Getting started with solutions
In a nutshell
Solutions is a powerhouse that comprises Applications, BI & Analytics, and Integration Flows. Each solution type lets you create new low code applications, analytics, and flows respectively, or associate existing ones. Application solutions form the backbone of most implementations, while Analytics and Integration Flows extend capabilities for reporting and system connectivity.
Availability
- In your Creator homepage, either Applications or Solutions will be shown based on your pricing plan. Users on the Enterprise plan will see Solutions, while users on other plans will see Applications.
- Super admin and admins can manage their solutions, whereas an app admin can only make changes to their own application.
1. Overview of Solutions in Zoho Creator
In Creator, a Solution represents a structured implementation built to address a specific business need. Many organizations operate with disconnected tools for data entry, reporting, and automation. This often results in data silos, manual processes, inconsistent reporting, and limited visibility into operations.
For example, consider an organization that manages customer onboarding and service requests across multiple departments. The sales team collects customer details in one application, the operations team tracks service delivery in another system, and the support team manages follow ups in yet another tool. To generate reports or keep these teams in sync, data often has to be exported manually or shared across systems. This leads to delays, inconsistencies, and limited real time visibility into business performance.
To overcome this, the organization can use Solutions in Zoho Creator to centralize operational data automate actions through applications, gain insights through analytics, and automate how different systems interact through integrations
Solutions in Creator can take different forms:
- Applications: Used to collect and manage business processes.
- BI & Analytics: Used to transform data into reports, dashboards, and insights.
- Integration Flows: Used to connect services and automate cross-application processes.
Below is an image of the different types of solutions created in the Creator homepage.
Each solution type serves a distinct purpose and can be implemented independently based on organizational requirements. In some scenarios, organizations may use more than one solution type to support broader operational goals and they can complement one another to create a more connected and efficient business ecosystem.
2. Types of solutions
(i) Applications
An application has multiple components that are brought together to enable you to collect and manage data, automate processes, and collaborate with others to run your business efficiently. Learn more
- Forms are used to collect and store data, serving as the main point of interaction between your app and users.
- Reports present the collected data in formats that best suit your requirement.
- Workflows equip you with the capability to automate tasks by triggering certain set of actions.
- Pages lets you create data-loaded and functional dashboards for your users.
- Blueprints enables you to implement your business processes in a structured flow and automate various actions during the course of this flow.
- Environments provide a structured platform for developing, testing, and deploying changes to the live application efficiently.
- Microservices are independent services of an app that can easily be deployed to work in tandem with your application
- Portals allows external users to log in to your dedicated portal, access applications shared with them, submit data, and most importantly, view and edit the records.
- Operations helps manage various functions for the Solutions and their components efficiently from one place. These operations can be used to perform actions such as backing up your data, enabling troubleshooting to resolve issues, or maintaining logs of the activities inside your solution.
You can create powerful applications in minutes with little to no effort using our Zia app builder. You can also create an application from scratch or install a pre-built application from our gallery. Learn more
For example, a clinic wants to replace manual booking through phone calls and spreadsheets with a structured digital system. They build an application in Zoho Creator to:
- Allow patients to book appointments through a form
- Store patient details and appointment history in reports
- Prevent double-booking using validation rules in form fields
- Send confirmation emails automatically using workflows
- Provide staff with a daily or weekly schedule view using calendar reports
In this scenario, the application alone handles data collection, scheduling logic, and process management.
Learn how to create an application as a solution
(ii) Analytics
Creator generates built-in reports using form data to help you track, analyze, and manage records within your application. These reports are ideal for operational use, such as viewing entries, monitoring workflows, and performing quick, application-level analysis.
For advanced reporting needs, you can integrate with Analytics, a powerful online reporting tool that enables deeper data analysis, cross-application reporting, interactive dashboards, and collaborative sharing. You can import your data, build insightful reports and dashboards and effectively share them with users. Learn more
- You can turn raw data into meaningful insights in minutes with Auto Analysis in Zoho Analytics. Powered by generative AI and machine learning, it automatically generates relevant reports and dashboards, guides you to key insights in large datasets, and simplifies analysis with customizable options. Learn how
- You can also generate dynamic reports and dashboards using data from your Creator applications as well as external data sources. Learn how
For example, a retail business wants better visibility into yearly sales performance across product categories. They implement a BI & Analytics solution to:
- Consolidate sales data from existing Creator applications
- Create dashboards showing monthly sales trends
- Compare revenue by product category
- Identify seasonal patterns and top-performing categories
- Monitor KPIs such as total revenue and growth rate
Here, BI & Analytics is used independently to transform raw sales data into actionable insights for decision-making.
Learn how to create a BI & Analytics solution
(iii) Flows
Creator provides connections to securely integrate with other Zoho or external services. Connections handle authentication and allow your applications to communicate with third-party platforms directly from scripts or integration tasks.
Tip: You can use connections when you need to perform specific API-based operations, such as pushing or fetching data from an external system within your app’s workflow.
For broader, cross-application automation, you can use integration flows. Flow is an integration platform that links multiple cloud applications and automates information exchange between them. A flow consists of a trigger (such as a data update or scheduled event) and one or more actions that execute automatically. They are useful when you want to orchestrate processes across different services with minimal coding and without embedding logic directly inside your application. Learn more
- Flows can be created from scratch or you can install a pre-built flow from our gallery. Learn more
- You can generate workflows using simple prompts and build smarter workflows using Zia. Learn how
Example: A sales team wants to automate notifications based on deal size and push details of the deals from Creator into Zoho CRM. Using Integration Flows, they configure a workflow that:
- Triggers in real time when a new record is created or edited in Creator
- Creates or updates the corresponding contact record in CRM
- Checks a condition (for example, if the deal value exceeds $5,000)
- Sends a private Slack channel notification for high-value deals with details of the contact from CRM.
- Sends a public channel message for all other deals
In this case, Integration Flows automate cross-system communication and reduce manual follow-ups, without requiring a new application or analytics setup.
Learn how to create a flow solution
3. Associate existing Analytics and Flows
Users who have created a Zoho Analytics or a Zoho Flow account separately, can associate their Analytics or Flow accounts with Creator to access everything from the Creator account dashboard.
3.1 Associate Analytics
Note :
- The association between Creator and Analytics can only be made when you hold a paid Creator account.
- Business app connectors in Analytics will only continue to work if you are on a Zoho Creator plan that supports BI & Analytics. If your current plan does not support BI & Analytics, these connectors will be removed from the connectors listing.
- To avoid disruption, upgrade your Creator plan before associating Creator and Analytics. This ensures your existing connectors remain active.
- If you upgrade after the association, you will need to create the necessary connectors anew. The business app connector to Creator will work seamlessly regardless of your Creator plan.
- Upon association, only the limits of your Creator account will apply. View your Creator and Analytics plan limits.
- All the users from your Analytics account will be added to Creator with their permissions to access workspaces kept intact. Once the active users limit of your Creator plan is attained, the remaining get added as inactive users. For example, let's consider that a customer has associated their Analytics account with Creator.
Analytics Plan | Creator Plan | |
Active Users Limit | 15 | 10 |
Say the customer has 13 users in Analytics. All 13 users will be added to Creator upon association. Only the first 10 users will be added as active users, while the other 3 will stay as inactive users.
- Once the association between Analytics and Creator is established, it cannot be reverted.
- Post association, Analytics can only be accessed through Creator. In Zoho One subscriptions, Analytics needs to be accessed independently and not through Creator.
The existing BI & Analytics can be associated with the account under the Create solution section.
- Click Solutions under the Deploy section.
- Click the Create Solution button. Three kinds of solutions will be displayed.
- Hover over the BI & Analytics card and click the Associate an existing account option. An analytics organization will be displayed in the pop-up.
- Click Associate; the existing BI & Analytics will be associated with Zoho Creator.
3.2 Associate Flows
Note :
- Once the association between Flow and Creator is established, it cannot be reverted.
- In Zoho One subscriptions, Flow needs to be accessed independently and not through Creator.
The existing Flows can be associated with the Creator account under the Create Solution section.
- Click Solutions under Deploy section.
- Click the + Create Solution button. Three kinds of solutions will be displayed.
- Hover over the Integration flows card and click the Associate an existing account option.
This will associate an organization and the existing Flows in that organization will be associated with Zoho Creator.
4. Use cases
1. Sales management
Zylker is a sales-based company. In this sales environment, lead information may be captured in one system, performance reports generated separately, and follow-up actions handled manually or in another platform. This lack of integration results in delayed updates, inconsistent data across systems, limited visibility into performance metrics, and increased administrative effort for sales teams and managers. To address these challenges, organizations can use Solutions in Zoho Creator to bring their data, insights, and workflows into a single, connected system as mentioned below.
(i) Application - Data collection and process management
Zylker builds a Sales Management app to capture leads, track opportunities, and manage customer interactions.
- Forms are used by sales representatives to capture and update lead and opportunity details.
- Reports provide structured views of all submitted records, enabling teams to filter, sort, and track lead progress.
- Pages (dashboards) offer managers a consolidated view of deal stages, follow-ups, and performance metrics.
- Workflows and blueprints can be configured to automate follow-up reminders and enforce stage-wise deal progression.
Data is stored centrally and updated in real time.The app acts as the operational layer where business data is created, updated, and managed.
(ii) BI & Analytics - Dashboards, reports and insights
They create a Sales Performance Dashboards using Analytics.
- A dashboard shows monthly revenue trends.
- Reports track conversion rates and top-performing reps.
- Executives view KPIs in visual charts and summary widgets.
- Analytics provide visibility into the data collected by the app, helping teams make informed decisions.
(iii) Integration Flow - automation and system connectivity
An integration flow is created to automatically sync closed deals with Zoho CRM and sends invoice data to an accounting system.
- When a deal is marked “Closed-Won,” a flow triggers.
- Customer data is pushed to CRM.
- An invoice is automatically created in a finance system.
- A notification email is sent to the accounts team.
Integration flows automate repetitive tasks and connect different systems, reducing manual effort and errors.
2. Employee onboarding solution
Zylker has been hiring employees, and they need a proper HR process to manage the mass-hired employees. In HR onboarding process, employee details may be collected through forms, onboarding progress tracked in spreadsheets, and system access or payroll updates handled through manual coordination between departments. This fragmented approach can lead to missed tasks, compliance risks, duplication of data entry, and poor employee experience.
(i) Application - Managing the onboarding process
They create an Employee Onboarding application in Zoho Creator to streamline hiring, track progress, and automate post-offer processes. The app acts as the central system to manage onboarding activities.
- Create a form for candidates to enter their details.
- Automate notifying the candidates that their applications were submitted successfully via emails.
- View candidates' details via reports
- Create workflows to update status of each candidate after interviews
- HR enters candidate details after an offer is accepted. This form captures personal details, job role, department, and joining date.
- Tasks are assigned via reports (IT setup, ID card generation, document submission).
- Custom status fields in reports track onboarding progress (Pending, In Progress, Completed).
(ii) BI & Analytics - Monitoring hiring insights
The team creates an HR Analytics Dashboards using BI and Analytics. This dashboard shows the number of hires per month and helps HR leaders monitor efficiency and identify bottlenecks.
- Reports track average onboarding completion time.
- Charts display department-wise hiring trends.
- KPIs highlight pending onboarding tasks.
(iii) Integration Flow - Automating system updates
An Integration Flow is configured that eliminates manual coordination between departments and ensure smooth onboarding. When onboarding status is marked “Completed”:
- Employee data is pushed to Payroll software.
- A user account is automatically created in the IT system.
- A welcome email is triggered.
- Employee details are synced with Zoho CRM (if required).
In the above example, the app collects and manages employee data, Analytics provide visibility into hiring metrics, and Integration Flows automate downstream processes.Together, they create a scalable, organized, and fully automated onboarding system.
5. Navigation Guide
On your Creator homepage, click the Create Solution button at the top-right corner in the Solutions module. Three kinds of solutions will be displayed.
6. Related Topics
- Create an application for solution
- Create BI & Analytics solution
- Create a flow solution
- Getting started with Zoho Analytics
- Getting started with Integration Flows
Previous
What's next
Previous
Before getting started with Solutions, ensure you’ve completed Register/sign in to your Creator account.
What's next
Next, learn how to build your first app by exploring Creating applications.
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