Important note: We recently introduced Path Finder- a journey discovery tool as part of our process management tool kit. So, in order to accommodate journey management activity as a whole, we have named the process management tool kit as CommandCenter, while renaming our journey building capability (erstwhile called CommandCenter), as Journey Builder. Click here to learn more about PathFinder.

What is Journey Builder?

Journey Builder allows you to build online replicas of your business processes using multiple modules. It is ideal for organizations that have several departments, services, or third-party applications participating in the culmination of a single business process. 

Difference between Journey Builder  and Blueprint 

Permission Required
Users with the Manage Automation permission profile can access this feature.

Business scenarios

Let's look at a few business scenarios where Journey Builder can be used effectively. See more use cases.

Loan sanction processes

Zylker Finances provides monetary assistance to small and medium-sized businesses. Applicants looking for a loan enter the necessary details in the loan application form and submit it for further processing. During this process, their form sails through different stages and departments like pre-approval, document verification, fund release, legal verification, and pre-closing before the prescribed amount is approved. Here, each stage plays a crucial role in propelling the application to the subsequent stages and finally completing the process. Therefore, an online replica of this process should be able to capture details like stages where an application is stalled, if a stage is skipped, the amount of time spent at one stage, and more.

The Journey Builder gives a perfect platform for this by allowing you to add stages and transitions from multiple CRM modules. One can even define the deadline for a process's completion, add automated actions between stages, involve actions during transitions that can be captured in different modules, and more. Here is an example of how the journey will appear in Journey Builder.

Supply chain management

Zylker Logistics operates a supply chain management business. It transacts with several departments—production units, vendors, shipment logistics, and third-party services—to complete its production-and-delivery cycle. Their SCM cycle follows this route:

• The business begins with consumers showing interest in one of their products.
  
• The product's availability is browsed in the inventory and the stock details are displayed to the consumer.
  
  • If the requested/searched product is unavailable, the purchase request is sent to the supplier/vendor.
    
  • Once the product is in stock, the inventory is updated, and a notification is sent to the consumer (followed by other lead nurturing activities, if required).
    
• The consumer books the product, pays through the payment gateway, and receives shipment details via email, SMS, and an app notification.
  
• Shipment is tracked, and the consumer is notified of any delay or early delivery.
  
• Product is delivered, and the SCM cycle is closed for that consumer.
  

From the time the buyer shows interest in a product until it's successfully delivered, the SCM creates a network including individuals, organizations, departments, activities, and resources that culminate in the selling-and-buying cycle. All these touch points add value to the SCM operation, and it's important to monitor, manage, and track the efficiency and gather accurate insights on the performances. 

Replicating this journey using Journey Builder will give detailed information about stages that propel a product's movement to the subsequent level, stages at which the product gets stalled, time spent at a particular state, and more. 

These metrics in turn can help in revising the existing process, having tighter control over the associated costs, forecast customer's purchase behavior, throw light on lead nurturing efforts, and more things that impact the company's bottom line.

Core elements in Journey Builder

Similar to a Blueprint, you need to define states and transitions in Journey Builder.

Now you have some idea about the building blocks of Journey Builder, which are same as that of a blueprint. See also building blocks in a blueprint. 

To create a journey you need to follow the steps below: 

Step 1. Adding basic information

Step 2. Adding States and their actions

1. Record's state - Order placed/Order confirmed
   
2. Actions configured - Email notification to vendor/ Payment link to customer.
   

Following instant actions can be set: 

1. Field update
   
2. Email notification: 3 per state
   
3. Task: 3 per state
   
4. Webhook
   
5. Functions
   
6. Add/remove tags: 10 tags/state
   
7. Slack and Cliq notification: 5 notifications/state
   

• Record's state - First instalment/Product shipped
  
• Actions configured - Call the customer.
  

Following scheduled actions can be set:

1. Field update
   
2. Email notification
   
3. Task
   
4. Webhook
   
5. Function
   

• Record's state - Payment pending/Booking confirmed/Ticket open.
  
• Actions configured - Email notifications/webhook notification/Email alerts.
  

Following recurring actions can be set:

1. Field update
   
2. Email notification
   
3. Task
   
4. Webhook
   
5. Function
   

Step 3. Defining the deadline for a state

• Escalate it to any user from the following categories:
  
  • Users
    
  • Groups
    
  • Roles
    
  • Record's owner, creator, or record owner's manager
    
• An email notifications will be sent to the selected user.
  
• Move to the any of the last state (s) that is mentioned in your journey. For example, as per the SCM process, the record can be moved to the state "order cancelled."
  

Note that the option to select a deadline for a state will appear only if you have added a transition between the states. Defining a deadline is not a mandatory step. 

Step 4. Defining transition and when it should be triggered

You can select when a transition should be triggered (this is a mandatory step):

• Submission of a webform — A transition will be triggered when a record has entered CRM through a webform. This trigger is available only at the beginning of the journey or for the first transition of a journey.  
  
• Creation of a record — A transition will take place whenever a record is created in the specified module and layout. 
  
• Edit of a record — A transition will be triggered whenever a record is edited. You can also add a condition. For example, whenever the lead status is changed to qualified, a payment link must be sent. 
  
• Receiving an API call — If you want to invoke any transition from the third-party application, you can select this option and copy the API URL provided by us. Also, you can mention the parameters that should be passed along with each API call. You can select a maximum of six parameters from the following data types: string, number, date, date/time, boolean.

Note: Journeys created before 14th July, 2021 will have Long Integer ID and Journeys created after July 14th, 2021 will have String type ID.

• Approval of record — A transition will be triggered only if a record is approved. For example, an order will be placed only upon payment approval. You must select to which approval process the record belongs.
  
• Rejection of record — A transition will be triggered on rejection of a record. For example, the order will be canceled if the payment fails. You must select to which approval process the record belongs.
  
• A date/date time — A transition will be triggered at date or date/time field of a module.
   
  

• Sales Signals from different channels - A trigger can be initiated based on the response received on emails, chat, calls, support tickets, and marketing campaigns. For example, a support ticket can be created whenever a call is overdue or when a customer clicks on an email campaign "thank you for registering" email can be sent.  You can also set criteria to state that the trigger must occur only for particular tickets, emails, surveys etc. For example, a transition will be triggered only when the "registration email" bounces not for other email bounces. Similarly, a trigger can happen when response is received to a particular support ticket only. 
  

Note

1. Once you define a trigger, it cannot be edited. You must delete it and add a new one. 
   
2. You cannot delete a module that is part of a state and the trigger point of a transition once it is defined in a process.
   
3. The current record name field in the Journey Builder module will display the record's name based on its position in the module. For example, if the record is in leads module it will show record name - Leads module, if its in contacts module it'll show record name - Contacts module. 
   

Step 5. Defining an action that should take place during a transition

• Create record
  
• Field update
  
• Email notification
  
• Task
  
• Webhook
  
• Functions
  
• Add/remove tags
  

Note

An instant action during a transition is particularly helpful when the state and transition are in two different modules. For example, in the above case, the state occurs in the "Quotes" module, whereas the transition takes place in the "Vendor" module. In other words, you can define different sets of actions for different modules in a single journey. Two different actions can be performed simultaneously at different states.

Step 6. Specifying criteria for the selected records to undergo a transition 

If you want only specific records to go through a transition, you can define which criteria the records should satisfy in order to move into a transition. For instance, you can mention that only invoices above $3,000 should undergo a transition for "discount" before moving to the next state.

Step 7. Defining connectivity between records

1. Understand how the two records are interlinked
   
2. What activity led the record to the next state
   

Note

1. The connectivity tab will be available only if the states are defined in two different modules. Like in the above example where the record moves from the leads module to the contacts module. 
   
2. Reference can be given only if a record is created through Journey Builder. Manual creation will not be considered. For example, a contact (record) is created after a lead is qualified.
   

Step 8. Adding a log to the transition

You can insert merge fields in the log to view the complete journey of the record until the particular transition. For example, the below image shows which journey the transition belongs to, the name of the transition, when was it triggered, the action that took place upon trigger, and the result. 

Design a journey in Journey Builder 

To design a journey

1. Go to Setup > Experience Center  > Journey Builder
   
2. Click Create Journey and enter the Journey Name and Description.
   
3. Click Proceed.
   
4. In the Journey Builder, select click to add a state.
   
5. In Create State, enter the State Name, Description, and choose a Module from the drop-down list.
   
6. Click Save.
   You will be redirected to the Journey Builder. You can either add Actions to the state or click +Add State to add more states.
7. Click Set deadline for this state and enter the number of day(s), hour(s), or minute(s).
   
   
8. In the Actions tab, select Instant, Scheduled, or Recurring action.
   
   
9. In Instant Action, click Add and select an action from the available list.
   
10. In Scheduled action, enter the number of day(s), hour(s), or minute(s) and click Continue.
    
11. In Recurring action, mention the number of day(s), hour(s), or minute(s) and click Continue.
    For both scheduled and recurring actions, you can also add instant actions (field update, email notification, task, webhook, and function).
12. Create Transitions by clicking on the + button between two States.
    
13. In the Transition info tab, enter the Transition name, Description, and choose Trigger on from the dropdown list. 
    
14. Click Save.
    
15. In the Action tab, click Add action and select an Action from the available list, under What actions do you wish to do during this transition?
    
    
16. In the Conditions tab, click Add Criteria to define Which [records] would you like to apply this transition to?
    
    
17. In the Logs tab, click Add Log > Enter the details and click Save.
    
    
18. Click +Add State to add more states.
    
19. Click Publish to make the Journey live or Delete draft if you want to discard it.
    

System-defined journeys

1. Lead created
   
2. Call scheduled
   
3. Contacted
   
4. Attempted to contact
   
5. Converted to contact
   
6. Contact failed

1. Lead Qualification through Call
   
   
2. Lead Qualification through Email
   
   

Note: The system-defined journeys are in draft mode by default, the administrators must manually enable them.

1. Go to Setup > Experience Center > Journey Builder
   
2. Click on the desired system-defined journey.
   
   
3. Customize the states and transitions.
   
4. Define actions and other details.
   
5. Click Publish.
   

Define the order in which a transition must occur

In situations where the first state in the model has multiple transitions, the transitions will occur in the same order as they are listed in the configuration. But if you want, you can change the order of execution by setting the order of precedence. 

Let's consider the loan sanction process. If the state "waiting for pre-approval" has two transitions—"incomplete information" and "exceeds approval limit"—the application (record) will follow the transitions in the listed order. If you want to reorder them, you can drag and drop the transitions to the desired order of execution. 

Specify deadline for the journey 

You can specify a deadline for the entire journey. For example, if your model concentrates only on lead generation, you can set a deadline for the journey after the lead generation state is reached. You can add a deadline either while configuring the journey or later. You can select the process and go to the Deadline tab and click Set deadline for the journey. 

Here you must mention the number of days, hours, or minutes after which a journey should end. You can choose a deadline a few days after the start of the journey or after a state is reached (for example: lead qualified). You can define if the records should be escalated or moved to a state.

Setting a deadline allows you to see the number of records that reach the completion state and take remedial actions on the ones that are stalled at a particular state. 

Edit versions of a journey 

You can create up to five versions of a single journey, but only one version can be active at a given time. When you edit any active journey, there are three options:

• Delete draft - You neither save nor publish it. Just delete it.
  
• Publish as a new version - The edited version can be published as a new version. This will retain the existing version and allow you to compare the performance of the versions.
  
• Republish - You can overwrite the existing version.
  
  

View records in the Jouney Builder module

Once a journey is created in an Journey Builder, a system defined module called "Journey Builder" is added to your CRM account. You can view the records that participated in a particular journey and filter them according to their instance ID, Journey start date, Journey deadline, state deadline, and more. When you have multiple models, you can use the custom view to filter and see the desired model. You can also use the smart filter to see specific records. 

View Journey Builder reports

• State-wise segregation — Number of records in each state.
  
• Average time taken in each state — Amount of time a record spends in one state. You can figure delays, pinpoint the bottleneck states, identify the states that have maximum stagnation, and note the time taken for a transition. 
  
• Overall report — The overall report will give a pictorial representation of the entire journey with the record count in each state and transition.
   
  

Reorder, deactivate, and delete journeys

Reorder — Records enter the journeys based on the listed order. All the journeys you've created will be listed in the order of creation, but you can reorder them by clicking the Reorder Journeys option under Experience Center > Journey Builder. When you reorder the journeys, the records will enter the journeys according to the new order. 

Delete — You can hover on a journey and click the delete icon to delete a journey. However, before deleting the journey, you must note that: 

• All the records that are currently in the journey will be exited.
  
• The history of the records (states and transitions that they participated in) will be permanently deleted.
  
• Actions that are scheduled for the current records will be stalled.
  
  

Note

1. You cannot delete the module that is part of a state and the trigger point of a transition once it is defined in a journey.
   
2. If a record is part of the Journey Builder, an orange strip will be added to for easy identification. The strip will be visible in the record detail page and it will display the state where the record is coming from to the next state in line. 
   
3. Journey Builder is available in copy customization and sandbox. 
   
4. You can edit an existing journey and republish it, which will overwrite the existing version. You can also save the journey as a new version.
   

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SEE ALSO

Difference between Journey Builder, Blueprint, Orchestly, and Zoho Flow

Business scenarios for Journey Builder

Journey Builder - Tutorial