Kaizen 228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions

Kaizen 228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions



Howdy, tech wizards!

This week’s Kaizen explores how Catalyst Solutions in the Zoho CRM Developer Hub help import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and simplifying the migration process.

Why Catalyst Solutions?

Catalyst Solutions provide a library of independent, ready-to-use backend solutions called CodeLibs. The CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib helps handle complex data operations on large datasets. Following are the key benefits:
  1. Highly Scalable: Processes large datasets efficiently, supporting up to 200,000 records per API call.
  2. Automation Made Simple: Automate complex tasks like segmentation, data cleansing and lead scoring with minimal effort.  
  3. Effortless Integration: Comes with pre-configured Catalyst resources such as serverless functions and data stores that integrate directly with Zoho CRM.

Business Scenario

Zylker, a manufacturing company, migrated over 3 lakh Lead records into Zoho CRM from spreadsheets. 



Post-migration, the Lead data showed the following inconsistencies and challenges:
  1. Phone number field did not include country codes, or contained incorrect country codes. This inconsistency made it difficult for sales teams to contact Leads reliably.
  2. Identifying potential Leads for follow-up required manual effort and marketing team has to run generic campaigns without lead segmentation. 
Using workflows before record creation to fix phone numbers for this volume would result in 3 lakh individual workflow executions, which can slow imports and cause partial failures.

Solution Overview

Zylker can use the CRM Bulk Data Processor available in Catalyst Solutions to address these challenges at scale.

The solution works as follows:
  1. Lead records are fetched in bulk from Zoho CRM using the Bulk Read API.
  2. The fetched data is temporarily stored to evaluate the priority and quality of each record. Based on this evaluation, the records are also segmented accordingly.
  3. The Country field value is used to identify and append the correct country code to the phone number.
  4. The processed records are updated back into Zoho CRM using Bulk Write API.
All operations are executed using pre-configured Catalyst resources provided by the CodeLib. You can explore the Bulk Data Flow in Catalyst help page to understand how each resource participates in the processing pipeline.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following:

1. Log into your Zoho CRM and navigate to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Leads.

Create the following custom Single Line fields to map existing record data in Zoho CRM. 
  1. Last Activity Days
  2. Web Engagement Score
Refer to the Working with Custom Fields help page for detailed guide. 


2. Create the following custom Single Line fields to store the calculated values during bulk processing:
  1. Lead Score Value
  2. Lead Segment
  3. Sales Priority
  4. Data Quality Status
3. Go to Setup > Developer Hub > Catalyst Solutions > Zoho CRM Bulk Data Processor. 

4. Click Go to Catalyst and create a Catalyst account if required.



5. Refer to the Catalyst CLI Installation Guide and install it on your local system.

6. Create a new folder on your local system, which will act as a local project directory. Use the following command:

mkdir -p <folder_name>


7. Navigate to the project folder in your terminal and execute the following command: 

catalyst init

8. Follow the prompts to select and initialize your desired project from the Catalyst console. 

When prompted to choose a feature, press Enter and proceed without choosing any feature.


9. Run the following command to install the CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib.



Step 1: Create a Cron Job

1. Open the Catalyst Console and navigate to the same project in which you have installed the CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib.

2. Go to Cloud Scale > Triggers > Cron and click Create Cron.

3. Fill in the following details:
  1. Provide a Name and Description for the cron job. 
  2. Select Function and choose BulkJobScheduler from the dropdown in the Target Function field.
  3. Enter the following parameters and values:

    MODULES -> Leads
    FIELDS_TO_BE_PROCESSED -> Last_Name, Company, Mobile, Country, Designation, No_of_Employees, Web_Engagement_Score, Lead_Score_Value, Lead_Segment, Sales_Priority, Data_Quality_Status

    Use GET Modules Metadata API and GET Fields Metadata API to get the API names of the required module and fields.
     
  4. Choose the Schedule Type as One Time for our use case.
Refer to the Implementing Cron Jobs Help Guide for more details.

Step 2: Configure Zoho CRM API Credentials 

1. Create a self-client application in Zoho's API Console.

2. Generate a Grant Token with the following scopes:
  1. ZohoFiles.files.ALL
  2. ZohoCRM.bulk.ALL
  3. ZohoCRM.modules.ALL
  4. ZohoCRM.settings.ALL
  5. ZohoCRM.org.ALL


3. Follow the OAuth Help Section for a step-by-step guide to generate Access and Refresh tokens for your Zoho CRM organization.


Store all the API credentials securely for later use.

4. To allow Catalyst to access Zoho CRM data, configure the stored API credentials as environment variables in the catalyst-config.json file within the BulkDataProcessor function.

For detailed guidance, refer to the Configure Function Components help guide in CRM Bulk Data Processor. 



Notes
These environment variables are used by Catalyst Connectors to create access tokens for establishing secure connection between Zoho CRM and Catalyst.

Step 3: Add Business Logic

1. Go to com.processor.record.ZCRMRecordsProcessorImpl.java file of the BulkDataProcessor in the functions directory.

2. Override the ZCRMRecordsProcessor method with the business logic.


The complete code sample for this use case is available on GitHub for reference.

Following is the major custom logic used here:

Notes
Use the GET Fields Metadata API to fetch the API names of the fields required throughout the custom logic.

Phone Number Normalization:

This can be implemented in two stages, Country standardization and Phone Number formatting. 

For country standardization, CountryStandardizerUtil maps different variations of the Country field in records to a single standardized country identifier. These variations may include, 
  1. Country Names (India, Unites States, United Kingdom)
  2. Abbreviations (Ind, IN, USA, US, UK)
  3. Calling Codes (+91, +1, +44)
With this, we can ensure different interpretations of the same country are interpreted consistently during the process. 


Once the country is standardized, Phone Numbers are formatted to E.164 format in the PhoneNormalizerUtil. 

It removes all non-numeric characters and converts the Phone input to E.164 format with the respective country codes. 

public class PhoneNormalizerUtil {
    private static final Pattern NON_DIGIT = Pattern.compile("[^0-9]");
    public static Optional<String> normalizeToE164(String rawPhone, String countryCode) {
        if (rawPhone == null || rawPhone.trim().isEmpty()) {
            return Optional.empty();
        }
        String digits = NON_DIGIT.matcher(rawPhone).replaceAll("");
        if (rawPhone.startsWith("+") && digits.length() >= 10) {
            return Optional.of("+" + digits);
        }
        switch (countryCode) {
            case "IN":
                return normalizeIndia(digits);
            case "US":
                return normalizeUS(digits);
            case "UK":
                return normalizeUK(digits);
            default:
                return Optional.empty();
        }
    }
    private static Optional<String> normalizeIndia(String digits) {
        if (digits.length() == 10) {
            return Optional.of("+91" + digits);
        }
        if (digits.startsWith("91") && digits.length() == 12) {
            return Optional.of("+" + digits);
        }
        return Optional.empty();
    }
    private static Optional<String> normalizeUS(String digits) {
        if (digits.length() == 10) {
            return Optional.of("+1" + digits);
        }
        if (digits.startsWith("1") && digits.length() == 11) {
            return Optional.of("+" + digits);
        }
        return Optional.empty();
    }
    private static Optional<String> normalizeUK(String digits) {
        if (digits.startsWith("44") && digits.length() == 12) {
            return Optional.of("+" + digits);
        }
        if (digits.length() == 10) {
            return Optional.of("+44" + digits);
        }
        return Optional.empty();
    }

}

Lead Priority and Segmentation

The lead priority is calculated using the Title, No of employees, Last Activity Days and Web Engagement Score fields in the record.  

Each field value contributes a predefined number of points:
  1. If the job title indicates a senior role such as CEO, CTO, Director, or VP, 25 points are added.
  2. If the company size is 200 employees or more, 20 points are added.
  3. If the Lead has been active within the last 7 days, 15 points are added.
  4. If the web engagement score is 70 or higher, 10 points are added.
The sum of all applicable factors is returned as an integer and based on this score the lead's priority and segmentation is assigned as follows:
  1. High (Hot): score ≥ 70
  2. Medium (Warm): score ≥ 40
  3. Low (Cold): score < 40
public static int calculateLeadScore(
            String jobTitle,
            Integer companySize,
            Integer lastActivityDays,
            Integer webEngagementScore) {
        int score = 0;
        // Decision Maker
        if (jobTitle != null) {
            String title = jobTitle.toLowerCase();
            if (title.contains("ceo") || title.contains("cto")
                    || title.contains("director") || title.contains("vp")) {
                score += 25;
            }
        }
        // Company Size
        if (companySize != null && companySize >= 200) {
            score += 20;
        }
        // Recency
        if (lastActivityDays != null && lastActivityDays <= 7) {
            score += 15;
        }
        // Engagement
        if (webEngagementScore != null && webEngagementScore >= 70) {
            score += 10;
        }
        return score;
    }
    public static String deriveSegment(int score) {
        if (score >= 70) return "Hot";
        if (score >= 40) return "Warm";
        return "Cold";
    }
    public static String derivePriority(String segment) {
        switch (segment) {
            case "Hot":
                return "High";
            case "Warm":
                return "Medium";
            default:
                return "Low";
        }
    }

Lead Quality:

Lead quality is evaluated based on the validity of the Mobile and Country fields in the records.
  1. Clean: Both field values are valid.
  2. Critical: Both field values are invalid.
  3. Needs Review: Only one of the field values is invalid.

Write Back to Records:

The processed data is written back to Zoho CRM as follows:
  1. Mobile: Formatted phone numbers.
  2. Lead Score: Total score calculated from all applicable fields.
  3. Lead Segment: Segment derived from the lead score.
  4. Sales Priority: Priority assigned based on the lead segment.
  5. Data Quality Status: Overall quality of the Lead record.
if (normalizedMobile.isPresent()) {
data.put("Mobile", normalizedMobile.get());
}
data.put("Lead_Score", leadScore);
data.put("Lead_Segment", leadSegment);
data.put("Sales_Priority", salesPriority);
data.put("Data_Quality_Status", dataQualityStatus);
}

Step 4: Deploy to Development

Run the following command to deploy your local customizations to the Development Environment of Catalyst.

catalyst deploy

Info
You can find the complete code sample on GitHub for reference.

Try it Out!

With the changes deployed to the Development environment, let us now test the solution.



We hope this Kaizen helps you import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and lead intelligence using the CRM Bulk Data Processor.

Have questions or suggestions? Drop them in the comments or write to us at  support@zohocrm.com. 

We will circle back to you next Friday with another interesting topic. 

On to Better Building!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Idea
Previous Kaizen: Client Script Support for List Page (Canvas) | Kaizen Collection: Directory

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


      • Sticky Posts

      • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

        Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

      • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

        Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

      • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

        Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

      • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

      • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

        • Recent Topics

        • Ticket Export Does Not Include Ticket Threads

          Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, I hope you’re doing well. I would like to report an issue regarding the ticket export functionality in Zoho Desk. Currently, when exporting tickets, the ticket threads or conversation history are not included — only the ticket

        • Payments made notification

          This is a really wonderful feature but we can only use it for about 50% of payments made & have to revert to sending statements which is a real chore. Credits applied to the bills paid in the notification aren't included & this causes great confusion in the accounts receivable departments. Please, please add this required feature asap ! .....

        • ZOHO DESK link with Power BI

          HI, I am using ZOHO Desk for last two years and now my client is asking to integrate ZOHO desk data to Power BI so that they can use Data for reporting. Kindly guide in details so that i can give access to ZOHO desk export data for more visibility.

        • URLs being masked despite disabling tracking

          Hey, We had disabled click tracking from an email update we are sharing with our users. Despite this, the URL the end user is receiving is masked, and looks like "https://qksyl-cmpzourl.maillist-manage.net/click/1d8e72714515cda6/1d8e72714515ca70" instead

        • Dashboard Autorefesh

          Good day, I am a dashboard that displays the number of tickets based on "Product Name". This dashboard is displayed on a big TV for the team to monitor. Can the dashboard auto-refresh every few minutes to display the new values? Currently, we have closed

        • Deferred/ Unearned revenue

          Dear Zoho Team, Just in case you have missed out my query posted few days ago: We issue invoices relating to 12-month web hosting service. When we issue the invoice, we should record the entire amount of the invoice as DEFERRED/UNEARNED REVENUE (ie. $10

        • Bigin Android app update: Zoho Books integration

          Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce Zoho Books integration on the latest version(v1.8.5) Bigin Android app. Once the integration is completed in the web(bigin.zoho.com), the Zoho Books tab will be visible in detail View of Contacts, Companies,

        • Audit Log enhancements: Increased retention period, better user visibility, and more

          Hello everyone, The Audit Log brings in the following enhancements which improve the overall ability to manage data. Why did we make these updates? Extended Data Retention: Audit data can now be filtered and exported for a 60-day period, doubling the

        • Question Regarding Managing Sale Items in Zoho Books

          Good day, I was wondering about something. Right now, Zoho Books doesn’t seem to have a way to flag certain items as being on sale. For example, if I want a list of specific items to be on sale from October 1 to October 12, the user would have to export

        • System flaws and lack of response from Zoho

          I have had to go on here as no-one is replying to my emails regarding my problem (been 10 days and no email reply) and your chat facility online through your Zoho Books software opens and closes immediately, so not functioning properly. I actually called

        • Customer Grouping

          Hi, how can I group multiple customers into single group. So that I can have idea of accounts receivables of all the customers in single group. Like if there are multiple subsidiaries of same company we have having a business with, and want to view the

        • Two currencies

          More and more I am finding that internattional payments' fees are unpredictable. I would like, on my invoices that are in a foreign currency (eg. USD$ or EUR€) for there to be a GBP£ TOTAL display alongside the invoice's currency total. This would make

        • GST Slabs Redefined: Stay Compliant Using Zoho Books!

          Hello Everyone! The Government of India is rolling out new GST rates, a major reform aimed at simplifying the current tax structure starting 22 September 2025. GST will move from four slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) to two main slabs (5% and 18%), plus a special

        • Edit item custom fields

          Getting this error : Transactions have been created with the custom field. Hence it cannot be deleted. Not trying to delete it, just trying to change which modules to show in or to not show at all in transactions !

        • Use Zoho Books to bill for work done in Zoho Desk??

          I'm trying to see if something is possible (and if yes, how). We use Zoho One to manage our business. We have a lot of clients that will put in a ticket (via portal) to have work done. Out techs will pick up the ticket, do the work, and then log the time

        • Zoho Finance Suite - Customer Custom Tabs - Dynamic Link

          Hi Finance Suite team, When creating a Custom Tab for a Client Portal, there is no option to add dynamic parameters. This would be very helpful for adding Zoho Analytics dashboards which can be dynamically filtered through the URL to only show information

        • Bank Receipt Catagorization

          Hi, how can I match a bank deposit to multiple customer's invoices ? For e.g. A single person paid to us on behalf of different five customers. I need to keep the separated invoices for each customer

        • Payment on a past due balance

          Scenario: Customer is past due on their account for 4 months. We suspend their billing in Zoho books. Customer finally logs into the portal and enters a new credit card. We associate that cardwith their subscription, which will permit the card to be used

        • How to export all line-item descriptions for a specific item in Zoho Books?

          I am trying to audit a specific item (“Item X”) that has been invoiced multiple times with different line-level descriptions. Here’s the situation: I am using Zoho Books (Professional). Each invoice may contain the same item but with different descriptions

        • List of hidden features

          Hi Friends, I had another support chat today and low and behold the feature that I wanted just simply needed to be "enabled". I thought I'd share, and maybe see if others had some similar experiences. 1. This one is from 5 ish years ago. I asked if there

        • How to change a BAS that has been filed

          I have discovered that a group of expense transactions were accidentally placed in a asset account rather than an expense account. As a result I need to adjust the transaction and consequently most of my BAS to correct the error. Because the BAS have

        • How to Export PDF with a custom Template

          I need to export Sales Order with a Custom Template I have created How can I do it? I see an API to export the PDF but how can I choose which template to choose to generate the PDF

        • Associate email with a potential or project.

          I have a pivotal requirement to associate emails from various suppliers (contacts) with different potentials or projects, on an email by email basis as they come in. This question appears to have been raised before but I cannot find a definitive yes "it can be done". Could anyone please tell me, yes or no.  If the later I can stop wasting time and look at alternative crm systems. I would love not to have to do this. Thanks in advance.

        • Function with Search Records was working until a few weeks ago, around when "Connected Records" was released

          I have a custom function that has been running for nearly a year now, which suddenly stopped working around the time Zoho released the "Connected Records" update. The function is no longer finding the record using the searchRecords function. I've changed

        • Is CRM On Premise available

          Hi Zoho team, Can you please let me know that CRM Zoho is available for On Premise as well? Thanks, Devashish

        • How to sync from Zoho Projects into an existing Sprint in Zoho Sprints?

          Hi I have managed to integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Sprints and I can see that the integration works as a project was created in Zoho Sprints. But, what I would like to do is to sync into an existing Zoho Sprints project. Is there a way to make that

        • Online Assessment or any aptitude test

          This video is really helpful! I have one question — if I share an assessment form link (through email or with the application form on my career page), how does Zoho Recruit evaluate it? Can a candidate use Google or external help while taking the test,

        • Has anyone built a custom AI support agent inside Zoho (SalesIQ/Zobot)?

          Hi all, I’ve been experimenting with building my own AI support assistant and wanted to see if anyone here has tackled something similar within Zoho. Right now, I’ve set up a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline outside of Zoho using FAISS. It

        • Incoming Threads Report

          From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Customers raise questions and issues through multiple channels, such as email, chat, or tickets. To monitor the number of queries received on a specific day from each channel, leads can

        • Conditional layouts - support for multi-select picklists

          Hi, The documentation for conditional layouts says the following: "Layout Rules cannot be used on the following field types: Auto Number Lookup Multi Select Lookup User Lookup Formula File Upload Multi Line" I have a custom module with a multi-pick list

        • Cloudflare Turnstile is now available in Zoho Forms!

          Hello form builders! We have added a new layer of protection to help you keep your forms free from bots. Instead of forcing users to prove they are human, Cloudflare Turnstile quietly checks browser signals in the background. Your real users glide through,

        • Power of Automation :: Unique Task & Issue Prefix Format and Sequencing Rule

          Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate

        • 【Zoho CRM】キャンバス機能のアップデート

          ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、キャンバス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 グリッドについて フォーム表示のタブについて 1. グリッドについて ビジュアルデザインは細部の調整に手間がかかりますが、キャンバスのグリッドを使えば要素を整理し、バランスよく配置できます。 画像やデータなどの要素をグループ化せずに簡単に配置できます。 余白を調整することで、要素間の視覚的なバランスを保つのに役立ちます。 「表示切り替え基準の幅」を設定すると、デザインをレスポンシブに調整できます。

        • スマホでキャンペンメールを見ると正しく表示されない

          キャンペーンのメール（HTML）を作成しましたが、スマホ表示に切り替えると正しく表示されません（添付参照）過去に作成したキャンペーンでは特に意識してませんでしたが、問題なく表示されていたようです。うまく表示される場合とされない場合の違いは何でしょうか？

        • Zoho Calendar Integrated Into CRM?

          I've searched around the forums but couldn't find anything addressing this . . .  Is there a plan to integrate Zoho's stand alone calendar solution into Zoho CRM?  The CRM calendar does an OK job but is very basic and the Zoho calendar is great, but I've only figured out to subscribe to my CRM calendar within ZCalendar - there is no 2-way sync. My preferred solution would be for ZCal to become the default calendar/event solution within Z CRM. Is this on the roadmap? Thanks

        • Can I Create Different Page Layouts Based on a Specified Module Pick List Field

          I am trying to work out how to create different page layouts based on a specified module pick list field value, like the Salesforce feature where you can define multiple record types and then create custom page layouts for each record type. This is a super important feature as for almost all the modules we are using (Leads, Potentials, Accounts) we need to be able only show fields relevant to the record type. E.g. We need a very different page layout for a consumer lead Vs a commercial lead, same

        • Scheduling Tasks in Relation to Project End Date

          I use Zoho project  to help manage tasks that relate to a number of specific business events that take place.  I would like to be able to have my project end date be the date of the event and then work "back" from that date to say...   Add a task 2 weeks before the project end date to remind me to XYZ.  Does anyone know if there is a way to base task timings back from a project due date rather than a project start date?

        • Notes of Tasks in Zoho CRM

          Hello, Is there a way to filter the Notes that appear on a Task to only show the notes related to that specific Task and not display all the Notes of the objects related to that Task (Accounts, Contacts, Deal, etc). In essence, our team struggles to understand

        • How to next stage blueprint in Zoho Creator

          Hello, I have question, its possible to next stage blueprint? in case, Start - (first stage) Leader 1 (with condition 1) - (second stage) Leader 2 (with condition 2) - (third stage) Leader 3 (with condition 3) - (fourth stage) After first stage, i want

        • Feature Request: Email Follow-Up Sequences Similar to Zoho CRM

          I’m wondering if Zoho Recruit is planning to introduce a feature similar to the Email Automation – Follow-Up Sequences that is available in Zoho CRM. In CRM, this allows users to send a series of timed follow-up emails triggered by specific actions (for

        • Next Page