Hello Everyone! Are you ready to catch up on all the latest news and highlights from the Zoho Community from
Mar '24? Our March digest is here, packed with updates and engaging discussions that you won't have to miss. 

Let's dive into the March digest and stay informed!

 Product Updates:  

• Enhancements to the Finance Suite Integration with Zoho CRM: 
  
  This announcement focuses on improvements made to the Zoho Books and Zoho Subscriptions integrations. Specifically, enhancements in the Zoho Books integration address challenges such as limitations in email functionality, inaccurate reports, and permission management discrepancies. The introduction of a new user type called "Integration users", enables CRM users to create estimates in Books from CRM and access related finance records like Invoices, Sales Orders, and Purchase Orders without requiring additional licenses. Additionally, enhancements in Zoho Subscription integration include a new module for Subscription records, enhanced reporting capabilities, and streamlined user permissions.

Kudos to our MVP @Kevin Flynn for providing valuable insights and recommendations that shaped these enhancements.

• Introducing Kiosk Studio:
  
   In case you missed the early access post, here's a quick recap: Kiosk Studio lets you create and embed custom functionalities with no code, thereby empowering your teams to quickly retrieve, capture, and update data, as well as effortlessly perform a string of operations in your CRM. By relieving users from the need to consider modules or fields while using CRM, this feature enhances the CRM experience, allowing them to focus on their core job—efficiently executing the set of processes. Dive into this post to explore its potential. 
  

• Delete Configuration option in Zoho mail Add-on Settings:
  
  Previously, users had sole control over configuring their emails in CRM. Now, administrators have the option to delete users' email configurations, aiding in scenarios such as employee attrition where inactive email addresses need to be reassigned. Dive into this post to learn more about the "Delete Configuration" setting!  
  
  
• Enhancements to Zoho CRM Reports:
  
  Check out the latest upgrades to Zoho CRM reports! We've increased export limits, included granular profile permission for report exports, added email templates for scheduled reports, and broadened grouping options to include month and day granularity. Other improvements include enhanced column grouping, text wrap support, dynamic column width adjustment, role support in criteria, and a convenient select-all feature for fields. These updates are designed to give you more flexibility, security, and control over your data analysis and reporting. Dive into the details in this post. 
  

Useful Discussions: 

• Big shout out to @addisonbooth for sharing a detailed video on setting up a workflow to send a follow-up email to contacts, every 6 months after their first contact date. As this is from an older post, check out the recent comments by @Samantha in this post to join the conversation.

• @TMP The Mortgage People presented an interesting scenario within the mortgage domain, aiming to streamline the process of managing loan-related details within the CRM system. However, they faced hurdles in configuring a PMT function through a CRM formula field to capture the required payments. Moreover, they wanted this payment field to be updated whenever the underlying loan details were updated. @RajeshKumar Nellaiappan intervened, offering the required adjustments to the formula to address this requirement. Explore this post for the solution.

• @Brirose wanted to capture the record creation time with only the date component. Following the initial clarification by @Bhoomi Joshi regarding the limitations of the Now() function for this purpose, @Michael Trow suggested utilizing a date-based formula field with the Function ${"Module name".Created Time} to meet this requirement. Michael also highlighted the necessity of adding the "Created by" system field as a prerequisite to activate the "Created time" field, which feeds into this formula. To get the full scoop, check the latest comment by Brirose in this post.

• @Tomas Alberio wanted to automatically create a copy of a record to a different layout when a specific stage is met. @Subhash Kumar suggested the use of workflow for this requirement. Jump into the post to get the lowdown on setting it up!

• Is your organization using the Qualtrics platform for collecting customer feedback? Install the "Qualtrics for Zoho CRM" extension and collect feedback through Qualtrics surveys right from Zoho CRM, making it easy to gather and analyze feedback alongside customer data. To learn more about this integration, check out this post.
  
  
• @Sören Syrbe sought to create a dashboard to visualize the stage history of leads and deals, aiming to represent the average number of days a lead/deal spends in each stage. @Linga Siva P provided a detailed solution. Check out this post to learn more!

• @Jason aims to automate sending emails to his insurance clients as they approach the age of 65. The proposed solution entails creating a workflow in Zoho CRM that calculates the date when the client turns 64.5 and then sends emails at specific intervals until they turn 65. Check out the solution shared by @Bhoomi Joshi in the post to accomplish this task.

• @Ken's process required marking a date field as mandatory. However, existing records could only have their field mandated in edit mode, posing a challenge as users preferred in-line updates. @Kevin Flynn's suggestion to use Layout rules was further enriched by @Maadhari M, who shared comprehensive details on setting up conditional layouts, with screenshots. Check out this post for the solution.

Functions:

• Logging Deluge Function failures in Zoho CRM: 
  
  This old post discusses error handling for custom functions. @Fiona faced challenges with functions failing silently when linked to a button and wanted to learn how to log failures and provide feedback to users. The community shared various solutions, such as using try-catch blocks, logging errors in notes, and setting up a queue system to rerun failed functions. @Reinhold revived this post by sharing the code tweaks they deploy to capture custom function failures as notes in records. A special shout out to @Hugh Marshal for creating a helpful video on the topic, and kudos to @Andrés for sharing it with the community in this post. 

• Using the Deluge Function to append values to a multi-select Field in Zoho CRM:
  
  @Barcelona encountered a challenge when attempting to append a new value to the multi-select field in Zoho CRM, resulting in the overwriting of previously selected values. @Sundejan Siddharth shared the necessary code to address this challenge. Access this post for the code.

• Automating Task Deletion for Converted Sales Orders in CRM:
  
  @Tess Kennard uses a Function to delete tasks when a Quote is marked as Won or Lost, effectively handling Lost Quotes. However, @Nik identified an issue when Quotes are converted to Sales Orders through automation like Blueprint, as it associates the tasks with the Sales Orders upon conversion. Nik suggested repurposing Tess's code for the Sales Order module and associating it with a workflow to ensure tasks are deleted upon Sales Order creation. Discover the coded solution in this post.

Dev's Corner: 

• @Luis Herrera came up with a Deluge Function to copy notes between modules but faced a challenge: when copying notes across modules, the notes retained their user/group tags. They wanted to either remove these tags or replace them with the user/group name in the standard text without the tag property. @Haiku shared a handy function that accomplishes this task. Check the post for the coded solution.
  
  
• @Fredrico sought clarification on the scope of "Zoho CRM API Access" user permission. Specifically, they wanted to know if users gain access to every module or if it is limited to enabled modules only. @Bhoomi Joshi and @Hugh Marshall provided insightful responses to this inquiry in this post.

• @Matt Warner, MSc., is focused on tracking customer lifetime value in Zoho CRM, leveraging Square for payments, and seeking integration with Zoho Books. Thanks to @Haiku Technical Support's assistance, Matt successfully retrieved transaction data and calculated and updated the total payments received from customers in Zoho CRM. Explore this post for the required code.
  

Kaizen: 

This week's focus in Kaizen is all about Circuits in Zoho CRM! We've broken it down into three parts, each offering valuable insights. Check out the links below to dive deeper into each topic!

(Kaizen #126) - This post explains how to automate workflows by integrating different services using Circuits. It also discusses the advantages of Circuits, how they differ from Workflow Rules and Blueprints, and provides tips for effective use.

(Kiazen #127) - Learn about Circuits in Zoho CRM through a practical use case of a Loan Verification Process, showcasing how Circuits automate tasks like eligibility checks and document verification. Additionally, discover how to test and execute Circuits, and learn how to integrate them with workflows.

(Kiazen #128) - This post explores Circuits in Zoho CRM, covering how to associate them with buttons and blueprints, understanding execution logs and output formats, and FAQs on triggering via REST API, passing record details, API versions, returning JSON responses, pausing, continuing, retrying execution, and credit calculation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this month's round-up. Keep tabs on the digest every month for the latest ideas and discussions. Stay tuned and engage in the Forums to be included in the upcoming month's digest. Have a wonderful month ahead!