Extension pointers #15: Create blueprints to carry out business processes smoothly

Extension pointers #15: Create blueprints to carry out business processes smoothly

When the various stages of a business process are well-planned and executed efficiently, the entire process runs smoothly and the overall functionality is efficient. 

Blueprint is a useful feature available in Zoho CRM that is currently supported in the Zoho Developer platform. It allows you to plan different stages of a business process and set up predefined transitions between the stages to achieve the desired results. Along with defining the stages for a blueprint, you can associate people to each stage, guide them through the process, mandate information, validate information, and automate routine processes if necessary.

Components of a blueprint

A blueprint is made up of two major components or blocks: states and transitions. We’ll discuss each below.

State
A business process might involve one or more stages that need to be crossed for its completion. A state is a stage that is involved in a business process. It’s a particular condition/stage that a process is in at a given point of time.

Transition
A transition acts as a connecting factor or link between stages. It consists of the conditions that must be met to move from one stage to another.

Let's consider an example that demonstrates how blueprints can be effectively implemented/incorporated through an extension to achieve desired business processes. 

Assume you run a campaign management organization. Several companies hire (outsource) you as a vendor to work on campaigns to help their businesses grow. Depending on your clients’ business needs, you manage the processes involved in preparing these campaigns using the Campaigns module in Zoho CRM. Campaigns can be of different types, such as webinar, advertisements, emails, etc.

Each of these campaign types will require following a different flow in order to be organized and executed. For example, for a webinar, you’ll need to check on resource availability and target audience, whereas for advertisements, you must check on content and banner design. It would be difficult to manually ensure that all of your team members assigned to a client’s campaign follows the correct flow each time.

A blueprint would be useful in this situation because a fixed process can be designed for a specific campaign type. This way, whenever one of your team members is assigned to handle that campaign type, they follow the defined process flow to execute it. 

Similarly, different blueprints can be designed for different campaign types and collectively rendered as an extension to help your campaign management process as a whole. In this post, we'll build the overall blueprint flow for a webinar-type campaign.

A company contacts your campaign management organization about organizing a webinar to promote their business. You plan a webinar idea based on the needs of the company, gather the requirements to organize the campaign, generate or execute your campaign plan and share it with the manager, decide whether the plan is active or inactive based on feedback and discussion, and, finally, complete the campaign by finalizing (active) or closing (inactive) based on discussion.

Creating a blueprint for the Campaigns module in Zoho developer console

Here are the process steps for creating a blueprint flow:
  • Go to the Extension's detail page in the Zoho Developer console.
  • Choose Workflow under Automate from the left panel of the Zoho CRM console under Build, and then click Blueprint.
  • Click Create Blueprint.

  • Enter the necessary details. You can refer to this link to get detailed information on creating a blueprint. In our example, the module is Campaign, the layout is Standard and the field is Status.
                                                 

Note: You can create picklist fields through the extension and choose them as the field for the blueprint. This helps you run blueprints specific to your campaign’s organization-related Zoho CRM fields as well.
  • When the basic details are filled in, next you’ll define the criteria based on which records will be associated with this blueprint. In our example, we choose the campaign records of the webinar type to be associated with this blueprint.
  • There’s an option to create continuous blueprints, i.e., with the completion of a transition the next transition is automatically triggered, and so on. To achieve this, click Advanced configuration. Enable the Is this a continuous Blueprint? option. Choose the owners who will be eligible to view the transitions as buttons in the record's detail page.
Note: In our example, we don't enable this option; we manually execute transitions one after the other when the preceding transition's conditions are met and the next one is ready to be implemented. Click Next.


  • Below is the blueprint created for our example.

  • The states and the transitions involved in our example are listed below.
States
Transitions
Plan idea
Plan
Requirement gathering
Requirement analysis
Plan generation
Generate plan
Active
Active
Inactive
Inactive
Complete
Complete
  • Next, add the criteria to be met at different stages of the transition (BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER). These transitions are conditions to be met to cross from one state to another, and will appear as buttons on the record details page.

  •  Let's see the criteria involved in our example for each transition.
Plan: Notes on the webinar plan and tags are mandatory during this transition.
                                                      

Requirement analysis: Create a checklist for analyzing the requirements by using the Add > Checklists during the transition.
                                                      

Generate plan: Make attachments of the contents or related documents required for the webinar mandatory during the transition. 
                                                      

After the transition, generate an email notification to your manager with the campaign plan details. We’ve associated a campaign plan email template that includes the description of the campaign record as part of the email body.

                                                      

Active: Upon discussion with the manager, if the plan is approved, the campaign plan is active and is to be executed further. Make tags mandatory during the transition.

Schedule the campaign start date for 15 days from the current execution date (i.e., the date the plan changes to active status) after the transition is completed.

                                                      

Inactive: After discussion with the manager, if the plan is not approved, the campaign plan is inactive and is then moved to an inactive state. When you click Inactive, the campaign is automatically moved to Complete status.

Complete: Finally, whether the plan is active and ready to be executed, we can move it to a closed state by making tags mandatory to establish that the record for creating the webinar campaign plan has been completed.
  •  Now that the blueprint is designed, click Publish. 
  • You can now publish the extension and install it in your Zoho CRM account.
Sample Output

You can view the sample output attached as a video.

In this manner, any webinar campaign will follow the blueprint process to completion. Similarly, you can create blueprints for each campaign and efficiently manage your campaign management process. 

We hope you find this information useful. Keep following us for more inputs!!


Next>>

    • Recent Topics

    • Rollup summary for custom module

      Rollup summary feature was introduced almost a year ago: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/introducing-rollup-summary-in-zoho-crm-public-early-access-2023 It does not support custom modules tough and this post aims to track such feature

    • Feature Request: Search in the PC client. Some thoughts about the search.

      Hi all. I'm really excited to start using Zoho Notebook, but I'm missing some of the search capabilities on my desktop. There are also some thoughts on improving search in general. Search is very important to me, without it it is difficult for me to use

    • Cannot use a Zoho Form in CRM Email Template

      I've created a Zoho form that has integration with Zoho CRM and is linked to a custom module. I know the form works as I have tested it. When I try and insert this Zoho Form in a button on a CRM email template set up with the same custom module I get

    • Function Only Working Manually

      Good evening everyone. I have a function that creates a PDF from a Creator form. When I execute it manually it works perfectly. But when I execute it from within a On success workflow it is not working. I'll post my code below. Any ideas? //Function void

    • How to send binary data in invokeurl task?

      Hello, I am using Adobe's Protect PDF API. Source: https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/pdf-services-api/ Everything works fine in Postman. But for some reason after encrypting the file, it is empty after password protecting the

    • Campaign email bounces and CRM entries

      Using campaigns.zoho.com and utilizing a sync'd list works fine.  But when emails bounce, they are removed from the campaign side, but there is no way to update the CRM record.    You can see that the email bounced in CRM by looking at campaigns-> member status, but you can not use that field to create a search or any other way in which to update those bad records.    I have a list of several thousand emails, and to update each record that bounces is a nightmare.  There has to be a way to utilize

    • Has anyone integrated SMS well for Zoho Desk?

      Our company does property management and needs to be able to handle inbound sms messages which create a ticket for Zoho Desk.  We then need to be able to reply back from Zoho desk which sends the user an sms message.  This seems like a fairly common thing to need - sms handling for support tickets.  There is basically no good information from any third party vendor for Zoho Desk, while there is a ton for CRM.  Zoho is pretty unhelpful when I've reached out to them, and a lot of vendors just direct

    • Tags When Importing

      My biggest wish right now for making Zoho Notebook easier to work with would be to have the ability to add tags while importing files/clips. This includes using the web clipper, adding web pages with Share on my phone, and adding pages by using Attach.

    • WhatsApp in Zoho Social

      Seems CRM team is not taking Whatsapp integration seriously. While Facebook already has 63 Whatsapp partners, some of which are very small, that have already completed API integration. Maybe the social team could take over this project from CRM and get

    • Allow users to display columns dynamically

      I have a table with 50 users in Column A and the dates 1 Jan to 31 Dec along Row 1. I want users to be able to add data to the cells but would like to make it easier by allowing users to select a date and display that. So if the user wants to add data

    • Download fails

      We are unable to download data. When we try, we get the message "Download failed." We have two Bases. Downloads are working in one but not the other. The Base with the problem is 'Projects'. We're trying to download Time Records from the Month view. Note:

    • Webhook when estimate is refused is not firing

      Hello, I use a workflow through make that sends estimate with zoho books (I paid books and sign). -Those estimates when accepted are firing the webhook that I create in zoho sign (photo 1) -However when refused they are not firing the webhook that I created

    • RFQ MODEL

      A Request for quotation model is used for Purchase Inquiries to multiple vendors. The Item is Created and then selected to send it to various vendors , once the Prices are received , a comparative chart is made for the user. this will help Zoho books

    • Calculations in item custom field

      Dear Sirs,    Is it possible to do math inside items in Zoho Books? My item is a pack of plywood. Depending on thickness, there is certain amount of sheets in a pack and, as the result, different volume. I want to add fields like lenth, width, thickness,

    • I can't send and receieve any email ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.26

      Hello, I can't receive and send any email for months. I already sent an email to Zoho support but didn't get any response. I attached a screenshot of a message i get always when i tried to send an email. Please help me asap.

    • Zoho Email Not Working After Domain Transfer and Nameserver Change

      Dear all, I hope you're all doing well. We recently transferred our domain, which is linked to Zoho, to another hosting provider. As part of the transfer, we updated the nameservers to the new hosting provider's ns1 and ns2. However, after this change,

    • Linkedin - Recruiter System Connect

      Hi there! Does anyone here know how to connect Zoho Recruit to Linkedin Recruiter via Recruiter System Connect?

    • 2025 Just Got More Exciting for Developers!

      Hello, Greetings to the Zoho Books Community! As we step into the New Year, we're thrilled to roll out something truly special for our Zoho Finance enthusiasts – the "Zoho Finance Developer" Community! This is your exclusive space to connect with fellow

    • Does Client Script work on Zoho CRM Portal?

      Hi ! I create a new module to use at customer portal. But Client Script looks not work. Please help me clarify, thank you!

    • Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were

    • Alter a system defined field from a 'single line' into a picklist

      Hello,  I am looking to switch the STATE field, which is a Zoho defined field from a 'single line' into a picklist. Can you advise how to change this?

    • SOLVED: Stopping Multiple Invitations when sync with Google Calendar

      I wanted to share this solution as I wasn't able to find it when searching through the Zoho community and via web search. The issue: When requestor books a meeting through Zoho Bookings, the requestor receives a confirmation email from both Bookings and

    • Zoho Analytics - Data source timezone

      Hi, I have a Zoho Desk data source that should display date information / timestamps in Europe/Paris timezone (CET/CEST). However, as shown in the attached screenshot, the data source is using America/Mexico_City timezone despite having my Locale Information

    • Merging Writer Titles

      When merging from CRM into Writer, is there a way to add fields to the document header? This would be very helpful for saving. Is there a way to link the document automatically to the module?

    • Taxes... again.

      After reading the recent addition to the knowledge-base article at https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/commerce/user-guide/settings/general-settings/articles/types-of-taxes, I feel compelled for the fourth year now to reiterate the glaring omission in

    • View tickets

      Is it possible to have 1 person in a organization which can view all tickets of that company? Example: IT Manager of Company X wants to view all tickets of Company X, no other user can see  all tickets of Company X.

    • Automatically associate contact with product

      Hello, I created a Real State scenario at CRM where I have property owners that are contacts, and properties that are products. After creating a contact and a product, I associated them. My Desk is integrated with my CRM, and it automatically creates

    • Zoho Desk Deluge get tickets info

      When using Deluge, Need to use "tickets" to obtain ticket information. Example : ticketDetails = zoho.desk.getRecordById(XXXXXX,"tickets",ticketId); Is there a way for me to query ticket information while only knowing "ticketNumber"? The "ticket Number"

    • What is the Desk API?

      I'm trying to fetch a lookup field data from desk to our creator application and it doesn't work. I'm guessing that my search parameter is wrong? On my trial function fetch if I use these: tickets = invokeurl [ url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/tickets/351081000145244764"

    • Zoho still running very slow

      I have a lead log for my company and creator seems to be running extremely slow still.

    • How to link Custom Fields in Ticket view

      Hi team, I have created 2 custom fields in our Accounts Module would like them to show in our ticket information. We don't have Enterprise so I cannot do it via a workflow, but I know you can do lookup fields to link modules. How would I go about making

    • Sending a Slideshow as a scheduled email

      I have created a slideshow for my dashboards - is there anyway of automating or scheduling it to send to users ?

    • How can I send out edm email without execced the mail limit and got block?

      Hello, What service should I subscribe and pay for?? Thanks Tomuel

    • Global "Search" in FSM

      I'm missing the global Search function like in CRM. This should save us a lot of time. We don't now upfront if the customer is a Contact or a Company. So now we have to guess in what module to start a search/filter. Also looking up an address, phone number,

    • Mapping of Zoho CRM Lookup field to CRM

      Hi, I have created a Zoho CRM Lookup field on a form for a client. The population of the field works great in the form however I cannot seem to get the data being entered in the form back into CRM. For example, the form is for new clients to fill in their

    • Lost Data

      I never synced it before but now since ir forced me to login... my data is lost. Can I still recover my local data?

    • Unable to verify Domain - Exabytes

      Hi, I have obtained a .com.my domain provided by Exabytes, but am unable to verify the domain ownership despite added in both TXT and CNAME as below: TXT - Name: @ ; Value: zoho-verification=zb88785805.zmverify.zoho.com CNAME - NAME: zb88785805 ; Value:

    • Enhanced Placeholder Preview for Templates

      Hi, When creating a new template in Zoho CRM, there are many variables/placeholders available, such as ${Organization.Organization Name} and ${Quotes.Created Time}. While these placeholders are useful, it is not always clear what each field represents,

    • Forgot password to my notebookd and notes

      Exactly what the title says. I know it sounds dumb since it's my own fault but what can I do? I'm just wondering if we can recover our password or something. I see there's no such feature but it should have right??? This is really frustrating to me because

    • Problems with email configuration and slowness in Zoho support.

      I've been having problems configuring emails since yesterday, they responded to me today, I sent a response right away and so far I haven't received a resolution to the problem. Attached are the configuration attempts that were made.

    • Next Page