Task automation in Zoho Projects simplifies and accelerates project management by automating routine tasks, and connecting your projects with other applications.
Use cases
HR: A HR manager in a software company uses Zoho Projects to manage employee onboarding.
The Manager creates a blueprint that outlines the entire employee onboarding processes with various statuses, such as "Pending Documentation," "Orientation Scheduled," and "Onboarded". A new hire is added as a task and the status is marked as "Pending Documentation". When the employee submits their documents, the task status will be updated as "Orientation Scheduled" and assigns an orientation date. You can trigger the macro rule to further automate the onboarding task by updating fields like such as Base Package, Gadget Status, etc. When an employee's status changes to "Onboarded" as per the blueprint, you can use pre-defined email templates for sending welcome emails to new employees. You can also configure email alerts to notify both the HR manager and the new employee when the onboarding process is complete.
Event planner: An event management company would like to send the quotation to the customer when the task status is 'Awaiting Confirmation'. With task workflow, the organizer or admin can set this condition which will trigger the quotation email to the customer.
Software development/ IT: If a developer updates the task status to testing, an email needs to be triggered to the QA's. With Workflow, the admin can set this criteria and trigger an email to the respective QA's.
Blueprint
A blueprint in Zoho Projects is used for designing a structured plan and automating the processes. It provides a structured framework for managing work, ensuring the task progress through defined statuses.
Workflow Rules
Project-level
workflow rules are associated with project layouts. They automatically trigger actions when specific conditions are met. These rules can be associated with email alerts, and webhooks.
Macro Rules
Users can simplify the process of updating multiple tasks at once using Macro Rules. When certain conditions are met, users can update selected task fields with predefined values. Unlike workflow rules, macro rules will not be triggered automatically. The user has to trigger the macro rule manually, and the bulk update process will be automated.
Email Templates
Email templates are pre-defined email formats that you can use for project-related updates.
Email Alerts
Email alerts are notifications sent automatically to one or more project users when a specific action is completed. These alerts can be associated with a workflow to notify users when a rule is triggered.
Webhooks
Webhooks are HTTP notifications that can be sent from Zoho Projects to any other third-party application. Webhooks allow users to automate updates to other applications by configuring it with a workflow rule.
In the above case, if your Zoho Projects portal is integrated with a HR system, you can trigger a webhook to update the employee's data, reflecting their successful onboarding.