1. In a nutshell

Workflows help to automate tasks such as sending notifications (email and SMS) and executing custom functions for various instances of an appointment. These workflows can also be triggered immediately, before, and after a specific duration of those events. 

Custom functions are scripts written in Deluge, Zoho's scripting language. It allows you to extend the capabilities of the Bookings application by performing complex logic or integrating with other applications.

2. Feature availability

3. Overview

A workflow can be used to automate business processes in your scheduling. In Bookings, workflows allow you to perform the below tasks: 

• Send email
• Send SMS messages
• Execute custom function

When can a workflow be triggered? 

A workflow can be triggered immediately when various events occur in an appointment. It can also be triggered before and after a specific duration of such events. The various events of an appointment are:

For example, you can send an email to your customer one hour before an appointment start time to confirm if they'll show up. Likewise, workflows can be used in various other scenarios to automate different tasks. 

4. Use case

Imagine that you've conducted a webinar and want to send a feedback form to all the participants afterwards. This can be achieved by having a workflow that gets triggered a few minutes after marking the webinar as complete. Similarly, these workflows can be configured to address various other notifications. 

Additionally, custom functions can be used to perform integrations. Let's say a financial organization needs to add a record in CRM whenever an appointment is booked. A custom function can be written to perform this action immediately after an appointment is booked.

Note: These notifications are separate from the five default notifications under event type settings.

Workflows are specific to each workspace. To create a workflow for a particular workspace, you need to switch to the required workspace and then create the workflow. A single workflow can be applied to multiple event types.

5. Steps to create a workflow 

1. Navigate to the required workspace in your Bookings account. 
2. Click Workflows on the left sidebar, then click the Create Workflow button in the top-right corner. 
   
   
   You can either use the predefined workflow templates or create your own workflow. 
   
   
3. To create a workflow using a pre-defined template, click any one of the cards shown. To create your own workflow, click Create new workflow at the bottom of the screen. 
   Info: Predefined templates are provided to simplify the process of creating a workflow, with preset messages and configuration options. 
   
   
4. In the create workflow screen, enter the below details. 
   

• Workflow Name: Enter a name for the workflow. Each workflow within a workspace should have a unique name.
• Trigger When: Select when this workflow should be executed. i.e. if Appointment ended is selected, then this workflow will be executed at the appointment end time. 
• Occurrence: When the above trigger happens, the workflow can be executed in one of three timings:

• Immediately 
• After 
• Before 
  If you choose Before or After, you can further select minutes/hours.

• Choose Event Types: Select the event types to apply this workflow to. A workflow can be applied for multiple event types.
• Perform Action: Choose any one of the below actions in this dropdown. 

• Send email
• Send SMS
• Execute custom functions

5. After clicking Create Workflow, a slider will open on the right, where you can edit the respective template or add a custom function deluge script in the Deluge editor.

• If you've chosen to send an email, you can configure the below options. 
  

• Sender email: select an email address from which the email has to be sent. You can choose from any of the following options. 

• Default Bookings email address (notification@zohobookings.com) - The default email address for all notifications.
• Business email address – The email address that is added for your business.
• Super admin's email address – The email address associated with your Zoho Bookings super admin account. 
• Allocated staff's email address – The email address associated with the user allocated to the appointment. 
• Workspace email address – The email address associated with a particular workspace. 

• Reply to: Select an email to which the customer's reply will be sent back.
• Templates: Choose a pre-defined email template from the list. You can also edit the template. To add your own template, click Custom. 
• Subject: Give a subject for the email.
• Message: Enter the email text.  Click Save. 
  
  

• If you've chosen to send an SMS message, you'll get the below screen where you can choose any pre-defined SMS template from the drop-down or edit the SMS message as required.
  
  Note: You need to integrate an SMS gateway to send messages to your customers.
  
  
  
  
• If you've chosen to execute a custom function, you can see the Deluge editor where you add the required Deluge script and click Save. 
  
  Info: The Execute option in the below screen is to test the custom function by passing sample values. 
  
  

6. Click Create Workflow. This creates a new workflow for the chosen event types.

Info: You can add variables to your message content for email and sms by using the Insert Variable option to make it dynamic.

6. Manage workflow

• Edit workflow configurations
• Edit workflow template
• Delete a workflow
• Mark a workflow as inactive

6.1 Edit workflow configurations 

1. Navigate to Workflows on the left sidebar. Choose the required workflow tab, then click the Options icon  near the required workflow. 
   
2. Select Edit. A right pane slides where you can change the workflow configuration options. You can change the options such as Workflow name, associated event types, and occurrence as required and click Save. Triggers when, occurrence, and actions cannot be edited.
   

6.2 Edit workflow template

1. Navigate to Workflows on the left sidebar, hover over the required workflow, and then click the Customize option.
   
2. This opens the respective editing window. Edit the email/SMS/custom function, then click Save. 
   

6.3 Delete a workflow

1. Navigate to Workflows on the left sidebar, then click the Options icon  near the required workflow.
2. Click Delete. This deletes the respective workflow. All the templates and custom functions of the workflow will be permanently deleted. 
   
   
   

6.4 Mark a workflow as inactive

1. Navigate to Workflows on the left sidebar, then click the Options icon  near the required workflow.
2. Select Mark as inactive.
   

7. Points to note

• To view the list of workflows created for a workspace, you need to switch to the respective workspace.
• Default notifications are available under Event Types > Notifications tab. Default notifications are applicable for five appointment statuses such as Booked, Rescheduled, Canceled, Marked as Complete, and Marked as No show. These notifications trigger immediately on these status changes. To set notifications immediately for these statuses, you can use the default notification option.
• An event type can have a maximum of 10 workflows.
• Through workflows, you can only send notifications for customers. 
  
• Workflows are not supported for Group event types.

8. Related links

• Email and SMS alerts
  
• 
  Booking pages
  
• Event types