Automation#21: Track Ticket Transfers Across Departments

Hello Everyone!

With Halloween just around the corner, we'd like to let you know the Zoho Desk team is always there to sweep away your customer service troubles!

This week, we’re excited to introduce a custom function that tracks tickets moved between departments.

While Zoho Desk has simplified customer service, keeping your support team stress-free and your customers happy often requires thoughtful adjustments. Zylker Techfix found a great solution with this feature. They handle services for different gadget types under specific departments, but sometimes tickets accidentally end up in the wrong department. Agents moved them to the correct one, but needed a way to track these transfers. By using the Time Entry feature and a custom function, they generated reports of all moved tickets effortlessly.

Here’s the custom function that utilizes the Time Entry feature to track tickets transferred between departments.

Prerequisites

1. Create Custom Fields

To track tickets moved from one Department (call it Dep A) to the other Department (call it Dep B) or vice versa, 

1.1 Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields. Select Time Entry under Layouts and the Department (let's say Dep B) to which you would like to move the ticket. 

1.2 Create three custom single-line fields in the Time Entry layout of the respective department (Dep B). Click on the layout, 

1.2.1 Add a single line field with a label From department.

1.2.2 Add another single line field with a label To Department.

1.2.3  Add the third single line field with the label Agent Name.

1.3 Note the API names for the the single line fields to insert into the custom function. 

To find the API name, click on the Gear wheel icon of the single-line field. Click on Edit Properties, and you will find the API Name under the Edit Field. Refer to Create Custom Fields. 

If you would like move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create the similar fields in the time entry layout for Dep A.

2. Create a connection

      2.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.

      2.2 Click Create Connection.

      2.3 Select Zoho Desk under Default Services.

      2.4 Set the connection name as ticket_time_entry_add.

      2.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:

             Desk.tickets.READ

             Desk.tickets.UPDATE

      2.6 Click Create and Connect.

      2.7 Click Connect and click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule

1. Go to Setup(S), choose Workflows under Automation. 

2. In Workflow Rules, select the Department (Dep B) to which you want to move the tickets. 

3. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,

4. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.

5. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.

6. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.

7. Click Next.

In the Execute on section, follow these steps:

8. Select Create.  

9. Click Next.

10. Leave the Criteria section blank and click Next. 

11. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.

12. Under Basic Information, enter a Name and Description for the custom function.         

13. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the argument mapping as below: 

       13.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and from the Value drop-down list, select Ticket Id under the Tickets Section.                                         

14. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:

1. //----------- User Input -------------
2. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
3. fromDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_from_department";
4. toDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_to_department";
5. agentAPIName = "cf_agent_name";
6. //----------- Configuration ------------------
7. logs = Collection();
8. timeEntryParam = Map();
9. cf = Map();
10. historyParam = Map();
11. historyParam.put("from",0);
12. historyParam.put("limit",1);
13. historyParam.put("fieldName","departmentId");
14. ticketHistory = invokeurl
15. [
16. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/History"
17. type :GET
18. parameters:historyParam
19. connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
20. ];
21. logs.insert("ticketHistory":ticketHistory);
22. if(ticketHistory != null && ticketHistory.get("data") != null)
23. {
24. historyDetails = ticketHistory.get("data").get("0");
25. logs.insert("historyDetails":historyDetails);
26. if(historyDetails.get("eventName") == "TicketUpdated" && historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get(0).get("propertyName") == "Department")
27. {
28.   departmentDetailsChanges = historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get("0").get("propertyValue");
29.   previousDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("previousValue").get("name");
30.   currentDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("updatedValue").get("name");
31.   agent = historyDetails.get("actor").get("name");
32.   departmentChangedTime = historyDetails.get("eventTime");
33.   cf.put(fromDepartmentFieldAPIName,previousDepartment);
34.   cf.put(toDepartmentFieldAPIName,currentDepartment);
35.   cf.put(agentAPIName,agent);
36.   timeEntryParam.put("executedTime",departmentChangedTime);
37.   timeEntryParam.put("cf",cf);
38.   logs.insert("timeEntryParam":timeEntryParam);
39.   createTimeEntry = invokeurl
40.   [
41.   url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/timeEntry"
42.   type :POST
43.   parameters:timeEntryParam.toString()
44.   connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
45.   ];
46.   logs.insert("createTimeEntry":createTimeEntry);
47. }
48. }
49. info logs;

NOTE

a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.

b. In Line 3, add the API name of the From Department created in the Time Entry Layout.

c. In Line 4, add the API name of the To Department created in the Time Entry Layout.

d. In Line 5, add the API name of the Agent Name created in the Time Entry Layout.

15. Click Save to save the custom function.

16. Click Save again to save the workflow.

If you would like to move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create  the workflow rule in Dep A as well. 

Creating Ticket Tracking Reports

To track the ticket that moved from one department, you can generate Reports under Analytics. 

Go to the Analytics module >> Choose Reports >> Add Report >> Select Tickets module and Time Entry under Related modules. Refer to Create Custom Report.

This custom function will help you keep an eye on your ticket movements, ensuring that none of your important tickets go missing!

Wishing you a delightful Halloween filled with joy and treats, along with a wonderful fall season! 🎃🍂

Until next week,

Warm regards,

Lydia Kiruba | Zoho Desk 

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• Mohd Hayzee

• Ajith(AJ) | Zoho Desk

  

• Shivani | Zoho Desk

  

• Sticky Posts

• Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

  With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features

• Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

  Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 

• Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

  Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 

• Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

  Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here

• Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

  With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

• Recent Topics

• CRUD actions for Resources via API

  Hello, is it possible to perform CRUD actions through the API for Resources? We want to create a sync from Zoho CRM Car record to Bookings resources to create availabilities for Car bookings. For Test drives, not only the sales person needs to be available,

• Feature Request - The Ability to Link A Customer with a Vendor

  Hi Finance Suite Team, Many businesses buy and sell products from the same companies or individuals. For example, a car sales business may buy a car from a member of the public, and that member of the public may also buy a new car from us. This makes

• Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard

  Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen. This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potential

• Deluge Learning Series – Client functions in Deluge | January 2026

  We’re excited to kick-start the first session of the 2026 Deluge Learning Series (DLS) with Client functions in Deluge. For those who are new to DLS, here’s a quick overview of what the series is all about: The Deluge Learning Series takes place on the

• Convert Lead Automation Trigger

  Currently, there is only a convert lead action available in workflow rules and blueprints. Also, there is a Convert Lead button available but it doesn't trigger any automations. Once the lead is converted to a Contact/Account the dataset that can be fetched

• Text snippet

  There is a nice feature in Zoho Desk called Text Snippet. It allows you to insert a bit of text anywhere in a reply that you are typing. That would be nice to have that option in Zoho CRM as well when we compose an email. Moderation Update: We agree that

• I'm getting this error when I try to link an email to a deal inside the Zohomail Zoho CRM extension.

  When I click "Yes, associate," the system displays an "Oops!! Something went wrong" error message. I have attached a screenshot of the issue for reference.

• CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

  Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

• Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

  Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

• ZOHO add-in issue

  I cannot connect ZOHO from my Outlook. I am getting this error.

• Which WhatsApp API works seamlessly with Zoho CRM?

  I’m exploring WhatsApp API solutions that integrate seamlessly with Zoho CRM for customer communication, lead nurturing, and automation. I would love to hear insights from those who have successfully implemented WhatsApp within Zoho CRM. My Requirements:

• Marketing Automation

  L.S. Marketing Automation is and has always been part of the Zoho One bundle - according to the information provided on the Zoho Website. Why when I open Marketing Automation do I get the following message?: "Your trial has expired. We hope you enjoyed

• What's New in Zoho Analytics - January 2026

  Hello Users! We are starting the year with a strong lineup of updates, marking the beginning of many improvements planned to enhance your analytics experience. Explore the latest improvements built to boost performance, simplify analysis, and help you

• Can I convert multiple OLM files to Thunderbird at once?

  Yes, you can convert multiple OLM files to Thunderbird at once using the Aryson OLM file Converter. The tool supports bulk OLM file conversion, allowing users to select multiple OLM files in a single process. It preserves the original folder structure,

• Translation from Chinese (Simplified) to Chinese (Traditional) is not working. It randomly translated. Google Translate accurately but zoho translate is not working at all

  Hi friends, The newly added language for translation. https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/ai-tasks/translate.html "zh" - Chinese "zh-CN" - Chinese (Simplified) "zh-TW" - Chinese (Traditional) my original text: 郑这钻 (and it is zh-CN) translated traditional

• The Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation

  Social media isn’t just about posting some random content. It’s about why certain content works, how brands stand out, and what makes people pause mid-scroll. The Social Playbook is a monthly community series where we break all of that down. Through real

• Support for Custom Fonts in Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal

  Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to use custom fonts in the Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal. Currently only the default fonts (Roboto, Lato, and Montserrat) are available. While these

• Adding bank details to the contact through API

  How to add bank-related information to the contact while creating it using API? The account number needs to be encrypted before sending it through API but not sure how to encrypt and get those values. Please guide me in this.

• Font breakage in Zoho Mail Desktop Lite application for Mac

  Dear Zoho Mail and Workplace Community, With the latest update of macOS Sequoia and macOS Tahoe, there has been font breakages in the email preview of Zoho Mail Desktop Lite application for Mac. This breakage is due to the corruption of the System fonts

• Feature request - image resizing on sales orders

  I need to be able to show the items on the sales orders, currently the item image shows really small and no way to resize it, need the ability to make the image larger to showcase the product on the pdfs

• What's new in Zoho Sheet: Simplify data entry and collaboration

  Hello, Zoho Sheet community! Last year, our team was focused on research and development so we could deliver updates that enhance your spreadsheet experience. This year, we’re excited to deliver those enhancements—but we'll be rolling them out incrementally

• Nueva edición de "Ask The Expert" en Español Zoho Community

  ¡Hola Comunidad! ¿Te gustaría obtener respuestas en directo sobre Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk u otra solución dentro de nuestro paquete de CX (Experiencia del Cliente? Uno de nuestros expertos estará disponible para responder a todas tus preguntas durante nuestra

• Automation Series: Auto-Notify External Users on Issue Closure

  Hello Folks! In Zoho Projects, you can notify external issue reporters via email when an issue is marked as Closed. This helps the users avoid manual follow-ups and keeps the reporter updated. In this post, we’ll walk through a simple setup using a Web

• Turn chat conversations into real action with Integration Blocks in Guided Conversations

  When a Guided Conversation fails, it's usually not because the logic is wrong. They fail because the conversation stops moving. A customer starts a chat with a clear goal: report an issue, check a status, or confirm something. At first, the flow does

• Basic Mass Update deluge schedule not working

  I'm trying to create a schedule that will 'reset' a single field to 0 every morning - so that another schedule can repopulate with the day's calculation. I thought this would be fairly simple but I can't work out why this is failing : 1) I'm based in

• click to call feature

  I've Zoho CRM and in that i want click to call feature.

• We Asked, Zoho Delivered: The New Early Access Program is Here

  For years, the Zoho Creator community has requested a more transparent and participatory approach to beta testing and feature previews. Today, I'm thrilled to highlight that Zoho has delivered exactly what we asked for with the launch of the Early Access

• From Zoho CRM to Paper : Design & Print Data Directly using Canvas Print View

  Hello Everyone, We are excited to announce a new addition to your Canvas in Zoho CRM - Print View. Canvas print view helps you transform your custom CRM layouts into print-ready documents, so you can bring your digital data to the physical world with

• Can the Product Image on the Quote Template be enlarged

  Hello, I am editing the Quote Template and added ${Products.Product Image} to the line item and the image comes up but it is very tiny. Is there anyway that you can resize this to be larger? Any help would be great! Thanks

• Creating Parent Child relationship in Accounts

  We have customers with multiple locations, I setup the HQ as an account, then I setup the different sites marking the HQ as the parent to that location. If I then do a Deal for one of the locations, is there a way to show by looking at the parent account

• Learner transcript Challenges.

  Currently i am working on a Learner Transcript app for my employer using Zoho Creator. The app is expected to accept assessment inputs from tutors, go through an approval process and upon call up, displays all assessments associated with a learner in

• Client and Vendor Portal

  Some clients like keeping tabs on the developments and hence would like to be notified of the progress. Continuous updates can be tedious and time-consuming. Zoho Sprints has now introduced a Client and Vendor Portal where you can add client users and

• #7 Tip of the week: Delegating approvals in Zoho People

  With Zoho People, absences need not keep employees waiting with their approval requests. When you are not available at work, you can delegate approvals that come your way to your fellow workmate and let them take care of your approvals temporarily. Learn more!

• Admin Tip: Manage sub-domain emails using sub-domain stripping

  As an admin, you may need separate domains for different departments such as sales, support, and marketing. While this approach offers flexibility, creating and managing multiple domains can quickly become overwhelming, especially since each domain requires

• Quick Copy Column Name

  Please add the ability to quickly copy the name of a column in a Table or Query View. When you right-click the column there should be an option to copy the name, or if you left-click the column and use the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut it should copy the

• Ability to Edit YouTube Video Title, Description & Thumbnail After Publishing

  Hi Zoho Social Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Social that enables users to edit YouTube video details after the video has already been published. Your team confirmed that while Zoho Social currently allows editing the

• How do I remove a data source from Zoho Analytics?

  I am unable to find a delte option on a datasource that i put in the system as an error. On teh web it refers to a setup icon but I do not see that on my interface?

• Add Employee Availability Functionality to Zoho People Shift Module

  Hello Zoho People Product Team, Greetings and hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance the Zoho People Shift module by adding employee availability management, similar to the functionality available in Zoho Shifts.

• Bigin, more powerful than ever on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and watchOS 26.

  Hot on the heels of Apple’s latest OS updates, we’ve rolled out several enhancements and features designed to help you get the most from your Apple devices. Enjoy a refined user experience with smoother navigation and a more content-focused Liquid Glass

• Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

  I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm

• Next Page