Eighth Insight - Oversee module relationships with Lookups

Eighth Insight - Oversee module relationships with Lookups

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

Oversee module relationships with Lookups


‌Learning about lookups

A lookup field provides a powerful way to display and utilize data from another module directly within a field of your current module. This functionality establishes a seamless connection between different data sources, enabling users to access and work with related information effortlessly. Rather than duplicating data, which leads to inconsistencies and increased data management complexity, a lookup field acts as a bridge that consolidates information.

A lookup field enables users to retrieve and display data from a specific module based on an established relationship between two records. The data from the associated record is displayed within the lookup field, making it easy to view and use related information. Lookup fields are generally editable and show information retrieved from the associated record.
Quote
Lookup fields help display related information, filter data based on related fields, and manage complex relationships between different modules.
IdeaIn a ticketing system, the Contact ID field in the "Tickets" module is a lookup field that retrieves contact information from the "Contacts" module. 

Linking modules

To create connections between two custom modules, it's essential to incorporate lookup fields. These fields are added to module layouts to establish relationships across different modules, whether they are standard-standard, custom-standard, or purely custom. For example, an "Assets" custom module can connect to another custom module or a standard module, such as "Contacts."

This connection allows users to link relevant records (such as contacts) with their respective items (like assets), making it easier to access and view information from either module. Adding a lookup field establishes a direct relationship, which enables users to perform actions such as linking, viewing, unlinking, or generating new tickets without needing to navigate away from the current module.

The importance of linking two modules through a lookup field lies in its ability to enhance information flow and improve data accessibility. By forming distinct relationships between various data points (such as assets and contacts), Zoho Desk facilitates more effective tracking, management, and resolution of customer inquiries and operational tasks. 
Info
Users with the "Manage Layouts and Fields" permission or those in a support administrator role can connect custom or standard modules by adding a lookup field to the module's layout (Standard layout for custom modules) through an easy drag-and-drop interface. 

How it works in practice

There was a small but mighty help desk company called "Fix Tickets." The team at Fix Tickets was dedicated to resolving customer issues promptly and efficiently. One day, they decided to improve their ticketing system with a new feature: lookup fields.


On Monday morning, a customer named Amy reached out with a problem. Her internet was down, and she submitted a ticket through the help desk portal to request assistance. As her ticket entered the system, a lookup field allowed the help desk staff to view relevant information from the Accounts module instantly, the Contracts module, as well as any past tickets. 

Using lookup fields eliminated the need for manual search, and a support agent quickly realized that Amy's account required verification. Meanwhile, Gunther received an email update regarding the status of the customer's ticket. They sent Amy an email update with instructions to verify her account and restore her connection. The entire process was seamless, all thanks to the lookup field functionality, which allowed Fix Tickets to access information quickly and enhance customer satisfaction.


As the week progressed, more tickets came in, and the team continued to rely on the lookup fields. They noticed a significant increase in their efficiency and a decrease in the time spent per ticket. Soon, customer satisfaction scores began to increase as positive reviews poured in from happy customers like Amy.

Uses of Lookup Fields

Data integrity

Lookup fields ensure that data entered into Zoho Desk is valid and consistent. By referencing existing data, such as user accounts or product information, you minimize the chances of errors and maintain the overall integrity of the database.

Consistency across records

Lookup fields ensure that the same values are used consistently across different records. This benefits teams by reducing duplication, enhancing the quality of data available in tickets, and providing team members with more insight into relevant information by linking records across modules.

Improved user experience

By allowing users to select from predefined options, lookup fields make data entry faster and easier. This reduces the time spent typing and searching for information, providing a more efficient ticket submission process.

Improved reporting and analytics

Lookup fields facilitate more accurate and meaningful reporting. By linking tickets to specific accounts, departments, or products, you can generate insights that help improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Streamlined workflow automation

Lookup fields can be utilized in workflow rules to automate ticket assignments and efficiently escalate issues. For instance, if a ticket pertains to a specific product, it can automatically be routed to the relevant product team.

Better relationship management

By associating tickets with customers or contacts through lookup fields, support teams can easily view related interactions and history. This context enables agents to provide more personalized and informed responses.

Simplified data management

Lookup fields enable organisations to manage relationships and processes involving various entities, such as users, products, and departments. Changes to the data automatically reflect wherever it’s invoked by a lookup field to ensure that all users are working with the most current and relevant information.

Faster issue resolution

Providing agents with quick access to related data through lookup fields speeds up the resolution process. Whether it’s identifying the correct department to solve a problem or accessing customer history to investigate an account issue, lookup fields enhance data quality, user experience, and operational efficiency.

Takeaway

Lookup fields can help your organization leverage its data to enhance all aspects of customer service, including routing and managing tickets, resolving customer inquiries, and reporting and analysis. This approach equips users with insights into exactly when and where they need them, which empowers them to make well-informed decisions and deliver effective service.

 

Please stay tuned for more Desk Feature stories.

 

Cheers,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community





                                                  Use cases

                                                  Make the most of Zoho Desk with the use cases.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  eBooks

                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Videos

                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Webinar

                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho Desk basics, from customization to automation and more

                                                   
                                                    
                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Ask the Experts


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner






                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                        Zoho Books Resources


                                                                          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                            Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                              Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                Qntrl Resources


                                                                                  Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                      Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner







                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                              Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方




                                                                                                            • Recent Topics

                                                                                                            • How can I filter a field integration?

                                                                                                              Hi,  I have a field integration from CRM "Products" in a form, and I have three product Categories in CRM. I only need to see Products of a category. Thanks for you answers.
                                                                                                            • ERROR CODE :512 - 5.4.4 DNS error:NXDOMAIN.

                                                                                                              Suddenly we cant send mail, we are getting this error for all outbound mail to multiple domains.
                                                                                                            • Can Zoho Flows repeat Actions more than once?

                                                                                                              I'm attempting to make an intentional Zoho Flow loop using the below layout. However, when "WithinLimit" condition is met, the program fails to execute the action "Get & Add Request Co..." again. Is this by design? Is Zoho Flows unable to repeat actions
                                                                                                            • Unveiling Cadences: Redefining CRM interactions with automated sequential follow-ups

                                                                                                              Last modified on 01/04/2024: Cadences is now available for all Zoho CRM users in all data centres (DCs). Note that it was previously an early access feature, available only upon request, and was also known as Cadences Studio. As of April 1, 2024, it's
                                                                                                            • customer data security

                                                                                                              We are exploring ways to enhance our within Zoho CRM. Our Goal: We want to fully integrate RingCentral with Zoho CRM to enable click-to-call functionality for our sales team. However, to comply with data privacy regulations and protect customer contact
                                                                                                            • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

                                                                                                              Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly
                                                                                                            • Sync CRM inventory data with Zoho Books

                                                                                                              I just switched everything over to ZoHo books, but I am trying to find out why the CRM Estimates, Invoices, and Sales Orders created in ZoHo CRM are not then duplicated in ZoHo Books? I had Quickbooks before, and had to do everything twice, I thought
                                                                                                            • mask Customer phone number and agents cant see customer phone number

                                                                                                              Is there any way we can integrate Zoom Phone with Zoho CRM while ensuring that customer phone numbers remain masked? We need a solution where agents can make outbound calls but cannot see customer phone numbers. Please let us know if there is any solution
                                                                                                            • Email Reminders on Shared Calendars

                                                                                                              How do we turn off the setting that emails reminders to everyone who has accepted or declined a calendar invite? If 8 of us have been invited to the same meeting, we receive 8 notifications for every step of the process, from invitation to decision.
                                                                                                            • Default Sorting on Related Lists

                                                                                                              Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created
                                                                                                            • One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

                                                                                                              I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and
                                                                                                            • WebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing

                                                                                                              I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful if you implemented standard protocols such as WebDAV / FTP / SFTP so that alternative inc clients can be used.
                                                                                                            • What's New in Zoho Inventory | Q2 2025

                                                                                                              Hello Customers, The second quarter have been exciting months for Zoho Inventory! We’ve introduced impactful new features and enhancements to help you manage inventory operations with even greater precision and control. While we have many more exciting
                                                                                                            • How to refresh a ticket view ?

                                                                                                              I am doing a widget where I send a rest api call to make a new draft to the ticket I am viewing. The issue is sometimes it refresh a ticket view and I can see inserted draft right away, but sometimes I do not see it even if it is inserted correctly and
                                                                                                            • Ugh! - Text Box (Single Line) Not Enough - Text Box (Multi-line) Unavailable in PDF!

                                                                                                              I provide services, I do not sell items. In each estimate I send I provide a customized job description. A two or three sentence summary of the job to be performed. I need to be able to include this job description on each estimate I send as it's a critical
                                                                                                            • Merge Items

                                                                                                              Is there a work around for merging items? We currently have three names for one item, all have had a transaction associated so there is no deleting (just deactivating, which doesn't really help. It still appears so people are continuing to use it). I also can't assign inventory tracking to items used in past transactions, which I don't understand, this is an important feature moving forward.. It would be nice to merge into one item and be able to track inventory. Let me know if this is possible.
                                                                                                            • Supervisor Rules - Zoho Desk

                                                                                                              Hi, I have set up a Supervisor Rule in Zoho Desk to send an email alert when a ticket has been on hold for 48 hours. Is there a way to change it so that the alert only sends once and not on an hourly basis? Thank you Laura
                                                                                                            • ResponseCode 421, 4.7.0 [TSS04] Messages from 136.143.188.51 temporarily deferred due to user complaints

                                                                                                              Had email bounce. Let me know if you can fix this. Thanks. Michael
                                                                                                            • Zoho Canvas - Custom templates for related lists

                                                                                                              Hi, I see that the example pages load always one of our related lists in a custom template, but I dont know how to work with that:  1) How can i make my own custom templates for related lists?  2) Where and how can i check out existing custom templates?
                                                                                                            • Automation #15: Automatically Adding Static Secondary Contacts

                                                                                                              Rockel is a top-tier client of Zylker traders. Marcus handles communications with Rockel and would like to add Terence, the CTO of Zylker traders to the email conversations. In this case, the emails coming from user address rockel.com should have Terence
                                                                                                            • New Zoho triggers Google Dangerous flag due toabnormal charcters

                                                                                                              Just signed up and doing my first email test. I sent it to my google email account but it got flagged as Dangerous" due abnormal characters. My DNS setup looks ok. Page snips attached Help Please Thanks, Rick DC PowerWorld
                                                                                                            • Is there a API to fetch tasks in a Board/Section

                                                                                                              I am writing a scheduled function that retrieves all the tasks and send an reminder on cliq. I cannot seem to find a API to fetch tasks (by user / board / section) What are the way to fetch tasks?
                                                                                                            • Having trouble fetching contents of Zoho Connect Feeds using the API, requesting alternative API documentation.

                                                                                                              I'm trying to retrieve feed/post data from Zoho Connect using the API but facing challenges with the current documentation. What I've tried: OAuth authentication is working correctly (getting 200 OK responses) Tested multiple endpoints: /pulse/nativeapi/v2/feeds,
                                                                                                            • Adding an Account Name to Tasks/Reminders

                                                                                                              Does anyone know how to add the related account name to a task?  When we look at the list of activities and when the reminders pop up, there is no way of quickly seeing who the account is. 
                                                                                                            • Top Bar Shifting issue still not fixed yet

                                                                                                              I mentioned in a previous ticket that on Android, the top bar shifts up when you view collections or when you're in the settings. That issue still hasn't been fixed yet. I don't wanna have to reinstall the app as I've noticed for some reason, reinstalling
                                                                                                            • Triggering Zoho Flow on Workdrive File Label

                                                                                                              Right now Im trying to have a zoho flow trigger on the labeling/classification of a file in a folder. Looking at the trigger options they arent great for something like this. File event occurred is probably the most applicable, but the events it has arent
                                                                                                            • SendMail to multiple recipients

                                                                                                              Hi, I'm trying to send an email to a list of recipients.  Right now the "to" field is directed to a string variable. (List variables won't work here). In the string variable, how can I make it work? trying "user@app.com;user2@app.com" or "user@app.com; user2@app.com" just failed to send the emails. Ravid
                                                                                                            • Populate drop down field from another form's subform

                                                                                                              Hello, I found how to do that, but not in case of a subform. I have a Product form that has a subform for unit and prices. A product might have more than one unit. For example, the product "Brocoli" can be sold in unit at 3$ or in box of 10 at 25 $. Both
                                                                                                            • Usar o Inventory ou módulo customizado no CRM para Gestão de Estoque ?

                                                                                                              Minha maior dor hoje em usar o zoho é a gestão do meu estoque. Sou uma empresa de varejo e essa gestão é fundamental pra mim. Obviamente preciso que esse estoque seja visível no CRM, Inicialmente fiz através de módulos personalizados no próprio Zoho CRM,
                                                                                                            • Signup forms behaviour : Same email & multiple submissions

                                                                                                              My use case is that I have a signup form (FormA) that I use in several places on my website, with a hidden field so I can see where the contact has been made from. I also have a couple of other signup forms (FormB and FormC) that slight differences. All
                                                                                                            • getting error in project users api

                                                                                                              Hello, I'm getting a "Given URL is wrong" error when trying to use the Zoho Projects V3 API endpoint for adding users to a project. The URL I'm using is https://projectsapi.zoho.com/api/v3/portal/{portalid}/projects/{projectid}/projectusers/ and it's
                                                                                                            • Change total display format in weekly time logs

                                                                                                              Hi! Would it be possible to display the total of the value entered in the weekly time log in the same format that the user input? This could be an option in the general settings -> display daily timesheet total in XX.XX format or XX:XX.
                                                                                                            • Different Company Name for billing & shipping address

                                                                                                              We are using Zoho Books & Inventory for our Logistics and started to realize soon, that Zoho is not offering a dedicated field for a shipping address company name .. when we are creating carrier shipping labels, the Billing Address company name gets always
                                                                                                            • How to display historical ticket information of the total time spent in each status

                                                                                                              Hi All, Hoping someone can help me, as I am new to Zoho Analytics, and I am a little stuck. I am looking to create a bar chart that looks back over tickets raised in the previous month and displays how much time was spent in each status (With Customer,
                                                                                                            • Zoho Projects iOS app update: Global Web Tabs support

                                                                                                              Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.10.10) of the Zoho Projects app update, we have brought in support for Global Web Tabs. You can now access the web tabs across all the projects from the Home module of the app. Please update the app to the latest
                                                                                                            • Zoho Community Weekend Maintenance: 13–15 Sep 2025

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, We wanted to give you a heads-up that Zoho Community will undergo scheduled maintenance this weekend. During this period, some community features will be temporarily unavailable, while others will be in read-only mode. Maintenance Window:
                                                                                                            • Agent Performance Report

                                                                                                              From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports An agent performance report in a ticketing system provides a comprehensive view of how support agents manage customer tickets. It measures efficiency and quality by tracking key performance
                                                                                                            • Show both Vendor and Customers in contact statement

                                                                                                              Dear Sir, some companies like us working with companies as Vendor and Customers too !!! it mean we send invoice and also receive bill from them , so we need our all amount in one place , but in contact statement , is separate it as Vendor and Customer, 
                                                                                                            • URL validation

                                                                                                              We use an internal intranet site which has a short DNS name which Zoho CRM will not accept.   When attempting to update the field it says "Please enter a valid URL". The URL I am trying to set is http://intranet/pm/ Our intranet is not currently setup with a full DNS name and given the amount of links using the shortname probably isn't a feasible change for us.
                                                                                                            • Pourquoi dans zohobooks version gratuite on ne peut ajouter notre stock d'ouverture??

                                                                                                              Pourquoi dans zohobooks version gratuite on ne peut ajouter notre stock d'ouverture ??
                                                                                                            • Next Page