FAQs: Assignment
What is an assignment rule and why do I need it?
The growth of your business is proportional to how well your sales team is handling the leads inflow and how effective they are in handling the customers and associated deals. Assigning the leads and contacts automatically to the right person with the relevant set of skills is important so that you don't miss out on your prospects or customers.
The Assignment Rule in Zoho CRM is a feature that helps automate the process of assigning records to specific users or teams within an organization. You can set some criteria based on which the records will be assigned to the users.
Your sales reps may have different specialization and skill set to handle various aspects of your business. Assignment rules helps you categorize and automate the assignment process of your records in modules such as leads, contacts, accounts, deal, etc; depending upon your defined criteria to filter out records from rest of the incoming records.
For example, you can create an assignment rule that assigns all new leads coming from the USA to a particular sales representative or group. Or, you can create a rule that assigns high-priority support tickets to a dedicated support team. You can create a rule where the high value deals will be assigned to experienced sales representatives who have successfully won those in past.
Your sales reps routine works such as number of follow-ups, promptness in getting back to the customers, offering quick answers to their queries and responding to the support tickets can be better organized with the help of assignment rules.
What are the benefits of configuring assignment rules in your CRM account?
Benefits of deploying assignment rules:
Configuring assignment rules,
- Minimizes the waiting period : Once the assignment rule is configured, the incoming records that match the conditions mentioned in the rule instantly get assigned to the appropriate record owner. This reduces the waiting period between record creation and ownership assignment.
- Facilitates condition-based assignments : You can automate assignment of records based on record conditions like lead status, country, industry, etc., that suit your business requirements.
- Allows to choose the user type : You can assign records to specific users, roles, or groups. Alternatively, you can choose to assign records to users matching certain conditions.
- Provides AI-driven assignment suggestions : If you select Zia suggested user, Zia will predict the record management and ownership patterns from the past and assign new records to users who match the pattern.
- Manages assignment based on user availability : You can assign records to users who are available based on the Shift timing and Online status to prevent delays or backlog.
- Facilitates operational productivity : You can create and associate tasks while assigning records so that the record owner can stay informed about the actions that needs to be performed as soon as a record is assigned to them.
Which modules can assignment rules be created for?
Zoho CRM allows admins and users with the the Assignment Rules setup permission to configure assignment rules for both standard and custom modules. The modules where records frequently enter the system in bulk such as Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals, Tasks and custom modules can benefit from the use of assignment rules.
How can I create an assignment rule in my CRM account?
To create an assignment rule:
- Go to Setup > Automation > Assignment.
- Click on Add Create Assignment Rule.
- In the Create Assignment Rule pop-up, choose the module and enter the Rule Name.
- Click Next.
- In Apply this rule to, click Records matching certain conditions and select the Field and Value.
- Assign the record to either Category or User matching certain conditions.
- In Would you like to check user availability before assigning? check Yes or No.
- In Follow-up Task, select Add Task, if required.
- Click Save Rule Entry.
Why am I unable to set assignment rules?
All users who have the permission to set assignment rules in their profile will be able to create a rule. To check whether the user has the required permission:
- Go to Setup > Security Control > Profiles.
- Select the profile the user has.
- Verify that the Assignment Rules permission under Automation is toggled on.
If it is not, toggle it on.
The user should now be able to create an assignment rule.
Can assignment rules be triggered for selected records only?
Yes, assignment rules can be triggered for records based on specific criteria. Criteria are used to filter out specific records from rest of the incoming records. For example, Deals from Pasadena, Applications from the US, or Accounts in the IT industry.
Criteria-based rules ensure that the rule will only be applied to records that satisfy the criteria, and other records will be ignored.
Can I trigger assignment rules for records that are created manually?
No, assignment rules cannot be triggered when records are created manually.
They can only be triggered when records:
- Are imported directly to the Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals, Cases, Tasks, or any custom modules.
- Enter any of the above modules through webforms.
- Enter CRM from third-party applications through APIs.
What will happen to new records which do not meet the criteria for any of the assignment rules?
If a record does not match any of the criteria, it will be assigned to the default user.
During the assignment rule configuration, you can assign it to any users, roles or groups with the records in Rule Entry. If you select multiple users, roles, or groups, the records will be assigned in a round robin fashion. Once the conditions and the rules are framed, the tool will ask you to select a default user. A default user can be the currently logged in user or any user with the required permissions. If no default user is selected, then the records that do not meet the criteria are assigned to the logged in user.
The definition of the logged in user depends on the type of record creation:
- Import: The user who initiates the import.
- API: The user whose auth-token is used in the API.
- Webform: The user who created the webform rule.
However, if that user is deactivated or deleted, the super admin is treated as the logged in user instead.
See Also>> Setting Assignment Rules
Can I assign records based on shift hours using assignment rules?
Yes, you can assign the records based on shift hours.
Shift hours are set by your administrators in the Business Hours under the Company Details in General Settings.
Users can be associated with shift hours based on their work hours.
If, when setting up the assignment rule you set the Would you like to check user availability before assigning? option as Yes, and choose Shift Timing, then the system will automatically assign incoming records to a user who is available based on their shift.
A user is unable to create assignment rules for the Contacts module even with the permission to create assignment rules. What should I do?
The user will be only be able to create assignment rules for the modules they have access to.
For example, if the Leads module is not enabled for the Sales associate profile, users with that profile will not be able to create rules for the Leads module.
You must ensure the users have access to all the modules they need to create assignment rules.
To set module permissions:
- Go to Setup > Security Control > Profiles.
- Select the desired profile.
(Please note that for Administrator and Standard profile you can't toggle the module permissions as they are set by default. You need to create/clone a profile to enable or disable the permissions.) - Go to Module Permissions and then Basic and toggle the Contacts module on.
Check that the Create permission is enabled. - Verify that the Contacts module is checked under Automation > Assignment to ensure that assignment rules can be created for that particular module.
Is it possible to rearrange the rule entries?
Yes, rule entries can be rearranged.
Users with permission to configure assignment rules can reorder the rule entries.
For example, three rule entries are created with different criteria and you want these criteria to be assessed in a specific order. If you reorder the entries, the assignment rules will automatically check the records against the rules in the order of preference and assign the records based on the first rule they qualify for.
To rearrange rule entries:
- Go to Setup > Automation > Assignment.
- Select a rule and click on it.
- In the rule, go to Rule Entry and click Reorder.
- Drag and drop the rule entry to the desired position.
- Click Save.
What is the order of execution when all of the automation rules are configured in your CRM account?
If all of the automation are configured in your account they will be executed in the following order:
- Assignment Rules: Any record entering CRM must have an owner, so the assignment rules are executed first.
- Review Process: If any incoming records meet the review process conditions, they must be reviewed by the authorized reviewer before they can enter the CRM system for further processing.
- Approval Process: The record will then enter the approval process based on the criteria which have been configured.
These three processes will take place in a sequential manner. If any workflow rules are also configured, they will be triggered based on their execution criteria.
For example, a workflow rule has been set that if the lead status is "contacted", then a welcome email will be sent. In this case, the email will be triggered as soon as the status matches this criteria, regardless of other automations.
The Timeline will display the order each process was executed in your CRM account.
Can assignment rules be triggered for records created using workflow rules?
No, you cannot apply assignment rules to records that are created through workflow rules.
The assignment rules automation only applies to records that are imported or enter CRM through webforms or from third-party applications via APIs.
There is an option during the configuration process for workflow rules to select the record owner, so these records will not also go through assignment rules.
What will happen if I choose multiple users to assign the records to?
If you choose multiple users or a group or role, then the records will be assigned in a round robin pattern.
For example, if you choose the Managers role then the records will be assigned to all users in the Manager role in a round robin pattern.
If multiple users are selected, CRM has an option to assign the records based on users' availability.
See Also>> Setting shift hours
Can I assign Leads to different users?
You can assign leads to different users automatically by configuring Assignment rules . However, you can apply assignment rules only for those leads that are generated through import, webforms, and API.
Note : Assignment rule does not apply to the records that are added manually to the CRM account.
You can create multiple rule entries in one assignment rule based on your requirement. The record will be assigned to the users based on all the rule entries that are specified.
We hope that this list of frequently asked questions about Assignment rules is informative. If you still have questions that haven't been addressed, please let us know here. We will be happy to discuss them with our subject matter experts and add them in the future. And please don't forget to share your rating below :)
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