Episode 3 - Retrieve data and perform operations in Creator using GenAI
Recap
In the previous episodes, we created an MCP server and connected it to Zoho Creator and Monday.com applications. We configured and exposed the tools required to perform operations in the connected applications. We then established a connection between the MCP server and Claude. As a result, the GenAI assistant can now access and invoke tools in the configured applications through the MCP server.
In this episode
You will use Claude to interact with campaign data in Zoho Creator Marketing campaign application through the natural language prompts given in the below section. You will review upcoming campaign launches, identify pending approvals, assess budget utilization, retrieve campaign summaries, and progress campaigns through escalation workflows using the tools exposed through the MCP server.
Note: Invoking Zoho Creator tools through Zoho MCP consumes Developer API calls from your Creator account. You can monitor your Developer API calls usage and limit from the Billing section. Additionally, GenAI platforms like Claude consumes tokens for processing prompts and responses as billed by the AI provider.
Prerequisite
Make all Zoho Creator tools available to Claude, allowing it to perform a comprehensive range of allowed operations across your Creator application.
Campaign management prompts
Try the example prompts below to learn how to write effective prompts for interacting with your Creator application. Observe the tools that Claude invokes, how it processes each request, and how you can leverage its AI capabilities to go beyond data manipulation. You can use AI to analyse information, generate dashboards, summarise insights, to retrieve actionable recommendations and much more.
Example 1: Review upcoming campaign launches
Use Claude to retrieve campaigns that are scheduled to launch soon. This helps marketing operations teams monitor upcoming launches, identify campaigns that require attention, and proactively address any risks before launch.
Prompt:
"Review all campaigns scheduled to launch within the next 14 days in the Campaign Marketing application. Analyze potential risks, suggest proactive actions, and summarize the findings in a visual dashboard with key insights. "
Prompt breakdown:
|
Prompt |
How Claude interprets
|
|
Review all campaigns |
Retrieve campaign records from the Campaign Marketing application.
|
|
scheduled to launch within the next 14 days |
Filter campaign records using the launch date field and retrieve campaigns scheduled within the next 14 days.
|
|
Analyze potential risks |
Examine the retrieved campaigns and identify associated risks by retrieving related risk records, campaign status, pending tasks, approvals, or other relevant information.
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|
suggest proactive actions |
Evaluate the identified risks and generate recommendations to help mitigate issues before the campaign launch.
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|
summarize the findings |
Consolidate the retrieved data, identified risks, and recommendations into a concise summary.
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|
in a visual dashboard with key insights |
Present the results in a visual dashboard that highlights campaign metrics, risk levels, and recommended actions for quick decision-making.
|
Tools invoked:
|
Tools
|
Action performed
|
|
ZohoCreator_getApplications
|
Gets the list of all applications in the user's workspace
|
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ZohoCreator_getForms
|
Fetches all forms in the specified app
|
|
ZohoCreator_getReports
|
Fetches all reports in the specified app
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ZohoCreator_getCreatorRecords
|
Fetches all records in the specified report
|
Sample response generated by AI:
The dashboard highlights what matters most: Customer Loyalty Drive is the most urgent which is in delayed status with only three days left, and Spring Promotion is flagged cancelled but still carries a live launch date and $112.5K spent, which is a data integrity problem as much as a planning one.
A few proactive moves worth taking this week:
- Force a same-day go/no-go call on Customer Loyalty Drive with Jordan Lee — Three days is too tight to let "delayed" sit unresolved.
- Push Mobile App Launch out of planning before 02-Jul, or formally slip the date — 92.5% of budget is already spent against a status that says it isn't ready.
- Resolve the Spring Promotion conflict — Either reinstate with a real date or close it out and free the remaining $37.5K.
- Get compliance sign-off logged for Email Newsletter Series before it ships, since it's tagged high risk despite being the one campaign on track.
Example 2: Assess budget utilization
Analyze campaign budgets to identify campaigns that have exhausted or are approaching their allocated budgets.
Prompt:
"Show campaigns with budget utilization greater than 80%, and that have the risk of exceeding the allocated budget. In a table provide the campaign owner's name and why the budget might exceed. "
Prompt breakdown:
|
Prompt
|
How Claude interprets
|
|
Show campaigns
|
Retrieve campaign records from the Campaign Marketing application.
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|
with budget utilization greater than 80%
|
Filter campaign records to include only those whose budget utilization exceeds 80%.
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that have the risk of exceeding the allocated budget
|
Evaluate the filtered campaigns by retrieving related risk information or budget insights to identify campaigns likely to exceed their allocated budget.
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In a table
|
Organize the results in a tabular format for easy comparison.
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provide the campaign owner's name
|
Fetch and include the campaign owner associated with each campaign in the output.
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and why the budget might exceed
|
Analyze the available campaign and risk data to explain the factors contributing to the potential budget overrun for each campaign.
|
Tools invoked:
|
Tools
|
Action performed
|
|
ZohoCreator_getCreatorRecords |
Fetches all records in the specified report |
Sample response generated by AI:
|
Campaign ID
|
Budget utilization
|
Budget Overrun risk linked?
|
Owner
|
Why budget might exceed
|
|
2
|
92.5% ($185K/$200K)
|
Yes (Open, High severity)
|
Sam Patel
|
Still in Planning status this close to launch despite near-maximum spend — Last-mile costs (vendor finalization, contingency creative, rush fixes) are highly likely to push this past 100%, and the open System Downtime risk could add unplanned remediation cost on top.
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|
3
|
82% ($98K/$120K)
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Yes (Open, High severity)
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Jordan Lee
|
Status is Delayed with launch only days out — Delays typically mean added spend (extended agency/vendor retainers, rescheduled media bookings) layered onto an already high spend rate, with no buffer left in the remaining 18%.
|
Campaign 4 (Social Media Blitz, Taylor Kim, 83.3% utilization) also crosses the 80% threshold but is not linked to the Budget Overrun risk in the Risks data, so it's excluded as per your filter. Worth flagging separately since it's close to the line and currently untracked for this specific risk.
Example 3: Team workload analysis
Leverage Claude's reasoning capabilities to assess the workload of each campaign manager by analyzing campaign assignments, launch timelines, and associated risks.
Prompt:
"Summarize the workload for each campaign manager and identify anyone who may be overloaded. "
Prompt breakdown:
Prompt breakdown:
|
Prompt |
How Claude interprets
|
|
Summarize the workload |
Retrieve campaign assignments and consolidate the workload for each campaign manager.
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|
for each campaign manager |
Group campaign data by the Campaign Manager field.
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identify anyone who may be overloaded
|
Evaluate each manager's workload by analyzing factors such as the number of assigned campaigns, campaign priorities, launch timelines, pending tasks, and unresolved risks to identify managers who may require additional support.
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Tools invoked:
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Tools
|
Action performed
|
|
ZohoCreator_getCreatorRecords |
Fetches all records in the specified report |
Sample response generated by AI:
Each of the five campaigns has a different owner, so on raw campaign count, no one is carrying multiple campaigns. But "workload" isn't just count, it's count weighted by risk, urgency, and status complexity. Here's the breakdown:
Each of the five campaigns has a different owner, so on raw campaign count, no one is carrying multiple campaigns. But "workload" isn't just count, it's count weighted by risk, urgency, and status complexity. Here's the breakdown:
|
Owner
|
Campaign
|
Status
|
Risk level
|
Launch
|
Budget util.
|
Workload signal
|
|
Sam Patel
|
Mobile App Launch
|
Planning
|
Medium
|
6 days out
|
92.5%
|
High — Still in planning this close to launch, with the highest spend and an open System Downtime risk
|
|
Jordan Lee
|
Customer Loyalty Drive
|
Delayed
|
Medium
|
3 days out
|
82%
|
High — Nearest deadline of anyone, already delayed, little budget buffer left
|
|
Taylor Kim
|
Social Media Blitz
|
Delayed
|
High
|
19 days out
|
83.3%
|
Medium-high — Tagged High overall risk and delayed, but more runway than Sam or Jordan
|
|
Alex Turner
|
Spring Promotion
|
Cancelled
|
Medium
|
12 days out (stale)
|
75%
|
Medium — Campaign is cancelled but unresolved in the system; this is more an admin/cleanup burden than active execution load
|
|
Morgan Reed
|
Email Newsletter Series
|
Ready for Launch
|
High
|
14 days out
|
75%
|
Low — On track, just needs compliance sign-off
|
Try it yourself
Using natural language, write prompts that help you accomplish the following tasks:
- Retrieve campaigns assigned to a specific marketing manager.
- Identify campaigns whose launch status does not match their scheduled launch date.
- Find campaigns with high-risk issues that are still unresolved.
- Show campaigns that are delayed and launching this week.
- Identify campaigns with pending approvals from a specific manager.
- Create a prioritized weekly plan using your current tasks.
What's next
Previous
What's next
Continue to Episode 4 to perform cross-application operations between Creator and Monday apps using natural language prompts in Claude.
Previous
Before starting this episode, ensure that you have connected Zoho Creator with an AI client through the MCP server.