Automating Vendor Contract Management between Zoho Contracts and Zoho Books using Zoho Flow

Managing vendor agreements across procurement and finance systems often requires manually downloading executed contracts and attaching them to vendor records. This can become time-consuming and difficult to manage when dealing with a large number of contracts.

In this post, we’ll share a simple automation built using Zoho Flow, Zoho Contracts APIs, and Zoho Books that connects procurement, legal, and finance workflows.

This integration automatically:

1. Creates counterparties and contracts in Zoho Contracts when a vendor is added in Zoho Books
2. Detects when a contract is executed in Zoho Contracts
3. Downloads the executed contract
4. Attaches the signed contract to the vendor record in Zoho Books

This enables a seamless Procure-to-Pay vendor contract workflow and demonstrates how Zoho Contracts can be integrated with finance systems to streamline vendor agreement management.

Business Use Case – Procure to Pay

A typical vendor agreement lifecycle involves:

1. Vendor onboarding in Zoho Books
2. Contract creation, negotiation, and execution in Zoho Contracts
3. Executed agreement available for the finance team’s reference

Without automation, finance teams must manually download the executed agreement and attach it to the vendor record.

Prerequisites

Before implementing this automation, ensure the following setup is completed:

1. Zoho Books and Zoho Contracts are configured in your organization
2. Zoho Flow is enabled and connected to both Zoho Books and Zoho Contracts
3. API connections are configured for Zoho Books and Zoho Contracts in Zoho Flow
4. Appropriate permissions are available to create counterparties and contracts in Zoho Contracts
5. Additionally, create a custom field in Zoho Books (Vendor module) to store the Zoho Contracts Counterparty API Name.

Example:

1. Field Name: Contracts Counterparty ID
2. Field Type: Text
3. Module: Vendors

This field helps map vendors in Zoho Books with their corresponding counterparties in Zoho Contracts.

Solution Overview

Zoho applications involved:

1. Zoho Contracts
2. Zoho Books
3. Zoho Flow

The automation is implemented using two flows.

Flow 1 – Vendor Creation → Contract Creation

Trigger: A new vendor is created in Zoho Books.

Actions:

1. Zoho Flow detects the new vendor.
   

1. A custom function checks whether a corresponding counterparty exists in Zoho Contracts
2. If the counterparty does not exist, a new counterparty is created in Zoho Contracts

1. The counterparty API name is stored in Zoho Books
2. A contract is automatically created in Zoho Contracts for that vendor
   
   

Custom Function Snippet (Create Counterparty and Contract):

Note: The custom functions shared below are working reference implementations. However, depending on your environment, you may need to update certain values before using them in your setup.

Please review and update the following as applicable:

1. Connection names used in the invokeurl statements
2. Organization ID used for Zoho Books API calls
3. Custom field API names used to store the Counterparty reference in Zoho Books
4. Contract type API names configured in Zoho Contracts

Ensure these values are updated according to your configuration before deploying the automation

.

1. map createContract1(string vendorName, string vendorID, string counterpartyID)
2. {
3. result = Map();
4. createdCounterPartyAPIName = "";
5. if(counterpartyID != null && counterpartyID != "")
6. {
7.  existingCounterpartyResponse = invokeurl
8.  [
9.   url :"https://contracts.zoho.in/api/v1/counterparties/" + counterpartyID
10.   type :GET
11.   connection:"zcontractsconn"
12.  ];
13.  if(existingCounterpartyResponse.get("counterparty") != null)
14.  {
15.   createdCounterPartyAPIName = existingCounterpartyResponse.get("counterparty").get("apiName");
16.  }
17. }
18. if(createdCounterPartyAPIName == "")
19. {
20.  counterpartyMap = Map();
21.  counterpartyMap.put("name",vendorName);
22.  counterpartyMap.put("counterPartyType","vendor");
23.  createResponse = invokeurl
24.  [
25.   url :"https://contracts.zoho.in/api/v1/counterparties"
26.   type :POST
27.   parameters:counterpartyMap.toString()
28.   connection:"zcontractsconn"
29.  ];
30.  counterpartyDetail = createResponse.getJSON("counterparties").get(0);
31.  createdCounterPartyAPIName = counterpartyDetail.get("organizationApiName");
32.  customFields = List();
33.  cf = Map();
34.  cf.put("api_name","cf_contracts_counterparty_id");
35.  cf.put("value",createdCounterPartyAPIName);
36.  customFields.add(cf);
37.  updateMap = Map();
38.  updateMap.put("custom_fields",customFields);
39.  updateVendor = invokeurl
40.  [
41.   url :"https://books.zoho.in/api/v3/vendors/" + vendorID + "?organization_id=60047651581"
42.   type :PUT
43.   parameters:updateMap
44.   connection:"zbooks"
45.  ];
46. }
47. info "STEP 4 STARTED - Preparing Contract Variables";
48. newContractType = "master-subscription-agreement-pro-plus";
49. newContractName = "Agreement with " + vendorName;
50. isNewContractTermIsDefinite = false;
51. isNewContractRenewable = false;
52. contractEffectiveDate = 1;
53. info "Contract Type: " + newContractType;
54. info "Contract Name: " + newContractName;
55. info "Counterparty API Name: " + createdCounterPartyAPIName;
56. newContractDetail = {"externalSource":true,"inputfields":{{"metaApiName":"contract-type","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"contract-type","inputValue":newContractType}}},{"metaApiName":"contract-term","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"contract-term","inputValue":isNewContractTermIsDefinite}}},{"metaApiName":"is-renewable","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"is-renewable","inputValue":isNewContractRenewable}}},{"metaApiName":"title","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"title","inputValue":newContractName}}},{"metaApiName":"party-b-name","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"party-b-name","inputValue":createdCounterPartyAPIName}}},{"metaApiName":"contract-effective-date","inputs":{{"inputApiName":"contract-effective-date","inputValue":contractEffectiveDate}}}}};
57. createContractResponse = invokeurl
58. [
59.  url :"https://contracts.zoho.in/api/v1/createcontract"
60.  type :POST
61.  body:newContractDetail.toString()
62.  headers:{"Content-Type":"application/json"}
63.  connection:"zcontractsconn"
64. ];
65. info createContractResponse;
66. result.put("counterpartyApiName",createdCounterPartyAPIName);
67. result.put("contractResponse",createContractResponse);
68. return result;
69. }

Flow 2 – Contract Execution → Attach Signed Agreement

Trigger: Contract signing is completed in Zoho Contracts

Actions: 

1. Zoho Flow detects the contract execution event
   

1. A custom function calls the Zoho Contracts API to download the executed contract document.
2. The function identifies the corresponding vendor in Zoho Books.
3. The executed agreement is automatically attached to the vendor record in Zoho Books.
   
   

Custom Function Snippet (Retrieve and Attach Signed Contract):

1. map attachSignedContractToVendor(string contractApiName, string contractTitle)
2. {
3. result = Map();
4. orgID = "60047651581";
5. 
   
6. info "FLOW 2 STARTED";
7. info contractApiName;
8. info contractTitle;
9. 
   
10. if(contractApiName.startsWith("contract/"))
11. {
12.     contractApiName = contractApiName.replaceAll("contract/","");
13. }
14. 
    
15. info "Clean Contract API Name: " + contractApiName;
16. 
    
17. if(contractTitle.startsWith("Agreement with "))
18. {
19.     vendorName = contractTitle.subString(15);
20. }
21. else
22. {
23.     vendorName = contractTitle;
24. }
25. 
    
26. info "Vendor Extracted: " + vendorName;
27. 
    
28. vendorSearch = invokeurl
29. [
30.     url :"https://books.zoho.in/api/v3/contacts?contact_name=" + vendorName + "&organization_id=" + orgID
31.     type :GET
32.     connection:"zbooks"
33. ];
34. 
    
35. info vendorSearch;
36. 
    
37. contactsList = vendorSearch.get("contacts");
38. 
    
39. if(contactsList == null || contactsList.size() == 0)
40. {
41.     info "Vendor not found";
42.     result.put("status","vendor_not_found");
43.     return result;
44. }
45. 
    
46. vendorID = contactsList.get(0).get("contact_id");
47. 
    
48. info "Vendor ID: " + vendorID;
49. 
    
50. info "Downloading signed contract";
51. 
    
52. signedFile = invokeurl
53. [
54.     url :"https://contracts.zoho.in/api/v1/download/contracts/" + contractApiName + "/signed/document"
55.     type :GET
56.     connection:"zcontractsconn"
57. ];
58. 
    
59. info signedFile;
60. 
    
61. fileMap = Map();
62. fileMap.put("attachment",signedFile);
63. fileMap.put("organization_id",orgID);
64. 
    
65. info "Uploading attachment to Zoho Books";
66. 
    
67. uploadResponse = invokeurl
68. [
69.     url :"https://books.zoho.in/api/v3/contacts/" + vendorID + "/attachment?organization_id=" + orgID
70.     type :POST
71.     parameters:fileMap
72.     connection:"zbooks"
73.     content-type:"multipart/form-data"
74. ];
75. 
    
76. info uploadResponse;
77. 
    
78. result.put("uploadResponse",uploadResponse);
79. 
    
80. info "FLOW 2 COMPLETED";
81. 
    
82. return result;
83. }

Benefits

1. This automation provides several advantages:
2. Eliminates manual document handling
3. Ensures finance teams always have access to executed agreements
4. Connects legal and finance workflows
5. Improves compliance and audit readiness
6. Reduces operational friction

Closing

If you're implementing Procure-to-Pay contract workflows, this approach can help streamline the connection between Zoho Contracts and finance systems like Zoho Books.

We’d be happy to discuss variations of this implementation or answer any questions.

If you're planning to implement a similar workflow and need guidance, feel free to reach out to the Zoho Contracts support team at support@zohocontracts.com.

.

Stay tuned for more tips, tricks, and automation ideas around Zoho Contracts.

Cheers,

Sathyakeerthi

Zoho Contracts Team

• Topic Participants

• Sathyakeerthi U

  

• Sticky Posts

• Adding signature fields in your contract template

  When you send a contract document for the signing process, you have to insert the signature fields into your contract document by dragging and dropping them for each signer. It won't be effort-intensive for contracts that have fewer pages or signers.

• Mapping Billing Country Field to Your Contract Template Field

  In Zoho CRM, while configuring Counterparty Fields Mapping to map counterparty information in your contract type, the field 'Billing Country' doesn't have the support to be mapped due to field type mismatch. Because the Billing Country field in Zoho CRM

• Bulk Import Counterparty Data

  Currently, as the feature to bulk import counterparty data is not available, here is a solution using our APIs that would be useful for our customers. For example, Zoho CRM customers can import their Accounts as counterparties in Zoho Contracts. Using

• Recent Topics

• Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

  If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer

• Allow styling for specific Subform fields in Zoho Creator

  Sometimes in forms we need to visually highlight a specific field inside a Subform (for example Sanctioned Amount, Approved Value, Critical Fields, etc.) so that users immediately notice it while entering data. Currently there is no direct UI option to

• Career site URL - Suggestion to modify URL of non-english job posting

  Hi, I would like to suggest making a few modification to career sites that are not in english. Currently, the URL are a mix of different languages and are very long. It makes for very unprofessional looking URLs... Here is an example of one of our URL

• 3/18 オンライン勉強会のお知らせ Zoho ワークアウト （無料）

  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 3月開催のZoho ワークアウトの開催が決定しましたのでご案内します。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▶︎参加登録はこちら（無料） https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BoNTN7zYR8OvOPGShqBY0A ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目指すイベントです。

• New 2026 Application Themes

  Love the new themes - shame you can't get a little more granular with the colours, ie 3 different colours so one for the dropdown menu background. Also, I did have our logo above the application name but it appears you can't change logo placement position

• Placeholder format in Number field does not reflect Max Digits configuration

  When the Max Digits (Maximum digits of number) property is set to a smaller value (for example, 2 digits), the placeholder in the input field still displays a 7-digit format (#######). The same behavior can also be observed in Decimal and Currency field

• How does SKU work when selling products in parts in Zoho Inventory

  Hello everyone, Zoho Inventory does not understand the physical cutting of the piece.. It only tracks quantities of the unit (like feet ). So when you sell part of an item, the system simply reduces quantity for that SKU. Assume that i have a 50 ft long

• CRM Cadences - working timesThe Friday afternoon? The next Monday morning? Not at all?

  I think I’m writing saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

• CRM Cadences - working times

  I think I’m right in saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

• Push Notification for New Bookings in Zoho Bookings App

  when a someone schedules an appointment through the booking page, is there any option to receive a push notification in the mobile app?

• Intergrating multi location Square account with Zoho Books

  Hi, I have one Square account but has multiple locations. I would like to integrate that account and show aggregated sales in zoho books. How can I do that? thanks.

• Add the same FROM email to multiple department

  Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

• Zoho Desk View Open Tickets and Open Shared Tickets

  Hi, I would like to create a custom view so that an agent can view all the open tickets he has access to, including the shared tickets created by a different department. Currently my team has to swich between two views (Open Tickets and Shared Open Tickets).

• Clone Banking Transaction

  Why is there no option to CLONE a Transaction in the Banking module?? I often clone Expenses (for similar expense transactions each month) so I would also like to clone Income transactions. But there is no option in Banking to clone an existing Income

• Zoho Expense - Bi-Weekly Report Automation

  Hi Zoho Expense Team, My feature request is to please include an option to automate creation of reports bi-weekly (every 2 weeks)

• Application Architecture in Zoho Creator: Why You Should Think About It from the Start

  Many companies begin using Zoho Creator by building simple forms to automate internal processes. This is natural — the platform is extremely accessible and allows applications to be built very quickly. The challenge begins to appear when the application

• Arquitetura de Aplicações no Zoho Creator: Por que pensar nisso desde o início

  Muitas empresas começam a utilizar o Zoho Creator criando formulários simples para automatizar processos internos. Isso é natural — a plataforma é extremamente acessível e permite construir aplicações rapidamente. O problema começa a aparecer quando a

• Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

  When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

• How to Customize & Reorder Spaces in Zoho One 25 (Spaces UI) — Admin Tips Not in the Docs

  Hey Zoho Community, After digging around in the new Spaces UI, I found a couple of admin features that aren't well documented yet but are really useful. Sharing here in case others are looking for the same things. 🔁 How to Change the Default Space Users

• System Components menu not available for Tablet to select language

  I have attached a screenshot of my desktop, mobile, and tablet menu builder options. I am using 2 languages in my application. Language Selection is an option under the System Components part of the menu, but only for my desktop and phone(mobile). My

• Approvals in Zoho Creator

  Hi, This is Surya, in one of  my creator application I have a form called job posting, and I created an approval process for that form. When a user submits that form the record directly adding to that form's report, even it is in the review for approval.

• How Zoho Desk contributes to the art of savings

  Remember the first time your grandmother gave you cash for a birthday or New Year's gift, Christmas gift, or any special day? You probably tucked that money safely into a piggy bank, waiting for the day you could buy something precious or something you

• Estimate PDF Templates - logo too large

  Hello, I cloned a standard estimate template, but my logo is showing up much larger than intended. This doesn’t happen with the standard invoice template, where the logo displays correctly. How can I adjust the logo size in the estimate template? Thank

• Select CRM Custom Module in Zoho Creator

  I have a custom module added in Zoho CRM that I would like to link in Zoho creator.  When I add the Zoho CRM field it does not show the new module.  Is this possible?  Do i need to change something in CRM to make it accesible in Creator?

• Invoice emails not sending but reminders are

  I am a new user. I have been creating some dummy invoices before I go live and have struck a block. Emails for the invoice are not being recieved by the recipient, however, when I send a reminder for the same invoice the email is sent. NOTE: I have checked

• Deleted account recovery

  I ended up accidentally deleting our Zoho invoice account while trying to work something out. Emailed support for recovery and restoration of the deleted account, if possible, but they responded by saying they can't find an account associated with that

• Devis et factures multipage coupées

  Bonjour, je suis sur Zoho invoice et je rencontre un problème sur mes devis et factures lorsqu'ils dépassent 1 page. je me retrouve souvent avec des lignes coupées ou le sous total page 1 et le total page 2. j'aimerai savoir s'il existe une possibilité

• Custom Related List Inside Zoho Books

  Hello, We can create the Related list inside the zoho books by the deluge code, I am sharing the reference code Please have a look may be it will help you. //..........Get Org Details organizationID = organization.get("organization_id"); Recordid = cm_g_a_data.get("module_record_id");

• Zoho Meeting - Feature Request - Introduce an option to use local date and time formating

  Hi Zoho Meeting Team, My feature request is to add an option for dates to be displayed in the users local format. This is common practice across Zoho applications and particularly relevant to an application like Zoho Meeting which revolves around date

• Cannot give public access to Html Snippet in Zoho Creator Page

  Hi, I created a form in Zoho Creator and published it. The permalink works but I want to override the css of the form. (style based URL parameters is not good enough) So I created a page and added an Html snippet. I can now override the css, which is

• How can Outlook 365 link back into Zoho Projects so meetings and events in Outlook calendar show in Zoho?

  We use Outlook 365 for our emails and diaries and have integrated Zoho Projects with Office 365. One challenge we face is getting Zoho Projects to recognise when we have meetings and events in Outlook and not allow project managers to assign tasks over that period. Is there a way to resolve this? Thanks

• On Edit Validation Blueprint

  Hello, I have a notes field and a signature field. When the Approve button is clicked, the Signature field will appear and must be filled in. When the Reject button is clicked, the Notes field will appear and must be filled in. Question: Blueprint will

• Zoho Invoice en Navarra (Spain)

  Hola, ¿Alguien usa Zoho Invoice en la Comunidad Foral de Navarra? En Navarra tenemos un sistema tributario diferente y no aplica Verifactu (la Hacienda Foral de Navarra ha anunciado su alternativa, NaTicket, pero no ha informado cuándo entrará en vigor).

• Emails from Zoho are getting blocked due to Zoho IP address being blacklisted

  This is the info I got from my hosting provider – please address this issue immediately. I don’t expect this from such a big household name. Every single invoice I have sernt it not being received by my clients, all being blocked. All of a sudden. As

• agentid : Where to find?

  I've been looking around for this agenId to check for the total ticket assigned on a specific agent url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/ticketsCountByFieldValues?departmentId=351081000000155331&agentId=35108xxxxxx132009&field=statusType,status" type :GET

• Zoho DataPrep integration with OpenAI (beta)

  We are thrilled to announce Zoho DataPrep's integration with OpenAI. The public beta roll-out opens up three features. Users who configure their OpenAI Organizational ID and ChatGPT API key (Find out how) will be able access the features. The features

• AI Bot and Advanced Automation for WhatsApp

  Most small businesses "live" on WhatsApp, and while Bigin’s current integration is helpful, users need more automation to keep up with volume. We are requesting features based on our customer Feedbacks AI Bot: For auto-replying to FAQs. Keyword Triggers:

• Setting total budget hours for a specific project

  Hi there, I work on a lot of projects that have fixed budget hours. Is there a way to enter the total budgeted hours so i can track progress and identify when hours have been exceeded. I see in the projects dashboard there is a greyed out text saying

• Clone entire dashboards

  If users want to customize a dashboard that is used by other team members, they can't clone it in order to customize the copy. Instead they have to create the same dashboard again manually from scratch. Suggestion: Let users copy the entire dashboard

• Introducing Formula Fields for performing dynamic calculations

  Greetings, With the Formula Field, you can generate numerical calculations using provided functions and available fields, enabling you to derive dynamic data. You can utilize mathematical formulas to populate results based on the provided inputs. This

• Next Page