Kaizen 188 - Building a Timer and Worklog Widget (Part 2)
Welcome back, Tech Wizards!
In Part 1, we developed a Timer Widget that logs active work sessions into the Timer Entries module.
Now, let's enhance this functionality by transferring these entries into the Work Log subform within the Cases module using a workflow with Deluge function and APIs. We will also explore how to generate insightful reports from the Timer Entries module data.
Here is a consolidated view of the outcomes we aim to achieve through these sequential posts.
The following data model illustrates the modules and subforms involved in this use case to help you understand the structure more clearly.
Learn more about the Data Model and how it helps to simplify the understanding of complex processes.
Auto-Syncing Timer Entries to Case Work Logs
For automating the data transfer from the Timer Entries module to the Work Log subforms within Cases module, we will create a workflow rule with an instant action defined in Deluge function.
Prerequisites
Create a subform named Work Log in the Cases module with the following fields.
Field Name | Data Type |
Actual Time Taken(in mins.) | Aggregate (sum of Total Duration (in mins.) field in related case ) |
End Time | DateTime |
Related to Case | Lookup to Cases |
Related to Current Case | Checkbox |
Start Time | DateTime |
Timer Entry | Lookup to Timer Entries |
Total Duration | Aggregate (sum of all the Total Duration (in mins.) field ) |
Total Duration (in mins.) | Number |
Work Description | Multi Line |
Follow the Building a Subform and Working with Custom Fields help pages for creating the subform and fields in Zoho CRM UI, or you can also make Post Custom Fields API calls to create the custom fields in the subform.
Step 1: Create a Workflow
- Login to your Zoho CRM and go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules and click Create Rule.
- Choose the Timer Entries module from the dropdown. Provide name and description for the workflow rule.
- In the 'When' section of the workflow, choose the trigger as Record Action. In record action, define the trigger as when the End Time field is modified to any value.
- In the 'Condition' section, choose all timer entries. In the 'Instant Actions' section, select Function and choose Write your own.
Step 2: Create a Deluge Function
- In the pop box that appeared after choosing to write your own function. Fill in the following details as shown in the image and click Create.
- A code editor will open, where you have to define the data transfer logic in Deluge.
Code logic
The UpdateDataInWorkLog function automates the process of syncing a completed Timer Entry with its associated Cases in Zoho CRM by populating the Work_Log subform for each case.
Fetches Target Case Records
The function uses a predefined custom view (cvid) that we created in Part I of this post to retrieve a list of Case records that are eligible for update. It extracts their record IDs and prepares them for bulk processing.
paramMap = Map(); paramMap.put("cvid","5545974000011183885"); getRecordsResponse = invokeurl [ type :GET parameters:paramMap connection:"crm_oauth_connection" ]; responseDataArray = getRecordsResponse.get("data"); idList = List(); for each item in responseDataArray { idList.add(item.get("id")); } caseRecordsToUpdate = idList; |
Retrieves Timer Entry Details
The selected Timer Entry (identified by recordId received through workflow trigger) is fetched to extract its key details like, Start and end times, Total time spent (duration), Work description, the Case it’s directly related to (if any).
record = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Timer_Entries",recordId,Map(),"crm_oauth_connection"); startTime = record.get("Start_Time"); endTime = record.get("End_Time"); totalTime = record.get("Total_Duration"); workDescription = record.get("Work_Description"); relatedToCaseId = ""; if(record.get("Related_to_Case") != null) { relatedToCaseId = record.get("Related_to_Case").get("id"); } |
Prepares Work_Log Subform Entries
For each retrieved Case, a new subform entry is created in the Work_Log subform. This entry contains the time details, work description, and a reference to the Timer Entry. A flag (Related_to_Current_Case) marks whether the Timer Entry is directly associated with the Case.
caseRecordIds = caseRecordsToUpdate; if(!caseRecordIds.isEmpty()) { recordUpdateArray = List(); for each caseRecordId in caseRecordIds { TimerArray = List(); TimerObj = Map(); TimerObj.put("Work_Description",workDescription); TimerObj.put("Timer_Entry",recordId); TimerObj.put("Related_to_Case",relatedToCaseId); TimerObj.put("Start_Time",startTime); TimerObj.put("End_Time",endTime); TimerObj.put("Actual_Duration_in_mins",totalTime.toNumber()); info totalTime; TimerObj.put("Related_to_Current_Case",caseRecordId == relatedToCaseId); TimerArray.add(TimerObj); recordUpdateObj = Map(); recordUpdateObj.put("id",caseRecordId); recordUpdateObj.put("Work_Log",TimerArray); recordUpdateArray.add(recordUpdateObj); } |
Bulk Updates Case Records
All Case records are updated in bulk via the Update Records API. Each gets its Work_Log subform updated or appended with the latest Timer Entry details.
updateRequestBody = {"data":recordUpdateArray}; updateResponse = invokeurl [ type :PUT parameters:updateRequestBody + "" connection:"crm_oauth_connection" ]; } |
Once done, click Save and associate the merge field (Timer Entry ID) with the function.
This workflow is triggered when the timer widget is stopped and the end time is updated in the corresponding timer entry record.
Following is a GIF that illustrates how the data sync reflects in the case records.
Generating Reports from Timer Entries
With the Timer Entries and Work Log data in place, you can create comprehensive reports to analyze work patterns, SLA adherence, and productivity trends.
- Navigate to the Reports module and click Create Report.
- Choose Cases as the primary module and include the Work Log subform.
- Select the desired fields like Case Subject, Start Time, End Time, Total Duration, and Work Description.
- Group data by fields like Case Owner or Status to gain insights into workload distribution and case progress.
- Apply filters as needed, such as date ranges or specific case statuses.
Refer to the Understanding and Building Report help page for more details.
With the Timer Widget, automated data transfer to Work Logs, and insightful reporting, we have established a robust system to track and analyze multiple active work times within Zoho CRM.
If you have specific scenarios or challenges you'd like us to address in future Kaizen posts, feel free to share them in the comments or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com.
Cheers!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Reading
- Subforms and Fields - Building Subforms and Working with Custom Fields
- Core APIs - POST Custom Fields, GET Records, POST Records and UPDATE Records
- Workflow - An Overview and Configuring Workflow Rules
- Functions - An Overview, Setting Up Functions, Functions IDE, FAQs
- Deluge - An Introduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous Post: Kaizen #187 - Building a Timer and Worklog Widget (Part 1) | Kaizen Collection: Directory
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Kiruthiga G
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! 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 #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.Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post
Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQsKaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! 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.Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!
Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
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
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Collective-booking event not added to all staff calendars
We assign two staff to certain events. When the client books this event, it adds it to one staff calendar (the 'organiser') but not the other. How can I ensure all staff assigned to a collective booking get the event in their calendar? (A side note: itIssue showing too many consultations in my workspace link.
Hi Team, I’ve set up two Workspaces to track meetings from different sources. So far, this has been working well, and the two Workspaces are differentiated without any issues. However, when I navigate to Consultations and share the link to my personalZOHO Android Client
Hi, I installed the Android app, but it had an issue, so I reinstalled it. I was able to add multiple accounts, but now when I add the next account, it just duplicates the one I already have and will not even allow me to enter the info for another account.I'd like to suggest a feature enhancement for SalesIQ that would greatly improve the user experience across different channels.
Hello Zoho Team, Current Limitation: When I enable the pre-chat form under Brands > Flow Controls to collect the visitor’s name and email, it gets applied globally across all channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. This doesn't quite alignEnhance Barcode/QR Code scanner with bulk scanning or continuously scanning
Dear Zoho Creator, As we all know, after each scan, the scanning frame closes. Imagine having 100 items; we would need to tap 100 times and wait roughly 1 second each time for the scanning frame to reopen on mobile web. It's not just about wasting time;Is there a way to sync Tags between CRM and Campaigns/Marketing Hub?
I wonder if there is a way to synch the tags between CRM and Marketing-Hub / Campaigns?Non-depreciating fixed asset
Hi! There are non-depreciable fixed assets (e.g. land). It would be very useful to be able to create a new type of fixed asset (within the fixed assets module) with a ‘No depreciation’ depreciation method. There is always the option of recording landManaging Rental Sales in Zoho Inventory
I am aware that Zoho Inventory is not yet set up to handle rental sales and invoicing. Is anyone using it for rentals anyway? I'd like to hear about how others have found work arounds to manage inventory of rental equipment, rental payments, etc. ThMegamenu
Finally! Megamenu's are now available in Zoho-Sites, after waiting for it and requesting it for years! BUT ... why am I asked to upgrade in order to use a megamenu? First: Zoho promised to always provide premium versions and options for all included Zoho-applicationsCannot access KB within Help Center
Im working with my boss to customize our knowledge base, but for some reason I can see the KB tab, and see the KB categories, but I cannot access the articles within the KB. We have been troubleshooting for weeks, and we have all permissions set up, customersZoho Flow to Creator 3001 Respoonse
I have updated my Flows with the new V2 connection to Zoho Creator, but now some Flows do not work. They take in data from a Webhook and are supposed to create a record in Creator, however creator returns a 3001 message along with a failure, but I cannotFile Upload to Work Drive While Adding Records in Zoho Creator Application
Hi I am trying to set a file attachment field in zoho creator form, to enable the user to upload a scanned document from their local pc. The file should be uploaded to zoho workdrive and not to the default zoho creator storage. The file link should beZoho Creator to Zoho CRM Images
Right now, I am trying to setup a Notes form within Zoho Creator. This Notes will note the Note section under Accounts > Selected Account. Right now, I use Zoho Flow to push the notes and it works just fine, with text only. Images do not get sent (thereCOQL order by COUNT not working
Dear community, I am trying to get a list of deal amounts per planner working on it and sorted to get see who has the least amount of deals. For some reason, I am unable to use sort by in combination with a COUNT. My original code was: query = "selectWhy not possible to generate?
Using this https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#TicketCount#TicketCount_Getticketcountbyfield on my ZML script url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/ticketsCountByFieldValues?departmentId=XXXXXXXXXXX&accountId!=XXXXXXXXX&customField1=cf_country_1:XXXXXX&field=overDue"email
Hi My crm email is not working, can you check, I have zoho one account.Need option to see Mass Emails & Cadences in Gmail Outbox OR a dedicated Zoho Outbox
Hi everyone, Right now, when we send 1:1 emails from gmail (with gmail API connected to Zoho CRM), those emails appear both in gmail's sent folder and in Zoho CRM. That works well. But when we send Mass Emails or Cadence emails form Zoho CRM, they areIntegración Books para cumplir la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu)
Hola: En principio, en julio de 2025, entra en vigor la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu). ¿Sabéis si Zoho va a cumplir con la ley para cumplir con la facturación electrónica conectada a Hacienda? GraciasI can't found API for Sales Receipts
Hello May you please help me to find an API document for Sales Receipts to get data and retrive a custom fields like Invoice and credit notes RegardsProblem with reports due to "Connected" items change
Now that the change has been made to use "connected" items I can no longer run the reporting I need in CRM. I should be able to start with Deals as the parent, connect down to the Account (Account_Name) on the deal as the child, then to any child itemsKaizen #205 - Answering Your Questions | Managing Picklists and Enabling History Tracking via Zoho CRM APIs
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in our Kaizen series. In this post, we will look at how you can manage picklist fields in Zoho CRM using APIs. This topic was raised as feedback to Kaizen #200, so we are taking it up here with more details.Custom Fonts in Zoho CRM Template Builder
Hi, I am currently creating a new template for our quotes using the Zoho CRM template builder. However, I noticed that there is no option to add custom fonts to the template builder. It would greatly enhance the flexibility and branding capabilities ifInternally created tickets
Hi there When tickets are created internally on-behalf of customers - there is nothing to show that the ticket was created by an internal agent. This means, that it's easy for our agents to confuse tickets which were created by internal team members andSpilt Axis for stacked column and line graph
Each month around this time I prepare a business review deck. One of the biggest annoyances I have with Zoho, also happens to be something that most other platforms have provided for a long time now, and that is being able to create a chart with stackedAutomatically change website passwords
Hi everyone, We just switched to a Professional package to also use the "Automatically change website passwords" function. But I cannot find anything about it, how to use it, anywhere. Does anyone know how I can use this function? Best, CasparZoho Desk Integration - Add the option to send the estimate from the Zoho Desk Ticket Integration
Hi, Currently in the Zoho Desk integration, the user is able to create an estimate from a ticket, once the estimate is created the user can see the estimate under the ticket (see screenshot below), but is not able to send that estimate from Zoho Desk.Change Invoice Prices for an Effective Date
Hi, It would be a really good feature to be able to change the prices on invoices/recurring invoices from an effective date in the event of price increases. For instance, I am in the process of increasing prices that will be effective from a specific"Other Current Asset" accounts as "Paid Through" accounts in Expense
It would be incredibly useful to be able to assign accounts of type Other Current Asset as Paid Through accounts in Expense. Currently, Other Current Liability are permitted as Paid Through Accounts. This makes sense, as Credit Cards are current liabilities.Multi column open text questions that allows respondents to add rows for additional information
I need to create a question that has 2 columns with open text, but I also need to allow respondents to click a "+" button, or something similar, so that they can add additional information if they choose to. I've tried using the Multiple Textboxes typeBot Filtering & Apple Mail Privacy Protection Compliance in Zoho Campaigns
Dear Campaigns Users, The wait is over! We’re excited to announce that the enhanced bot filtering feature is now live in Zoho Campaigns. This update brings greater accuracy to your email campaign reports by distinguishing real user engagement from automatedDécouvrons les détails qui simplifient vos journées de travail avec Trident
Nous nous installons dans des routines efficaces et rodées avec le temps. Chaque matin, nous ouvrons nos e-mails, passons aux messages, consultons notre agenda, puis attaquons nos tâches. Ce processus nous semble maîtrisé, mais est-il réellement optimiséNo option for pick up in Zoho Books / Inventory but yes on commerce
Is it planned to release soon on books/inventory?Issue with Purchase Rate Showing as “0” After Importing Items List
Dear Zoho Books Support Team, Good day. I’m reaching out regarding an issue I’m facing while importing my items list into Zoho Books. Despite mapping all fields correctly and including the purchase price for each product in my Excel file, the PurchaseAPI for Task Entity in Zoho Books
I’m working on automating task creation in Zoho Books via a custom button in the Bills Module. The goal is to create a task in the Tasks Module and assign it to the Finance Team, so they can track progress efficiently. While reviewing Zoho Books documentation,create invoice in zoho books from the zoho forms
Is there a native way to have create invoice in zoho books, when zoho form is completed?Email undelivered
GOod Day I am always receiving an uncategorized-bounce to my email. I am not sure why this is happening.Custom Buttons for Mass Actions
Hello everyone, We’ve just made Custom Buttons in Zoho Recruit even more powerful! You can now create Bulk Action Buttons that let you perform actions on multiple records at once, directly from the List View. What’s new? Until now, custom buttons wereAdd inventory_valuation_method to items endpooints
To ensure consistent item creation it would be helpful to have the inventory_valuation_method (FIFO vs WAC) be able to be set at item creation or as an update (consistent with current behavior where it is not allowed for items with existing transactions)Use Zoho to send sales receipts for Gocardless transactions
I've been using gocardless for years and have d/d mandates set up on there. Each week we get bulk payments from customer d/d's. However, we need to send sales receipts to these customers. So I know I can sync mandates into Zoho, and then I can set upZoho - Gocardless sales receipts
I've been using gocardless for years and have d/d mandates set up on there. Each week we get bulk payments from customer d/d's. However, we need to send sales receipts to these customers. So I know I can sync mandates into Zoho, and then I can set upNext Page