The default integration between Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings is unidirectional, which means that any appointments booked, rescheduled, or deleted in Zoho Bookings will be reflected in Zoho CRM. However, any modifications made to events in Zoho CRM that originated from Zoho Bookings will not be reflected back in Zoho Bookings. Hence, as we're announcing in this community post, we've made the sync bidirectional.

This community post will cover the process of configuring appointment bookings from Zoho CRM in Zoho Bookings, as well as managing appointment statuses such as Canceled, No Show and Completed. We have addressed the rescheduling action in a separate post. To view it, please click on the following link: Reschedule Action

This community post will be beneficial for active Zoho CRM users who handle all their meetings within Zoho CRM. Additionally, you can use this community post as a reference to explore various automation possibilities tailored to your business requirements. For instance, with this post's guidance, when you update a booking's status field to "Completed" in Zoho CRM, it will automatically sync with Zoho Bookings and trigger an automated "Mark as completed" email to customers. This enhancement will improve your Zoho Bookings and Zoho CRM synchronization experience, making appointment management easier.

The purpose of enabling the Zoho CRM integration within Zoho Bookings is to transfer booking details from Zoho Bookings to Zoho CRM. In this configuration, the mandatory field is the Booking ID, which is passed from Zoho Bookings to Zoho CRM through the integration. Whenever an appointment is booked, customer details will be sent to the designated CRM module, and a corresponding record will be created in the Meetings module within Zoho CRM, which will help in automating the workflow.

Here's the complete demo video that covers all the configurations discussed in the community post below:

Timestamps for your reference: 

0:35 - Purpose of this community post

Install the Zoho Bookings for Zoho CRM plugin within your Zoho CRM application. This plugin enables the creation of a "New Appointment" button within the Zoho CRM Leads and Contacts module, which enables you to select the desired booking page you wish to open. You can choose from various workspace, service, or staff booking pages. After configuration, you can initiate the process of scheduling bookings directly from within your Zoho CRM account. 

To update a booking's status (Completed or No Show), we've added a new picklist properties field named "Booking Status" in the Meetings module and configured it with two options: "completed" and "no show". Depending on the booking status chosen, the corresponding booking in Zoho Bookings will be updated.

Whenever a meeting is deleted from the Meetings module, the corresponding booking in the Zoho Bookings app will also be canceled automatically. The meeting can be deleted either from the Meetings module or directly from the calendar.

You first need to establish a connection between Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings. Zoho Bookings is listed as one of the default connections in Zoho CRM, making it simple to set up. Select the Zoho Bookings connection, define the connection name and scope, and you'll be all set. This connection will enable you to link both applications and facilitate the seamless transfer of data. 

Read here for more details on how to create connection in Zoho CRM: Connections

In this context, we'll be creating three functions: one for marking appointments as completed, another for canceling appointments, a third for marking appointments as no shows, and a fourth for rescheduling appointments. For each function, we must also configure arguments, which pass values or data into a function when making a call. Here, we'll pass the booking ID to the function as an argument to update the necessary booking status.

 
     1. Go to Setup > Developer Space > Functions.

     2. In the Functions page, click + Create New Function.

     3. Configure the function name, display name, and description.

     4. Set the category as automation.

More details:  Functions

This opens the Deluge script page.

     5. Next, configure the function's arguments:

          A. Click on Edit Arguments on the Deluge script page.

          B. Set the Parameter Name as bookingID. (Please note that the "bookingID" value is case sensitive and must match 

          C. Set the type as string.

Reference:

Please configure the below code in the Deluge script page. 

Code link: Completed

      1. Go to Setup > Developer Space > Functions.

      2. In the Functions page, click + Create New Function.

      3. Configure the function name, display name, and description.

      4. Set the category as automation.

More details:  Functions

This opens the Deluge script page.

      5. Next, configure the function's arguments:

           A. Click on Edit Arguments on the Deluge script page.

           B. Set the Parameter Name as bookingID. (Please note that the "bookingID" value is case sensitive and must match

                the term used in the code).

           C. Set the type as string. 

Reference:

Please configure the below code on the Deluge script page.

Code link: No show

      1. Go to Setup > Developer Space > Functions.

      2. In the Functions page, click + Create New Function.

      3. Configure the function name, display name, and description.

      4. Set the category as automation.

More details:  Functions

This opens the Deluge script page.

      5. Next, configure the function's arguments:

            A. Click on Edit Arguments on the Deluge script page.

            B. Set the Parameter Name as bookingID. (Please note that the "bookingID" value is case sensitive and must match

                 the term used in the code).

            C. Set the type as string. 

Reference

Please configure the below code on the Deluge script page.

Code link: Cancel appointment 

Below is an explanation of the code that covers all the configurations present in the three functions mentioned above (cancel, mark as completed, and mark as no show).

Line 1: Based on the Zoho Bookings account's data center, we're setting up the API endpoint URL configuration. 

More details: Domain-specific API URLs

Lines 2 - 4: To update appointments, we utilize the Zoho Bookings API. Within the update appointment API, there are two mandatory fields that need to be included: BookingID and action (completed/cancel/noshow). 

Lines 5 - 10: We use the invokeURL task for API calls. To learn more about the invokeURL task, please refer to the following document: InvokeURL task for API calls

Workflow rules are sets of actions (email notifications, tasks and field updates) that are executed when specified conditions are met. Here, we'll generate workflow rules for each action to activate the respective function, thereby automating the appointment status updating process.

More details: Workflow overview

      1. Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.

      2. In the Workflow Rules page, click Create Rule.

      3. Select "Meetings" under Module and configure rule name and description as required.

More details: Create Rule

Reference: 

Part 2: Specifying the rule trigger

More details: Specify rule triggers

      1. Select Record Action > Delete > Done to execute the rule when meetings are deleted.

      4. Click the New Function button.

      1. Press # to choose an argument value.

      3. Click the Save and Associate button.

Reference:

Below is the final flow of the cancel booking workflow:

      1. Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.

      2. In the Workflow Rules page, click Create Rule.

      3. Select Meetings under Module and configure the rule name and description as required.

More details: Create Rule

Reference:

 

      1. Record Action > Edit. 

      2. Enable the Specific field(s) gets modified and configure it per the screenshot below.

          a. This is to ensure that the workflow is executed only when the booking status under the meeting module is
              updated to "No Show".

      4. Instant Actions > Function > New Function.

      5. In the Configure custom function page, select the "no show" function you created from among the functions
          users in your organization have created.

      1. Press # to choose an argument value.

      2. Select Meetings under Module and configure the field as "BookingId".

      3. Click Save and Associate button.

Reference:

Below is the final flow of the "No Show" booking status workflow:

      1. Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.

      2. In the Workflow Rules page, click Create Rule.

      3. Select Meetings under Module and configure rule name and description as required.

Reference:

      1. Record Action > Edit.

      2. Enable the Specific field(s) gets modified setting and configure it per the screenshot below.

            a. This serves to ensure that the workflow is executed only when the booking status under the Meetings module is

                updated to "Completed".

      1. Press # to choose an argument value.

      2. Select Meetings under Module and configure the field as "BookingId".

      3. Click Save and Associate button.

Reference:

Below is the final flow of the "Completed" booking status workflow: