Leverage layout rules to customize workflow

Leverage layout rules to customize workflow

Layout rules in Zoho Sprints primarily aim to customize the field layout of your creation forms to meet complex requirements. But it doesn't stop there. Its customization can push the boundaries of how your fields behave, how data is gathered, how processes are branched out, and how workflow is channeled.

Based on conditions, you can tailor field behavior, direct the life cycle of an item, mandate specific actions, restrict the field options, or auto-assign users. The possibilities are aplenty.

We've tried to provide a few sample scenarios that help you automate your data collection and progress tracking flow. If you have any specific requirements, please state them in the comments, and we'll find out if layout rules can help you.

Use case 1: Restricting item statuses based on work item types

With layout rules, each item type can have its own workflow. This means it can have its own unique set of statuses that align with its specific lifecycle.

Let's assume you have three item types: Bug, Story, and Task.
Each type follows its own lifecycle, represented by the following statuses.
  • Bug goes through the To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done statuses.
  • Story has To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
  • And Task moves through a simple To Do, In Progress, and Done.
To align with these flows, certain statuses should not be available to specific item types. For instance, a story or a task should not be moved to the Bug Fixing status. Similarly, a bug or a task should not be moved to the Development status.

To enforce this, we can create layout rules that control which statuses are available based on the item type.

So, we'll create three conditions with each item type as the primary field.
  • If the item type is Bug, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done.
  • If the item type is Story, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
  • If the item type is Task, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, and Done.
Together, these conditions control the status progression for each item type. So, when you create a bug, it will only progress into the statuses that belong to the Bug lifecycle.


Use Case 2: Restricting future statuses based on the item's current status

When your team requires a pre-defined strict workflow where an item can be moved from a specific status to only a few statuses, layout rules can help implement this. For example, an item in the Bug Fixing status should only move to Bug Testing, and no other status. This way, each status controls the next status in the workflow.

To ensure this, create layout rules specifying conditions for each of the item status:
  • If the status is To do, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Rejected.
  • If the status is In progress, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Development.
  • If the status is Development, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Review Level 1.
  • If the status is Review Level 1, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Reopen and Review Level 2.
  • If the status is Reopen, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress.

Use case 3: Making a field mandatory based on item status or item type

Let's assume you want a field to be made mandatory only when the item is moved to one particular status. Which implies the field will remain non-mandatory during other statuses and will be mandatory only at that particular status. So, the progress to that status must be allowed only when the mandatory field is updated.

For instance, when an item is moved to the Done status, the Approver field must become mandatory to record completion approval. To ensure that this process is executed, you can create a layout rule where the primary field is the Status Name. If the status field is updated to Done, specify the condition with the trigger action to set the Approver field as mandatory.



Use case 4: Showing or hiding a section or field based on item types

Layout rules enable you to show or hide fields or sections based on item type conditions.

Let's say a section with fields related to a new feature should only be visible when the item type is New Feature.

Similarly, when the item type is Security Issue, the section with fields related to Security issue must be visible.

To achieve this, create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
  • Create a condition for the New Feature item type with a trigger action to show the New Feature Details section.
  • Create a condition for the Security Issue item type with a trigger action to show the Security Issue Details section.

Use case 5: Selecting specific assignees for item types and priorities

Layout rules can help you assign users based on the item type and priority. Let's say your team has a group of developers with varied levels of experience and expertise. You want to assign the high priority items to a more experienced member like John, while assigning low priority items to a novice like Peter.

If the item type is Bug and the priority level is Critical, you can assign the bug to John. If the priority level is High, it goes to Peter.

To meet this requirement, you can create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
  • Create a condition for the item type Bug with a subcondition where the priority level is Critical and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as John.
  • For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is High and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Peter.
Similarly, say you want the Task item type with a medium priority level to go to Helen, and a low priority level should go to James.
  • Create a condition for the item type Task with a subcondition where the priority level is Medium and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Helen.
  • For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is Low and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as James.


These are just a few examples of how layout rules can streamline your project management. Do you have any particular scenario that needs resolution? Please share it with us.

Thanks,
Zoho Sprints Team
    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #28 - Plan less and deliver more using WIP limit in Zoho Sprints

      Hello, It's been a while since we met with a quick, interesting tip. As the saying goes, "Too much of anything is good for nothing", today the focus is on delivering your outcomes with the right amount of planning. Your plan should be practical, calculative, and achievable for driving a qualitative success.    Laura's plan   Laura has a habit of planning her project deliverables before assigning work to her team-mates. Once the plan is finalized, she schedules a general meeting with her team and
    • Tip # 3- Working on the Scrum board

      Continuing from our Tip #2 on leading to a sprint, let's see how to manage the work items on the Scrum board.  Once you start the sprint your work items are automatically displayed on the Scrum board where you will actually manage the work items. It is a snapshot of the backlog items identified for the current sprint.    The layout of the Scrum board Simply put, the scrum board is just like a physical board with sticky notes on which the work items of the active sprint are displayed.  The scrum board
    • Tip#2- Leading you to a Sprint

      Product Backlog After the user stories are written and finalized, they are sorted to create the Product Backlog for the project during the Backlog Grooming meeting. This is a master list of all the work items that have been identified for the project and sorted by priority. Requirements are not constant during this period.The Product Backlog is dynamic and is an ongoing process. Every user story in the Product Backlog is customer centric. The Product Backlog includes: User centric stories based on
    • Tip #1- Why swimlanes?

      Lanes define a clear path to reach your destination. In Agile, swimlane is one such concept that sets a simple and clear process of the work that you do.   The concept of swimlane can be related to the pool, where the swimmers gather in their respective lanes to start off. Similar to the pool, work items are grouped in different categories. Each category is referred as a lane and is displayed in horizontal format. Swimlanes are effective in categorizing the work items with respective to specific
    • Recent Topics

    • One notebook is on my Android phone app, but not on Web or PC app.

      This problem started in stages. At first my phone was occasionally failing to sync. Then I noticed two things added to my Phone App. One was an existing notebook had a new cover, and the other was a new Note Card with an odd text in it. These were only
    • New notecards not syncing across devices

      Hello. I just noticed this problem happen recently. A new note being created on one device is not appearing on a different device, even though they're supposed to be synced with each other through setting it up on your account. I don't know if there's
    • Does Thrive work with Zoho Billing (Subscriptions)?

      I would like to use Thrive with Zoho Billing Subscriptions but don't see a way to do so. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you
    • Is it possible to add HTML or a button on email templates in Zoho Desk?

      Hello team, I am working on getting the best use out of Zoho Desk. I have noticed that when you hit 'reply' on a ticket, it comes with a small 'survey' to the recipient saying something like 'how would you rate your experience with us?'... so my question,
    • Is it possible to add buttons on email replies to internal team members?

      Hello everyone, I am currently trying to set up some workflow rules to trigger when a ticket is created. I have noticed there is a button that can be added to email templates when sending email alerts from workflow rules, for example ${Cases.SUPPORT_PORTAL_BUTTON}.
    • What is the use of the stage environment ?

      Salut, I am woundering what is the use of the stage environment. Usually, I do all the testing in developpement, and then go straight to production. The only thing I cannot test in developpement, is the result for portal users. Could the stage environment
    • Peppol Malaysia API

      Hi Zoho Books, my country Malaysia will going to implement "Peppol" (E-Invoicing), starting 1 Jul 2025 for all businesses. The government intends to provide API for accounting app. The workflow involves creating an invoice from accounting app, triggers
    • At transaction level Discounts for Zoho books UAE version

      Dear Team, Please add transaction level Discounts for Zoho books UAE version. I have been requesting Zoho team past 3 years, Transaction level Discounts is a mandatory option required for our business needs. Zoho books Indian version has the option then
    • New in CRM: Dynamic filters for lookup fields

      Last modified on Oct 28, 2024: This feature was initially available only through Early Access upon request. It is now available to all users across all data centers, except for the IN DC. Users in the IN DC can temporarily request access using this form
    • Sales Order automatic Convert to Invoice using boolean True or false

      It is possible to convert the Sales order to an invoice using a boolean field, true or false Example: I create a field in my Sales Order, I name it QBO Invoice, and the field type is Boolean, true or false. Let's say the default is false, so when I change
    • Presenting the brand new Zoho Bookings!

      Hello everyone, Greetings from Zoho Bookings! We're happy to announce a new version of our product with enhanced features to simplify scheduling, coupled with a sleek interface and improved privacy across teams. Here's what you can expect from the latest
    • Feature Request: Ability to copy notecards to Windows desktop

      Hello, Please consider adding the ability to copy notecards to Windows desktop. Thanks!
    • Script on Page used as dashboard don't work anymore

      Salut, I have a page used as dashboard that worked fine, but recently the workflows don't seem to work, I have the icons like on a page for portal user when I try to look at it as admin. See screen shot : Anybody knows what could have happen ? The only
    • Invalid URL error when embedded sending url into iframe for my website when using in another region

      Hi team, My site is currently working on integrating your signature feature as part of the system functionality, it's working great but recently there's been a problem like this: After successfully creating the document, i will embed a sending url into
    • Add Direct Ticket Link to Zoho Help Center Portal in Email Replies

      Hi Zoho Support Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to request a small but valuable improvement to enhance the usability of the Zoho Help Center portal (https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/myarea). Currently, when someone from Zoho replies to a support
    • Zoho Error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

      Hello There, l tried to verify my domain (florindagoreti.com.br) and its shows this error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details. Screenshot Given Below -  please check what went wrong. Thanks
    • Zoho Flow Needs to Embrace AI Agent Protocols to Stay Competitive

      Zoho Flow has long been a reliable platform for automating workflows and integrating various applications. However, in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-driven automation, it risks falling behind competitors like n8n, which are pioneering advancements
    • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

      Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.
    • How to mass update member status in a CRM Campaign?

      Does anybody knows how to mass update member status of the contacts (or leads) associated to a campaign. I can click on a campaign record and go to the Contacts in the Related List fields but then it shows only 10 contacts per page at once. It is hard
    • CRM HAS BEEN SOOO SLOW For Days 05/15/25

      I have fantastic Wifi speed and have zero issues with other websites, apps, or programs. It takes an excruciatingly amount of time to simply load a record, open an email, compose an email, draft a new template, etc. Am I in a subset/region of subscribers
    • First Respons time questions regarding ticket SLA's, Ticket Re-Assignment, and Ticket Closure.

      I am chasing down a few outliers on tickets that my team is reporting to me seen in some of our Zoho Analytics Dashboards with regards to Zoho Desk with regards to First Response Time. Our support organization is setup with different SLA's based on three
    • View Expenses in Zoho Books Without Approval or Reports in Zoho Expense

      Hello, I’m using both Zoho Books and Zoho Expense (on the free plan for both). I would like to view the expenses recorded in Zoho Expense within Zoho Books, but I read that they need to be approved first. Since I manage a small freelance business, I don’t
    • Idea: Workflow Rule Trigger Only When Subform Row Is Updated (Thanks to New Inline Row Feature)

      Hi Zoho team and community, With the recent update to Zoho CRM, we can now add or delete rows inside subforms without entering edit mode, using the inline Add row button. This is a fantastic improvement for user experience — seamless, fast, and efficient.
    • Blocking / black listing customers

      Hi, We have a situation, we observed that certain customers are blocking multiple appointments with our advsiors but not showing up. Some of these are repeat offenders. This leads to those service hours getting blocked and not available for genuine customers.
    • Turning off the new UI

      Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?
    • Seriously - Create multiple contacts for leads, (With Company as lead) Zoho CRM

      In Zoho CRM, considering a comapny as a lead, you need us to allow addition of more than one contact. Currently the Lead Section is missing "Add contact" feature which is available in "Accounts". When you know that a particular lead can have multiple contacts, why was this feature not included. Now we have to miss out other contacts or enter them somewhere in the description.!!! this is bad.
    • Global Sets for Multi-Select pick lists

      When is this feature coming to Zoho CRM? It would be very useful now we have got used to having it for the normal pick lists.
    • Change default "Sort by"

      Is there a way to change the default "sort by" when searching across modules?" in Zoho CRM? Currently the default sort method is "Modified time" but i would like to utilize the second option of "relevance" as the sort by default and not have to change
    • Create project (flow) and assign to person without account (company)

      Hi Zoho Support & Community, I'm trying to automate a process using Zoho Flow to create a Zoho Project and link it directly to a Zoho CRM Contact. This reflects our B2C workflow where we primarily deal with individual Contacts, not Companies/Accounts.
    • Forte's Extra Costs

      Hello everyone in the Zoho community, I wanted to share some information about Forte in case anyone wanted to look into them as a processor.  I currently use Stripe, but wanted to use Forte's ACH to pay vendors and take ACH payments for our products.  This is one of the only ACH processors that Zoho accepts. They state their cost is $25/month plus their transaction fees for ACH.  However, after signing up and going through their approval process, I found this out they work with a PCI compliance service
    • Can Zoho CRM JS SDK Send Notifications, Create Tasks & Calendar Events?

      Hello everyone! I’m just starting to explore this topic, so please excuse my beginner-level questions! Is it possible to use the JS SDK (https://help.zwidgets.com/help/latest/index.html) to: Send messages (signals, notifications) to specific employees,
    • Restricting Printing

      Hi Is it possible to stop users printing documents?
    • Backup and Restore of Projects

      Hi Guys, my boss asked me "do we store regulary offline Backups of Zoho Projects" and i could only answer "no way". Is there really no way to backup and restore a project manualy? As Projects is the main Product we decided to use Zoho it could be that
    • Enable Zia Bot for Intelligent Conversations in Zoho Cliq

      Hi Zoho Cliq Team, We would like to request a new feature: the ability to interact with Zia via a dedicated bot in Zoho Cliq, in a way similar to how users interact with GPT-based assistants. Use Case: We're looking for functionality beyond the existing
    • Zoho RPA is now available in your Zoho One bundle!

      Hello All! Of late, it's been quite a stint of new app integrations in Zoho One. This announcement pertains to the addition of another Zoho application, the most sought-after Zoho RPA - Robotic Process Automation, to the bundle. What is Zoho RPA? Zoho
    • Data types in custom fields

      Hi, I've been trying to create a custom field to enter purchase order dates , but there is only one data type in the drop down to choose from which is a "Text Box ( Single Line )". I need the "Date" Data type. Please give me a solution regarding thi
    • Change rate after xxxx kilometers

      Is there a way to change the miileage rate after a certain mileage. After 5000 kilometers, we want the rate to automaticly change. Thank !
    • Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)

      Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:
    • Can't attach

      I am having problems sending attachments. I am trying to attach some PDFs to an email (as I do several times every day) but the progress bar on the attached file gets stuck somewhere between 20%-70% and when I hit send I get the error message 'Attachment
    • WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

      Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.
    • Next Page