Desk integration in sandbox

Desk integration in sandbox

Notes
This feature is being enabled in a phased manner. It may not be available in your account. Please follow this post for the latest updates.
All customer-facing teams need access to a holistic and up-to-date profile of each customer in order to provide personalized experiences at scale. The sales and customer support teams are no different, and they often have to collaborate over solving tickets and identifying pain points. In the Zoho suite of products, the sales teams primarily use Zoho CRM while the customer support teams work in Zoho Desk. These two tools are often integrated so that both teams can collaborate seamlessly and work with customer data that is synced between both tools.

Integrations usually involve many changes to the way your teams work. In order to smoothen this process and to remove the risk of real world consequences, you can test your Zoho Desk integration in a sandbox in CRM before using it in your production environment. This allows you to do multiple things like:
  1. Test how the Zoho Desk integration works in a safe environment.
  2. Deploy the integration with ease to the production environment.
  3. Train your sales and support teams to leverage the integration in their day-to-day work.
  4. Deal with the unintended consequences of the integration before they become an issue in the production environment, and so on.
Learn more about sandboxes
Alert
Since you can integrate a Zoho Desk account with only one CRM account (production or sandbox), please note the following points:
  1. We'd recommend using the CRM sandbox to test out a fresh Zoho Desk integration.
  2. Existing Zoho Desk integration with the production environment will not be copied to the sandbox during sandbox creation or rebuild. 
  3. If you have an existing Zoho Desk integration with the production environment, you can use the sandbox to try out Desk or train employees but you will not be able to deploy any changes to the production environment.
  4. If you want to do so, you'll have to remove the integration from the production environment and then, deploy the integration from the sandbox.

Availability

Users with the Admin profile in the sandbox can perform the integration with the sandbox.
Users with the Admin profile (with Manage Sandbox permission enabled) in the production environment can deploy the integration.

To add the Desk integration to a sandbox

You are integrating the CRM Sandbox account with a live Zoho Desk account. Any changes made in the sandbox environment with respect to the integrated account will be reflected in your live Zoho Desk account.
  1. Navigate to Setup[]> Data Administration > Sandbox.
  2. Click the sandbox where you want the integration.
  3. Click the Go to Sandbox button.

  4. In the sandbox, navigate to Setup[] > Marketplace > Zoho.
  5. Go to Zoho Desk and click Setup now.
  6. In the Are you sure you want to continue? popup, click Yes, Proceed.
  7. Click Get Started.
  8. If you don't have a Zoho Desk account linked to your email address, enter the Portal name and click Next. Otherwise, ignore this step.
  9. Select the portal that you want to integrate with the CRM and click Next.

  10. Click Invite user to add Zoho CRM users to Zoho Desk. To learn more about this, see Invite users to Desk from CRM.
  11. Under Sync settings, click Configure Now to decide the data sync for Accounts, Contacts, and Products. To learn more on how to do so, see Map CRM Modules with Desk.
  12. Under CRM Related list, select the modules that need tickets from Desk in their related list. To learn more about this, see CRM Related List.
  13. Under Select how to show tickets for Zoho CRM Users, set the visibility of tickets for CRM Users. To learn more, see Regulate visibility of tickets.
  14. Click Save.

Your CRM sandbox is now integrated with your live Zoho Desk account!
Notes
Note
You will not be able to perform the integration if you do not have the Admin profile in the CRM production environment.

To work with the Desk integration in a sandbox

To learn how to use this integration, please refer to Working with Zoho Desk integration.

To deploy the Desk integration from a sandbox to a production environment

  1. Navigate to Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox.
  2. Click on the sandbox from which you want to deploy the integration.
  3. In the Change Set list, select Zoho Desk (available under the Integrations component).

  4. Click the Deploy Changes to Production button.
  5. In the Are you sure you want to proceed with the deployment? popup, click Yes, Proceed. 
  6. In the Start Deployment popup, click Yes, Proceed. In case there are any issues, conflicts will be shown. Once they are rectified, you will be able to proceed with the deployment.
Notes
Note
You'll not be able to deploy the integration if:
  1. You do not have the Admin profile in the production environment.
  2. You do not have the Manage Sandbox permission enabled for your profile.
  3. There is a Desk account that is already mapped to the production environment.

To remove Desk integration from a sandbox

Alert
Deactivating the integration will:
  1. Remove Zoho Desk related lists from the record details page of the modules
  2. Permanently delete the linking of Deals with tickets
  3. Stop all active synchronization of data
  1. Navigate to Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox.
  2. Click the sandbox where you want the integration.
  3. Click the Go to Sandbox button.
  4. In the sandbox, navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Zoho.
  5. Go to Zoho Desk and click Manage.
  6. Click Deactivate.

  7. In the popup that appears, click I Understand. Deactivate now.
  8. The integration will be deactivated.
Notes
Note
  1. If your production account is integrated to a Zoho Desk account, the integration will not be copied when you create a sandbox.
  2. If your sandbox is integrated to a Zoho Desk account, please note the following:
  3. When you rebuild your sandbox, the Desk integration gets removed from it. You'll have to perform the integration again to use it in the rebuilt sandbox.
  4. When you deactivate your sandbox, your Desk integration does not get removed. You will not be able to integrate that Desk account in any other sandbox or production environment.
  5. When you delete your sandbox, your Desk integration gets removed from the sandbox.