You may want to get an email reminder a week before a deal's expected closing date, or may want to send an email to the customers reminding them of the monthly rentals or subscription renewals. In these cases, it is not necessary that the records should be created or edited for the rule to get triggered. It is plainly based on the value in the date fields. This execution option lets you pick a date field from a record and allows you to define the day for the rule to be triggered.

Please note, with this option, a maximum of  5000 records  will be triggered every 10 minutes. If there are more than 5000 records in a 10 minutes period, the remaining records will be executed in the next 10 minutes. 

1. Enter the following to specify when you want the rule to be triggered.
   
   • Based on which Date/Time field this rule should execute: Choose one of the options from Created Time, Modified Time, Last Activity Time and Unsubscribed Time.
     
   • Define execution date: Specify the number of  Days, Weeks, or Months after which workflow should be executed.
     
   • Execution time: Choose to execute at the same time of the activity or enter a time of your choice.
     
2. Select the  Once ,  Every Month  or  Every Year  from the  Recur  drop-down list.
   
3. Click  Next .
   
   

Execute Based on Record's Score 

Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased or updated. For example, leads from the service industry are your prime prospects and you want to prioritize them based on the scores. You may want to closely follow-up with the leads that have a score of 10 or more. In such cases, you can create a workflow rule based on scores. When the score of a lead is updated and if the score is 10 or more, a task can be created to prioritize and follow-up on the lead immediately. 

1. Choose either  Increase ,  Decrease  or  Updated  to specify when you want the rule to be triggered.
   

   
   

2. Click  Next .
   
3. Specify the  Condition  when the rule should be executed.
   
4. Click  Next .
   

   
   

Note

• The execution order of the automation are: Assignment rule > Review process >   Scoring Rules > Workflow Rule > Approval Process > Blueprint > Scoring Rules > CommandCenter . Scoring rule occurs twice in the loop to ensure the score is updated upon execution of actions. 
  
• The execution of actions will take place in the following order: Field update > Tags > Email Notification > Task > Slack notification , Cliq notification , Webhook , Custom function , Custom action , Create record (Executes in parallel) > Convert . 
  
• Rules created for the same module will be executed in a chronological order. If you would like to alter the order of execution, you can reorder the rules. Click here to know about reordering.
• Not all actions are performed in this order. In order to improve the performance, we have offloaded certain actions. That is, certain actions will happen in parallel not sequentially.
  
• Action taking place in parallel: Alert, task, webhook, function, create record, and Cliq/Slack notification.
  
• Actions taking place in sequence: Field update, tags, and convert.
  
• Workflow rules executes an action the minute it gets trigerred. When huge volume of records — that satisfy the trigger condition enter the system, Workflow might require sometime to process their actions, one after the other.
• Workflow execution based on scores is available in all the Paid editions .
  
• Notifications via Cliq, Slack, and Cisco can be triggered through instant and scheduled actions. 
  

Note

1. A workflow can be created only for the target module, that is the module where your customers are or to whom the recommendation applies.
   
2. Recommendations that are shown for a product or deal that is already purchased or associated with the contact, are applicable for the Workflow. That is, if the contact has purchased a laptop then Zia will recommend the same product again; for this recommendation you can create a workflow. 
   

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow rules .
   
2. Click  Create .
   Only the target modules or the ones for which recommendation is suggested will be available.  
3. In  When do you want to execute the rule?  select  Based on recommendation .
   
4. In  Execute , select the number of days and before/after/on from the drop-down list.
   
5. Click  Next .
   
6. In  Would you like to add some additional conditions to this rule?  select  Yes  or  No .
   If you select  Ye s, enter the desired workflow conditions.
7. Click  Done .
   
8. Select an  Instant  or  Scheduled action .
   
9. Click  Save .
   

Execute Based on Notes

Part 3 - Create a workflow condition

Multiple conditions in a workflow rule help you address cases where you have clearly defined action items for the records that met the specified criteria and the ones that do not.

For each rule, you can add a maximum of 10 conditions in the Enterprise Edition and 5 conditions each in the Standard and Professional Editions .

Example : In a deal follow-up scenario, you may have the following requirements which can be best configured with Workflow conditions.

Workflow Conditions	Records that match the criteria: Deal Amount is >= USD 6000, Campaign Source is Trade Show	Records that match the criteria: Deal Amount is >= USD 2000, Campaign Source is Trade Show	Records that do not match any of the criteria:
Action 1	Send an email to the Sales Manager about the big deal.	Assign a task to the record owner to close the deal in a week's time.	Assign a task to the record owner to close the deal in a week's time and also to provide a 15-day trial.
Action 2	Assign a task to the record owner to cross check the discount guidelines and the final discount value.	-	Update the field value as  Eligible , for the field -  15 Day Trial .

1. Choose one of the following:
   
   • Records Matching the Conditions  - Rule will be triggered only for those records that match the given criteria.
     
   • All Records  - Rule will be triggered for all the records.
     
   • Records that do not meet any of the above conditions  - Instead of  AllRecords , this option will be available from the second condition onwards.
     
2. Specify the criteria.
   You can click the  Add  icon to add multiple criteria.
   
   You can specify  Tags  as part of workflow criteria. 
   
   When you add more than one criterion, you will get an option to Edit the criteria pattern .
   
   
   
3. Click  Next  and add instant actions or scheduled actions.
   
4. Click the  Add another condition  link  to add another workflow condition and repeat the steps mentioned above.
   
   Please note that this option will be available only when at least one action (instant or scheduled) is added to the condition.
   

Edit Criteria Patterns

Criteria Pattern Editor in the custom list view helps you to develop the advanced filters using simple logical operators like  and / or .

Note

• You can specify a maximum of  25 criteria  for a list view.
  
• If you are associating a convert action (an instant action) to the rule, specifying the criteria is mandatory.
  
• Maximum 5 lookup fields can be added in the criteria.
  

To edit criteria patterns

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules .
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click on a workflow rule.
   
3. In the  Edit Rule  page, review your existing criteria and click the  Change Pattern  link.
   
4. In  Pattern Editor  box, modify filters and click the  Save  link.
   

Example :
You would like to trigger a workflow rule for all the potentials whose Type is New Business, Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification, and Amount is above $50000.

Type is New Business; Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification; and Amount > $50000 .

You can create this criteria easily using the Criteria option given below:

The criteria pattern will be automatically set as:

Since the criteria pattern does not match the requirement, you can edit it as:
  

You can use the following characters in the Criteria Pattern Editor: 

• Round brackets: ( )
  
• and / or  operators
  
• Criteria Row Number
  

Part 4 - Associate instant and scheduled actions

A workflow rule is meaningful only if an action is associated to it. These actions include email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, activities - tasks, meetings and calls, and create record. Except create record, all the other actions are grouped under the  Actions   (under Automations)   that can either be  Instant  or  Scheduled . These actions once created, can be associated with many rules.

1. In the  Actions  section of the workflow rule, do the following:
   
   • Instant Actions - Click to associate instant actions that are triggered instantly when the workflow rule is triggered. You can also create one and associate it to the rule.
     
   • Scheduled Actions - Click to associate scheduled actions that will be triggered at a specified time once the rule is triggered. A maximum of 5 scheduled actions can be created.
     
2. Click  Save .
   
   Note that you cannot save a rule without creating either an instant or a scheduled action.
   

Associate Actions to Rules

Add Instant Actions

Instant action includes email notifications, tasks, meetings, calls, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, and record creation that are triggered immediately when the rule is executed. There are two options to associate these actions.

• Create  email notifications, tasks, meetings, calls, field updates, tags, webhooks, custom functions or record and associate them to the rule. You can also create an action to convert leads, quotes or sales orders.
  
• Select existing  email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks or custom functions to associate to the rule.
  

To associate an instant action

If you are creating a workflow rule, directly go to  step 4

1. Go to   Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules.
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click on the rule for which you want to create an action.
   
3. Click  Edit  to modify the rule settings.
   
4. Under a  Condition , click  Instant Action/Action  link and select the action from the drop-down list.
   
5. In the pop-up, select the actions that are listed or click  New [Action]  to create one and then associate.
   
6. Click  Associate .
   

Note

• For a workflow rule, all the actions (email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks, and functions) will not be listed. If the rule is for Leads, only the actions created for Leads will be available for association.
  
• If the records are deleted via Workflow, you cannot retrieve their information using get API as the record is already deleted.
  
• Edit or delete triggers do not function when records are auto-merged. These triggers will work if records are merged manually. 
• Only one set of instant action can be created with email notifications, tasks, meetings, calls, etc., associated to it.
  
• You can associate a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, 5 field updates, 1 custom function, 1 webhook, and 1 create record to the instant action. 
  

Record Creation as Instant and Scheduled Action

Available for Professional and above edition only.

You can configure an instant or scheduled action to create records when certain conditions are met, such as:

1. You can create a deal if the contact status is changed to interested. 
   
2. You can create a case a day after the customer inquiry is made.
   

Records can be created in both  standard and custom modules . Only the following standard modules are supported: Leads , Contacts , Accounts ,  Deals and Cases . The execution parameter can be set only on  a record action or on a Date/Time. 

While configuring the rule you must:

• Select the module and layout to which the new record will be added.
  

• Select the owner of the record. You can either select the logged in user (the person who creates the workflow rule) or any other CRM user. 
  
  Similarly, you can select a  reference user . That is, any user lookup field that you have added in the layout. For instance, if the  Contacts module has a user lookup for  Accounts and  Vendors , then you can select a user from these lookup modules as the record owner. You can even select a user from the custom user field (only single user field can be used) as a record owner, but it should be a single user field. 
  
  

• Enter the values for fields like record name, amount etc. The values that you enter here will be pre-populated for the record that is created. By default, the mandatory fields (both standard and custom fields) from the layout will be displayed here, you can also add the additional fields present in the layout and enter a value. You can either enter the values or use merge fields. For example, the email field values can be entered using the merge fields.

Note

1. You can create only one record create action/condition.
   
2. When you add more fields to a create record action page, the newly added field will become mandatory.
   

To set up record creation

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow rules .
   
2. Create a rule and define the rule execution. 
   
3. Only  On a record action or  On a Date/Time can be selected. 
   
4. Click  Next and define the condition.
   
5. In  Instant Action , select Create a record  and choose the module.
   
   
   
6. Select the layout from the drop-down list. 
   
7. In  Record Owner , select  Users or  Reference from the drop-down list.
   Select the appropriate user field, if you choose the reference option. 
8. Enter values for the other fields.
   Click  Add more fields to invoke additional fields and values from the record layout.
9. Click  Save .

Adding Tags for convert instant action

1. In Instant Action , select Convert from the drop-down list.
   
2. In the Convert popup , do the following:
   
3. In Convert leads to check all or either of the following: Contact, Account, and Deal .
   
4. Choose an owner of new records if needed
   
5. In Carry over tags to check all or either of the following: accounts, contacts, and deal.  
   
6. Click Done .
   

Create Activities as instant record actions

Instances when the scheduled actions will be rescheduled:

• The Execution Criteria for the Rule is either  Edit  or  Create or Edit . When the rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions are triggered and scheduled actions are scheduled for the record.
  
  If a user edits the record and the rule criteria is not fulfilled, then the scheduled actions scheduled earlier will be deleted. If the record is edited again and the criteria is satisfied, then the scheduled actions will be rescheduled.
  
• For Scheduled Actions, the  Execution Time  can also be based on the custom Date & Time field. When a rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions are triggered and scheduled actions are scheduled for the record.
  
  If a user edits the record to change the value of the date & time field, the scheduled actions will be rescheduled as per the new date & time value.
  

Instances when scheduled actions will be deleted or not be rescheduled:

• The Execution Criteria for the Rule is either  Edit  or  Create or Edit . When the rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions are triggered and scheduled actions are scheduled for the record.
  
  If a user edits the record but the rule criteria is not fulfilled, then the scheduled actions will not be scheduled again.
  
• When the Enterprise Edition is downgraded to the Free Edition, all the scheduled actions that are scheduled for the record will be deleted.
  
• When records are deleted, all the scheduled actions scheduled to the record will also be deleted. If the deleted records are restored, the scheduled actions will not be rescheduled.
  

Instances when the Scheduled actions will not be executed:

• When an event is canceled, all the scheduled actions scheduled for the event will not be executed.
  
• When a lead is converted, all the scheduled actions scheduled for the record will not be executed.
  

Points to remember 

• When the  Change Pattern  box is being used to edit, you cannot add or delete a criteria row under the  Specify Criteria section.
  
• The operator precedence will not be taken into account if you do not specify brackets. For example, if you specify the criteria as  1 or 2 and 3 , it will be considered as  ((1 or 2) and 3)
  
• You can change the  and  or  or  of the criteria rows and it will be updated in the Editor below.
  
• You can change the  and  or  or  condition in the pattern and it will be updated in the rows above.
  
• If you specify  1 and 2  and save it, on editing the view the pattern will be shown as  (1 and 2) . For  (1 and 2) or 3  the pattern will be shown as  ( (1 and 2) or 3 )
  
• If you add more rows in the editor and delete one by one there will be additional brackets displayed in the pattern. For example if there are 4 rows added and you delete the 3rd row, the criteria pattern will be as  ( ( ( ( 1 and 2 ) ) ) or 3 ) . If the first row is deleted then it will be shown as  ( ( ( ( 1 ) ) ) or 2 ) . However, on saving the criteria, it will change as  ( 1 or 2 ) .
  
• Make sure that you do not use the following as they are invalid:  () ,  (and) ,  (or) .
  
• If the brackets do not match it will be treated as invalid.
  
• There will an error message, if the number of rows and the numbers given in the pattern do not match and also, if there are any numbers missed in the pattern.
  
• In case the final brackets are missing, there will be a difference in the Criteria Patterns Editor and its view mode.
  

  Your Criteria Pattern in Editor	Your Criteria Pattern in View Mode
  ( 1 and 2 ) or ( 3 and 4 )	(( 1 and 2 ) or ( 3 and 4 ))
  1 and 2 and 3 and 4	(1 and 2 and 3 and 4 )
  ( 1 or 2 ) and ( 3 or 4 )	( ( 1 or 2 ) and ( 3 or 4 ) )

1. When workflows are triggered during the editing of a record, it can lead to loops. Here's how Zoho CRM manages these loops:
   
1. Single workflow triggering itself: When a contact is updated, it triggers Workflow A. This workflow then updates the same contact. Since this is an update of the contact, it triggers Workflow A again. In this case, Workflow A will run twice (Workflow A → Workflow A) before being stopped.
   
2. Multiple workflows triggering each other: Let's say that updating a contact triggers Workflow A, which then updates a deal. This action will trigger Workflow B. If Workflow B updates a contact, it will then trigger Workflow A again. After executing workflows thrice (Workflow A → Workflow B → Workflow A), the loop is stopped.
   
3. This behavior of stopping the loop will occur for date-based triggers as well.
   

Lock Workflow Rules

When you want to make sure that no one edits a workflow rule unless absolutely necessary, you can lock the rule. When a rule is locked, it cannot be edited. One has to unlock the rule in order to edit it again. A locked rule sends out the message to fellow administrators that it is not meant to be edited unless absolutely required. A workflow rule can be locked after it has been created.

To lock a workflow rule

1. Go to  Setup >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules.
   
2. From the  Workflow Rules list view under the  Rules  tab, click the rule that you wish to lock.
   
3. In the selected workflow rule details page, click the  Lock  icon next to the rule name.  
   
   
   
4. In Lock Rule , enter the reason for locking the rule. This message will be displayed to fellow administrators who try to unlock the rule for editing.
   
   
   
   
5. Click  Lock .
   

Note

• Only Administrators can lock/unlock a workflow rule. This option is available so that other users are not able to edit or delete the rule. If required others can clone the workflow rule.
  
• A rule can be unlocked by following the same procedure. In a workflow rule's details page, you can click the  Unlock icon and proceed to edit the rule.-A locked rule cannot be edited by other users. If required, they can clone the rule to create another.
  
• The actions such as, email notifications, field updates, tasks, etc. associated to a locked rule is also locked and cannot be edited or deleted by users.
  
• For a rule to be triggered using the  Field Update  option, both the rule criteria and the execution criteria must be true.
  
• If your Zoho CRM account is downgraded or the subscription expired, the workflow rules will be disabled. If you renew the subscription, you will need to manually enable the rules.
  
• When the  Delete  option is selected as the execution criteria, a workflow rule will not be triggered if records are deleted from the Recycle Bin.
  
• You can configure and associate only email notifications, functions, and webhooks to a workflow rule with the execution criteria as  Delete .
  
• Workflow Rules will be triggered when records are modified using Mass Update, Macros and when ownership of records are changed. Rules are also triggered when tasks are created through Macro.
  
• When you configure a workflow rule for the  Events  module, you will see another rule trigger called  Cancel .
  
• The  Cancel  trigger can be chosen when you want to configure a workflow action on the cancellation of an event.
  
• When you configure a workflow rule for the  Visits  module, you will see only the  Create  rule trigger. The other rule triggers like  Edit ,  Field Update , etc. are not available for the  Visits  module.
  
• When  Workflow Actions  are configured on creation of  Visits , those actions will be executed for the leads/contacts associated with the Visit and not for the Visit itself. For example, when email notifications are configured for the visit, the emails are sent to the leads/contacts associated with the visit. Similarly a task created on the creation of the visit is assigned to the record owner of the associated lead/contact. 
  

Use List View & Summary View

There are two views for workflow rules that are created - the  List View  and the  Summary View . By default, you will see the list view, which is a list of all the workflow rules for All modules/Selected module.
    
The Summary view lists out the Criteria and Field Updates associated to the rules that will help you get a clear picture of all the rules and where they are used to avoid any confusion. 

Note

• You need to select a module to check the summary view. This view is not available when you select the "All Modules" option.
  
• The Summary View is available only for the workflow rules and not for the email notifications, tasks and field updates.
  
• In the List View you can reorder the rules to change the sequence in which the rules need to be executed. The  Reorder  option will be available only after you select a module from the drop-down list. 
  

To use summary view

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules .
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, select a module from the drop-down list.
   
3. Click  Summary View  icon.
   
   All the rules for the selected module will be listed along with the Criteria and the associated Field Updates. You can click the  Show More  link to see the other items associated to the rule.
   
   
   

To reorder the workflow rules

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules .
   
2. In the Workflow Rules  page, select a module from the drop-down list.
   
   Make sure you have selected the List View and not the Summary View.
   
3. Click  Reorder Rules .
   
4. Drag and drop the rules in the order that you require.
      
   

View Workflow Usage

You can see insights on the usage of your workflow rules that have the action to send email notifications associated to them. Based on the open rate of the email template associated with your workflow rules, the best performing workflow rules are listed for every week.

Availability

Permission Required

All the users have permission to view workflow usage.  

Check Feature Availability and Limits 

To track the workflow usage,

1. Go to  Setup >  Automation >  Workflow Rules.
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click the  Usage  tab.
   
3. In the  Usage  page, you will be able to:
   

• View the list of top performing workflow rules by email open rate for the last 7 days.
  
• Track the open rate of each email template via the respective workflow rule along with the overall open rate.
  
• Click open the rules to see more elaborate details on usage.
  
  
  
  

Delete Workflow Rules

You can also delete the workflow rules from the list view and also while viewing the rule. When you delete a workflow rule, all the scheduled actions for the records will also be deleted.

To delete workflow rules

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules .
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, move you mouse pointer to the rule you want to delete and click the  Delete  icon.
   
   Alternatively, click on the rule that you to delete. In the rule details page, click the more options button and then click  Delete .
   
   
   

Note

1. In the audit log you can view details of each and every update that is made in the workflow.  See Also  Audit Log .