Kaizen #201 - Answering Your Questions | Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules

Kaizen #201 - Answering Your Questions | Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules


Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series!

We are incredibly grateful for all the feedback we received, and as promised, we will answer all the queries in this Kaizen series.

Last week, in our 200th post, we addressed one of the requests for a detailed guide on Token generation using the Python SDK.

This week, as requested by a user, we will do a detailed comparison between Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules.

Let's dive right in!

In modern CRM automation and business workflows, three key mechanisms stand out for executing custom logic and integrations—Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules. While these might seem similar at first glance, each serves distinct purposes and offers unique advantages depending on your use case.

Understanding when and how to use each approach is crucial for building efficient, scalable, and maintainable automation systems. This Kaizen post will help you navigate these choices with practical use cases and clear guidelines.
Let's see what each of these features means.


1. Webhooks

Event-driven external communication

Webhooks are HTTP callbacks that automatically trigger when specific events occur in your CRM system. Think of them as "reverse APIs" where instead of your app polling for changes, the system pushes notifications to your external endpoints.

Key Characteristics

  • Trigger: Can be triggered by workflows, approvals, and real-time event-based(record creation, updates, deletions).
  • Execution: External to the CRM platform. Send HTTP POST/GET requests to an external URL.
  • Response time: Near-instantaneous.
  • Reliability: Dependent on external endpoint's availability.

When should you use Webhooks?

  • Send simple, real-time notifications to external systems.
  • These are lightweight notifications where you just want to inform external systems that something happened in your CRM, but do not expect a response.
  • Trigger immediate actions in the external app.
  • When data changes happen in your CRM, you can use webhooks to inform the external system of the same and trigger specific actions in the external system.
  • Live notification and alerts.
  • Webhooks can send live notifications and alerts when an important event occurs in CRM. You can use multiple channels like SMS, emails, push notifications, etc., to notify of the event.

Examples

  • Notifying an external system when a lead is converted.
  • Triggering payment processing when invoice status changes.
  • Sending SMS immediately when a high-priority lead is created.

2. Functions

Server-side custom logic

Functions in Zoho CRM are custom code snippets written in Deluge scripting language to execute your custom business logic.

Key Characteristics

  • Trigger: Can be triggered by various events or called directly through APIs, workflows, or button actions.
  • Execution: Internal to the CRM platform as they run on Zoho CRM servers.
  • Response time: Fast.
  • Reliability: High, with in-built error handling mechanisms.
  • Support full Deluge scripting.
  • Can call external APIs and handle responses.

When should you use Functions?

  • Complex business logic that requires access to CRM data
    • Involves complex decision-making processes to compare and analyze data from multiple modules of your CRM or other service. Functions work great here as they can access data via APIs easily.
  • Data validation and transformation
    • You can check for data correctness to align with your business rules and convert them to the right format to use them as necessary at various places. Functions are ideal as they can validate against existing CRM data and apply complex transformation logic in real-time.
  • Custom workflow actions
    • You can orchestrate functions to perform multi-step processes across modules that standard workflow actions cannot perform.

Examples

  • Validating data against business rules before saving.
  • Implement approval workflows with multiple stakeholders.
  • Triggering complex multi-module workflows like converting a lead to a contact and account, triggering workflow rules for the new account, adding a follow-up task to the converted lead, and adding it to marketing campaigns.

3. Schedules

Time-Based Automation

Schedules in Zoho CRM are functions that are executed automatically at specific intervals of time. They are perfect for batch processing, data synchronization, regular clean up, and sending routine reminders.

Key Characteristics

  • Trigger: Time-based schedules like a cron job.
  • Execution: Internal to the CRM platform.
  • Response time: Depends on the schedule frequency.
  • Reliability: High, with automatic retry mechanisms.
  • Support full Deluge scripting.
  • Supports OAuth-based API calls and data fetching from internal or external systems.

When should you use Schedules?

  • Batch data processing
    • Instead of processing records one at a time as they are created or updated, you can batch them all in groups to be processed later, say after business hours. This is not only efficient but also does not impact system performance during peak hours.
  • Synchronize data
    • You can run a schedule to compare data between your CRM and external system and regularly update them to have up-to-date information on both systems.
  • Periodic reporting and analytics of your data
    • Create reports, update dashboards, and analytics like weekly sales performance, at set intervals to ensure your teams and stakeholders have the right data.
  • Maintenance and housekeeping
    • These are the usual behind-the-scenes tasks like archiving old data, deleting temporary files, etc., once a week to keep your CRM system running smoothly.

Examples

  • Daily data backup and archival
  • Weekly sales performance reports
  • Monthly lead scoring recalculation
  • Quarterly data cleanup and deduplication
  • Sync product data in CRM with an external ERP system every eight hours.
Here is a comparison table to help you decide which feature to use.

Feature
Webhooks
Functions
Schedules
Trigger
On CRM events(real-time)
On CRM events/manually
On a schedule(time-based)
Custom Logic
No(send data only)
Yes(custom script in Deluge)
Yes(deluge, time-driven logic)
External Calls
Limited(webhook only)
Extensive(APIs, CRM modules)
Extensive APIs, CRM modules)
Data Manipulation
No
Yes
Yes
Best For
Simple push notifications
Complex workflow automation
Recurring tasks
Examples
Notifying ERP, sending SMS
Auto-updating field, triggering emails
Daily follow-up, weekly performance report

Best Practices

  • Keep it simple. When you need a quick, no-frills integration, go with webhooks first.
  • Put your smarts in one place. Use functions whenever you need custom business rules or to tie together different parts of your CRM.
  • Schedule wisely. If you have regular batch jobs or routine tasks, set them to run on a schedule, ideally during off-peak hours so your team's daily operations are not slowed down by behind-the-scenes processes.
  • Watch and learn. Build in error logging and notifications for both functions and scheduled jobs, so you can catch and fix problems before they snowball.
  • Stay efficient. Remember that functions and scheduled scripts count against your API and execution limits. So, write lean code and keep an eye on your usage.

Begin by pinpointing your unique needs, weigh the pros and cons of each option, and be open to mixing methods when necessary. True automation success depends on solid error handling, ongoing monitoring, and regular upkeep.
We hope you found this post useful. Let us know if you have questions in the comments or drop us an email at support@zohocrm.com.

Cheers!

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

IdeaPrevious Kaizen post - Token generation in Python SDK

    • Recent Topics

    • Closing Accounting Periods - Invoice/Posting dates

      Hi, I have seen in another thread but I'm unsure on how the 'transaction locking' works with regards to new and old transactions. When producing monthly accounts if I close December 24 accounts on 8th Jan 25 will transaction locking prevent me from posting

    • In-person ZUG Meetups for Real Estate Professionals - US Q1 2026

      The Real Estate Zoho User Group is going on a multi-city, in-person meetup tour across the US, and we’d love to see you there! These meetups are a great opportunity to: Connect with fellow real estate professionals using Zoho Share challenges and discover

    • Zoho CRM custom fields not showing in zoho creator

      Hi Team, I have created a Products form with Zoho CRM integration and connected it to Products module of CRM. But when I see the reports of Products in Zoho creator then I am not able to see custom fields of Products module. Only standard fields of Products

    • Sending email notifications based on language

      Hello. I would like to know how we can bypass the default notifications (which are just in English) for when a ticket is created/replied to/closed, to be in other languages, based on the language field in the ticket? I can create other email templates,

    • 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.

    • 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

    • Whatsapp Limitation Questions

      Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

    • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

      Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child

    • Download a file from within a zoho creator widget

      I have a widget running in Zoho Creator , it displays uploaded documents in a table file, and I have added a download link in the view. ( The widget is created with html, css and javascript). I do not succeed in getting the download working. Do I have

    • Correlated subqueries not supported in Zoho Analytics. This creates huge limitations

      Running into a major limitation in Zoho Analytics: correlated subqueries simply don’t work, even in completely standard SQL patterns inside a JOIN. Example: LEFT JOIN "Bills" b ON d."Id" = b."Deal ID" AND EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM "Bill

    • Zoho / Outlook Calendar sync

      The current Marketplace -> Microsoft -> Meetings integration needs 2 changes. 1. The current language for the Two-Way sync option should be changed. It currently states, "Sync both your Zoho CRM Calendar and Office 365 Calendar meetings with each other."

    • Email content just contain 'OK' ,not what we expect

      create campaign API URL: https://campaigns.zoho.com/api/v1.1/createCampaign req params: {'campaignname': 'General_Outreach_d0cfc415-43aa-4b96-bb09-558e76a3dda3_50_20251117_214806_660', 'from_email': 'admin@allinmedia.ai', 'subject': 'ALL IN MEDIA', 'list_details':

    • Introducing the all-new email parser!

      Greetings, We are pleased to introduce to you, a brand-new, upgraded version of the Zoho CRM Email Parser, which is packed with fresh features and has been completely redesigned to meet latest customers needs and their business requirements. On that note,

    • Possible to connect Zoho CRM's Sandbox with Zoho Creator's Sandbox?

      We are making some big changes on our CRM so we are testing it out in CRM's Sandbox. We also have a Zoho Creator app that we need to test. Is it possible to connect Zoho CRM's Sandbox to Zoho Creator's Sandbox so that I can perform those tests?

    • Reopen ticket

      Hello! Can I reopen a ticket just using the API ticket/sendReply ? What's the rules to do it? I'm trying but it doesn't reopen the ticket, it just send the reply

    • Allow Admins to Transfer Ownership of Their Own Files & Folders

      Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement to the ownership-transfer functionality in Zoho WorkDrive, specifically regarding administrator capabilities. As administrators, we have the ability to

    • Tip#46: Capture accurate log hours

      Hello everyone, Use the newly introduced timer settings that will streamline the usage of timers and help admins or workspace owners to manage the time entries of the workspace users better. Check out the below mentioned timer settings added to the Timesheet

    • Moving to app-specific authentication for Google integrations

      Hello everyone, We’re making an important change to how Google integrations work in our platform. Until now, we used a common Google project across Zoho to enable integrations like Google Drive, Calendar, and more. Going forward, we’ll be moving to an

    • Double opt-in notifications and customizable confirmation messages for your webforms

      Dear CRM Community, We are excited to announce a major upgrade to our Webforms feature. You can now customize the confirmation message shown to your users who double opt-in from your webform and also customize your confirmation emails when they submit

    • Lost the ability to sort by ticket owner

      Hi all, in the last week or so, we have lost the ability to sort tickets by Ticket Owner. Unlike the other columns which we can hover over and click on to sort, Ticket Owner is no longer clickable. Is it just us, or are other customers seeing this too?

    • Using a CRM Client Script Button to create a Books Invoice

      Hello, I need help handling error messages returned to my client script from a function. The scenario I have setup a client script button which is available from each Deal. This CS executes a crm function, which in turn creates an invoice based on the

    • Standalone custom function not generating logs

      Why dont't standalone custom functions generate logs when the're called from another function? I have some functions (workflow, buttons and blueprint) that have common parts, so I put that part in a standalone function which is called from the others.

    • How Can i put a form in Zobot

      Hi,how can i integrate a form which has a multiple options to choose from.the form should be opened or displayed by zobot after it meets a requirement in the conversation. Thanks in advance !

    • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

      Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,

    • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

      Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?

    • Playback and Management Enhancements for Zoho Quartz Recordings

      Hello Zoho Team, We hope you're all doing well. We would like to submit a feature request related to Zoho Quartz, the tool used to record and share browser sessions with Zoho Support. 🎯 Current Functionality As of now, Zoho Quartz allows users to record

    • Zoho Analytics - Feature Request For Time Based Data Source Fetch

      Hi Analytics Team, I have a client using Zoho CRM and they want a weekly report at 4:30pm every Friday, emailed to the sales team showing a pie chart of Closed Won Deals for that week. This is easy to achieve in Analytics but not so easy to ensure the

    • Which user's capacity is used for Shared Mailbox storage?

      We use shared mailboxes at our company, and their size is increasing daily. Which user(s)'s total mailbox limit is being used up by this space?

    • Inserting the current date / time

      I'd like to use Zoho Notebook as a log - so it would be great to be able to insert the current date and time at the beginning (or end) of each my log/journal entries - or wherever I want. Something simple, like pressing a button/icon to insert it wherever my text cursor is. It could be formatted like "Mon Dec 11, 2017 - 11:43p". 

    • Migrate data from old to new account

      Hy, Have one Old Zoho Notebook Account with Data , want to migrate that whole Data to New Zoho Notebook Account which is in Zoho One . Is that possible ? If Yes then how?

    • Campaign editor overrides href value

      I've been trying to insert a deep link in an email campaign so recipients can directly open a native app on their device. My deep link looks something like "myapp://". The options to insert links in the campaign editor are limited to strict urls, emails,

    • Can't login IMAP suddenly

      Since this evening I'm getting the error: You are yet to enable IMAP for your account. Please contact your administrator... IMAP always been enabled in my account and was workign fine for the past 7 years. Already tried turning IMAP off and on again.

    • how to add subform over sigma in the CRM

      my new module don't have any subform available any way to add this from sigma or from the crm

    • Bug Report and Suggestions for Improvement in Zoho Applications

      Hi Zoho Team, I’d like to report a few bugs and improvement suggestions I’ve noticed while using Zoho products: Zoho Cliq Video Call: The camera sometimes turns off automatically during video calls. This seems to be a bug — please check and fix it. Zoho

    • Super Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working

    • Canvas Flex Box containers should not require a width/height.

      Flexbox containers are often used as organizational concepts, to ease re-flow on mobile etc. - I cannot use % for flexbox W or H - I cannot omit W or H This means that the content cannot dictate, and a Flexbox container cannot be used merely as an organizational

    • Zoho Desk Android app update: Filter enhancement, Save Filters

      Hello everyone! We have now enhanced the filter section on the ticket listing screen of Zoho Desk Android app as it is on the web(desk.zoho.com). Also, we have introduced an option to save filters for tickets on the mobile app. You can easily apply, rename,

    • Very long loading times | bad performance [ZOHO DC: EU]

      Hello there, we have recently noticed that the loading times have become extremely long when retrieving tickets and ticket details. For example, I open any ticket and get the following view. The subject and standard information (ticket owner, status etc.)

    • Zia Profile Summary now supports six languages and responds faster

      After numerous customer requests, we’ve expanded Zia Profile Summary to do more than just summarize resumes quickly. It can now summarize them in six different languages and deliver results even faster. What’s New 1. Extended language support Zia can

    • Introducing Zoho Show Android 3.0

      Good ideas need the right space to grow. They deserve tools that move as fast as your thoughts and make creating feel effortless. And that is why we are bringing you Zoho Show Android 3.0! From a brand-new look and smoother navigation to improved collaboration

    • Next Page