool since they work seamlessly within the same interface as all of our other channels
    • Form to PDF template

      I am looking to create a Form and when information is inputted, it will merge it into a PDF template we already have. There could be multiple lines in the form and each line inputs information into a new page of a PDF template.
    • Please verify my account

      Hi, We have just launched our website and received media coverage in our country. Hundreds of users are signing up for our platform every day. We would like to send them a welcome email, but we are unable to do so because our ZeptoMail account has not
    • Subject character limit increase

      We have an occasional user case where subject lines exceed 500 characters which is the ZeptoMail imposed limit. While I understand long subject lines are not "best practice", these are particular notification emails with specific information for client
    • Account blocked

      Yesterday I got my Zeptomail account blocked due to too many hard bounces. My account is used exclusively for sending transactional emails (eg. your order has been shipped, a form has been filled, etc) and the sudden blocking impacted hundreds of websites
    • Nested notebooks

      Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to know if it is possible to nest notebooks. It would be very helpful when there are too many, as it would improve organization. Thank you for your response. Best regards.
    • Cannot see correct DNS config for mail after moving domain to another provider

      I have moved my domain from one provider to another and after that zoho mail stopped working (expected). Problem is, zoho mail admin panel still shows (10 hours after move) that all records are correct while I haven't changed anything in my domain DNS
    • Proactive Alert for Existing Open Tickets per Contact / Account

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, Greetings, and hope you’re doing well. We would like to submit a feature request aimed at improving agent awareness and efficiency when handling tickets in Zoho Desk. Use case When an agent opens a ticket (new or existing), it is
    • Ticket resolution field - can you add links, video, and images?

      Seems like the ticket resolution fields is just a text field. Any plans to add the ability to add links, images...the same functionality in the problem description box? I would like to send the customer a link to a KB article, a link to our Wiki, embed
    • Ticket Resolution - Add rich formatting, screenshots and attachments

      The resolution field only allows plain text at the moment. Many of our resolutions involve posting screenshots as evidence, it would be great for us to be able to have rich text formatting, be able to paste screenshots and add attachments in the solution
    • CRUD actions for Resources via API

      Hello, is it possible to perform CRUD actions through the API for Resources? We want to create a sync from Zoho CRM Car record to Bookings resources to create availabilities for Car bookings. For Test drives, not only the sales person needs to be available,
    • Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard

      Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen. This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potential
    • Convert Lead Automation Trigger

      Currently, there is only a convert lead action available in workflow rules and blueprints. Also, there is a Convert Lead button available but it doesn't trigger any automations. Once the lead is converted to a Contact/Account the dataset that can be fetched
    • I'm getting this error when I try to link an email to a deal inside the Zohomail Zoho CRM extension.

      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.
    • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

      Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.
    • ZOHO add-in issue

      I cannot connect ZOHO from my Outlook. I am getting this error.
    • Marketing Automation

      L.S. Marketing Automation is and has always been part of the Zoho One bundle - according to the information provided on the Zoho Website. Why when I open Marketing Automation do I get the following message?: "Your trial has expired. We hope you enjoyed
    • What's New in Zoho Analytics - January 2026

      Hello Users! We are starting the year with a strong lineup of updates, marking the beginning of many improvements planned to enhance your analytics experience. Explore the latest improvements built to boost performance, simplify analysis, and help you
    • Translation from Chinese (Simplified) to Chinese (Traditional) is not working. It randomly translated. Google Translate accurately but zoho translate is not working at all

      Hi friends, The newly added language for translation. https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/ai-tasks/translate.html "zh" - Chinese "zh-CN" - Chinese (Simplified) "zh-TW" - Chinese (Traditional) my original text: 郑这钻 (and it is zh-CN) translated traditional
    • The Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation

      Social media isn’t just about posting some random content. It’s about why certain content works, how brands stand out, and what makes people pause mid-scroll. The Social Playbook is a monthly community series where we break all of that down. Through real
    • Support for Custom Fonts in Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to use custom fonts in the Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal. Currently only the default fonts (Roboto, Lato, and Montserrat) are available. While these
    • Adding bank details to the contact through API

      How to add bank-related information to the contact while creating it using API? The account number needs to be encrypted before sending it through API but not sure how to encrypt and get those values. Please guide me in this.
    • Next Page