Kaizen 228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions

Howdy, tech wizards!

This week’s Kaizen explores how Catalyst Solutions in the Zoho CRM Developer Hub help import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and simplifying the migration process.

Why Catalyst Solutions?

Catalyst Solutions provide a library of independent, ready-to-use backend solutions called CodeLibs. The CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib helps handle complex data operations on large datasets. Following are the key benefits:

1. Highly Scalable: Processes large datasets efficiently, supporting up to 200,000 records per API call.
2. Automation Made Simple: Automate complex tasks like segmentation, data cleansing and lead scoring with minimal effort.  
3. Effortless Integration: Comes with pre-configured Catalyst resources such as serverless functions and data stores that integrate directly with Zoho CRM.
   

Business Scenario

Zylker, a manufacturing company, migrated over 3 lakh Lead records into Zoho CRM from spreadsheets. 

Post-migration, the Lead data showed the following inconsistencies and challenges:

1. Phone number field did not include country codes, or contained incorrect country codes. This inconsistency made it difficult for sales teams to contact Leads reliably.
2. Identifying potential Leads for follow-up required manual effort and marketing team has to run generic campaigns without lead segmentation. 

Using workflows before record creation to fix phone numbers for this volume would result in 3 lakh individual workflow executions, which can slow imports and cause partial failures.

Solution Overview

Zylker can use the CRM Bulk Data Processor available in Catalyst Solutions to address these challenges at scale.

The solution works as follows:

1. Lead records are fetched in bulk from Zoho CRM using the Bulk Read API.
2. The fetched data is temporarily stored to evaluate the priority and quality of each record. Based on this evaluation, the records are also segmented accordingly.
3. The Country field value is used to identify and append the correct country code to the phone number.
4. The processed records are updated back into Zoho CRM using Bulk Write API.

All operations are executed using pre-configured Catalyst resources provided by the CodeLib. You can explore the Bulk Data Flow in Catalyst help page to understand how each resource participates in the processing pipeline.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following:

1. Log into your Zoho CRM and navigate to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Leads.

Create the following custom Single Line fields to map existing record data in Zoho CRM. 

1. Last Activity Days
2. Web Engagement Score

Refer to the Working with Custom Fields help page for detailed guide. 

2. Create the following custom Single Line fields to store the calculated values during bulk processing:

1. Lead Score Value
2. Lead Segment
3. Sales Priority
4. Data Quality Status
   

3. Go to Setup > Developer Hub > Catalyst Solutions > Zoho CRM Bulk Data Processor. 

4. Click Go to Catalyst and create a Catalyst account if required.

5. Refer to the Catalyst CLI Installation Guide and install it on your local system.

6. Create a new folder on your local system, which will act as a local project directory. Use the following command:

mkdir -p <folder_name>

7. Navigate to the project folder in your terminal and execute the following command: 

catalyst init

8. Follow the prompts to select and initialize your desired project from the Catalyst console. 

When prompted to choose a feature, press Enter and proceed without choosing any feature.

9. Run the following command to install the CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib.

catalyst codelib:install https://github.com/catalystbyzoho/codelib-zoho-crm-bulk-processor

Step 1: Create a Cron Job

1. Open the Catalyst Console and navigate to the same project in which you have installed the CRM Bulk Data Processor CodeLib.

2. Go to Cloud Scale > Triggers > Cron and click Create Cron.

3. Fill in the following details:

1. Provide a Name and Description for the cron job. 
2. Select Function and choose BulkJobScheduler from the dropdown in the Target Function field.
3. Enter the following parameters and values:
   
   MODULES -> Leads
   FIELDS_TO_BE_PROCESSED -> Last_Name, Company, Mobile, Country, Designation, No_of_Employees, Web_Engagement_Score, Lead_Score_Value, Lead_Segment, Sales_Priority, Data_Quality_Status
   
   Use GET Modules Metadata API and GET Fields Metadata API to get the API names of the required module and fields.
    
4. Choose the Schedule Type as One Time for our use case.
   

Refer to the Implementing Cron Jobs Help Guide for more details.

Step 2: Configure Zoho CRM API Credentials 

1. Create a self-client application in Zoho's API Console.

2. Generate a Grant Token with the following scopes:

1. ZohoFiles.files.ALL
2. ZohoCRM.bulk.ALL
3. ZohoCRM.modules.ALL
4. ZohoCRM.settings.ALL
5. ZohoCRM.org.ALL
   

3. Follow the OAuth Help Section for a step-by-step guide to generate Access and Refresh tokens for your Zoho CRM organization.

Store all the API credentials securely for later use.

4. To allow Catalyst to access Zoho CRM data, configure the stored API credentials as environment variables in the catalyst-config.json file within the BulkDataProcessor function.

For detailed guidance, refer to the Configure Function Components help guide in CRM Bulk Data Processor. 

These environment variables are used by Catalyst Connectors to create access tokens for establishing secure connection between Zoho CRM and Catalyst.

Step 3: Add Business Logic

1. Go to com.processor.record.ZCRMRecordsProcessorImpl.java file of the BulkDataProcessor in the functions directory.

2. Override the ZCRMRecordsProcessor method with the business logic.

The complete code sample for this use case is available on GitHub for reference.

Following is the major custom logic used here:

Use the GET Fields Metadata API to fetch the API names of the fields required throughout the custom logic.

Phone Number Normalization:

This can be implemented in two stages, Country standardization and Phone Number formatting. 

For country standardization, CountryStandardizerUtil maps different variations of the Country field in records to a single standardized country identifier. These variations may include, 

1. Country Names (India, Unites States, United Kingdom)
2. Abbreviations (Ind, IN, USA, US, UK)
3. Calling Codes (+91, +1, +44)
   

With this, we can ensure different interpretations of the same country are interpreted consistently during the process. 

Once the country is standardized, Phone Numbers are formatted to E.164 format in the PhoneNormalizerUtil. 

It removes all non-numeric characters and converts the Phone input to E.164 format with the respective country codes. 

public class PhoneNormalizerUtil {     private static final Pattern NON_DIGIT = Pattern.compile("[^0-9]");     public static Optional<String> normalizeToE164(String rawPhone, String countryCode) {         if (rawPhone == null || rawPhone.trim().isEmpty()) {             return Optional.empty();         }         String digits = NON_DIGIT.matcher(rawPhone).replaceAll("");         if (rawPhone.startsWith("+") && digits.length() >= 10) {             return Optional.of("+" + digits);         }         switch (countryCode) {             case "IN":                 return normalizeIndia(digits);             case "US":                 return normalizeUS(digits);             case "UK":                 return normalizeUK(digits);             default:                 return Optional.empty();         }     }     private static Optional<String> normalizeIndia(String digits) {         if (digits.length() == 10) {             return Optional.of("+91" + digits);         }         if (digits.startsWith("91") && digits.length() == 12) {             return Optional.of("+" + digits);         }         return Optional.empty();     }     private static Optional<String> normalizeUS(String digits) {         if (digits.length() == 10) {             return Optional.of("+1" + digits);         }         if (digits.startsWith("1") && digits.length() == 11) {             return Optional.of("+" + digits);         }         return Optional.empty();     }     private static Optional<String> normalizeUK(String digits) {         if (digits.startsWith("44") && digits.length() == 12) {             return Optional.of("+" + digits);         }         if (digits.length() == 10) {             return Optional.of("+44" + digits);         }         return Optional.empty();     } }

Lead Priority and Segmentation

The lead priority is calculated using the Title, No of employees, Last Activity Days and Web Engagement Score fields in the record.  

Each field value contributes a predefined number of points:

1. If the job title indicates a senior role such as CEO, CTO, Director, or VP, 25 points are added.
2. If the company size is 200 employees or more, 20 points are added.
3. If the Lead has been active within the last 7 days, 15 points are added.
4. If the web engagement score is 70 or higher, 10 points are added.

The sum of all applicable factors is returned as an integer and based on this score the lead's priority and segmentation is assigned as follows:

1. High (Hot): score ≥ 70
2. Medium (Warm): score ≥ 40
3. Low (Cold): score < 40
   

public static int calculateLeadScore(             String jobTitle,             Integer companySize,             Integer lastActivityDays,             Integer webEngagementScore) {         int score = 0;         // Decision Maker         if (jobTitle != null) {             String title = jobTitle.toLowerCase();             if (title.contains("ceo") || title.contains("cto")                     || title.contains("director") || title.contains("vp")) {                 score += 25;             }         }         // Company Size         if (companySize != null && companySize >= 200) {             score += 20;         }         // Recency         if (lastActivityDays != null && lastActivityDays <= 7) {             score += 15;         }         // Engagement         if (webEngagementScore != null && webEngagementScore >= 70) {             score += 10;         }         return score;     }     public static String deriveSegment(int score) {         if (score >= 70) return "Hot";         if (score >= 40) return "Warm";         return "Cold";     }     public static String derivePriority(String segment) {         switch (segment) {             case "Hot":                 return "High";             case "Warm":                 return "Medium";             default:                 return "Low";         }     }

Lead Quality:

Lead quality is evaluated based on the validity of the Mobile and Country fields in the records.

1. Clean: Both field values are valid.
2. Critical: Both field values are invalid.
3. Needs Review: Only one of the field values is invalid.
   

Write Back to Records:

The processed data is written back to Zoho CRM as follows:

1. Mobile: Formatted phone numbers.
2. Lead Score: Total score calculated from all applicable fields.
3. Lead Segment: Segment derived from the lead score.
4. Sales Priority: Priority assigned based on the lead segment.
5. Data Quality Status: Overall quality of the Lead record.
   

if (normalizedMobile.isPresent()) { data.put("Mobile", normalizedMobile.get()); } data.put("Lead_Score", leadScore); data.put("Lead_Segment", leadSegment); data.put("Sales_Priority", salesPriority); data.put("Data_Quality_Status", dataQualityStatus); }

Step 4: Deploy to Development

Run the following command to deploy your local customizations to the Development Environment of Catalyst.

catalyst deploy

You can find the complete code sample on GitHub for reference.

Try it Out!

With the changes deployed to the Development environment, let us now test the solution.

We hope this Kaizen helps you import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and lead intelligence using the CRM Bulk Data Processor.

Have questions or suggestions? Drop them in the comments or write to us at  support@zohocrm.com. 

We will circle back to you next Friday with another interesting topic. 

On to Better Building!

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

Previous Kaizen: Client Script Support for List Page (Canvas) | Kaizen Collection: Directory

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

• Topic Participants

• Kiruthiga G

  

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Recent Topics

• Zoho Analytics - Make text clickable in underlying data

  Hi Community, I have a simple sales report based on a Invoice query table. I have included a link on to each invoice on the table and sent the Invoice number URL to the link. This works find in the query table, but when I click underlying data on the

• Credit Management: #5 Advanced Refund Policy

  You're subscribed to a well-known SaaS design tool. You've used it to manage your team's projects, create marketing visuals, brochures, and so on. But your needs change over time. Your company may switch to another tool or hire an in-house designer who

• Exported Slide Image Lacks Portion of the Background Image

  This does not always happen, but when I export (or "download") the rendered image of a slide, it sometimes lacks a portion of the background image. I created a sample slide deck to demonstrate it and shared it with the admins. It is also publicly available

• Effective Inbox Organization: Folders vs Tags in Zoho Mail?

  I'm exploring the best ways to organize a busy inbox, especially when managing multiple clients or project using Zoho Mail. I’d love to know what works best for others: 1. Do you prefer **folders** (possibly with sub-folders) for each client or project?

• Piss poor service in Support in Domains and email

  Srijith Narayanan B contacted me today. Very pleasant fellow. Just didn't want to tell him how bad your support service is. You help the person, but you leave before we can finish the next stage. Which causes a lot of frustration. It's been 8 days now

• Zoho Mail android app update: Block & reject future emails, Report phishing, Spam alerts, Suspicious URL detection

  Hello everyone! In the most recent Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support for the following features: Block & reject future emails Report Phishing Spam alerts in the mail details screen. Suspicious URL detection. Block & reject future

• Zohomail does not support additional fields in mailto links

  Hello, I set up Zohomail as default composer in Firefox according to manual here: https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/defaultcomposer.html#alink2 Later, I wanted to use this functionality to answer in a Linux mailing list thread using mailto link: mailto:xxxxx@kernel.org?In-Reply-To=%3C727o0521-q24p-s0qq-66n0-sn436rpqqr1p@example.com%3E&amp;Cc=xxxxx%example.org&amp;Subject=Re%3A%20%5BPATCH%20v2%28%29

• Email address for forwarding is not saving and there's no confirmation ema

  Steps to reproduce: 1. Enter my forward email in the email forward section of the account 2. Click save 3. See a notification stating saved successfully 4. Refresh the page, no forward email is saved 5. No email confirmation received at the forwarding

• This domain is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

  This is the error i keep getting when trying to use my Zoho Domain Mail. This domain is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details Find attached. I hope this can be resolved very quickly so i can go on and make

• Auto CC - Moving Departments

  We have Auto CC e-mail replies to your support mailbox enabled. We have two departments: Helpdesk (helpdesk@domain.com) Delivery (delivery@domain.com) If we create a Helpdesk ticket, and reply, replies are CC'd to helpdesk@domain.com (OK) We then move

• Unable to see free plan option

  Hello Zoho Support Team, I hope you are doing well. I am trying to sign up for Zoho Mail, but I am unable to see the option for the free plan. Could you please guide me on how I can access or activate the free plan? Thank you for your assistance.

• Sorten the domain of zoho mail ids

  I recently created zoho mail id and am quite excited with the features. But one issue ig nobody wanna type this big zohoaccounts.com I mean silly bold Suggestion zmail.com (sound gmail) (attraction) or some genz words looks cool

• Weekly Tips : Customize your Zoho Mail Notifications

  In a professional context, email communication remains one of the most crucial channels for staying connected and managing workflows. Keeping track of your emails, task updates, or important announcements can be overwhelming—especially if you are juggling

• The attendees will now be redirected to the landing webpage when they exit the webinar, set by the organizer.

  Hello All, In the latest version of the Zoho Meeting iOS mobile app (v1.3.16), we have brought in the below enhancements:   Post Webinar Re-direction Revamped exit UI for Webinar Post Webinar Re-direction:  The attendees will now be redirected to the

• 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist

  Hi, I made sure my domain, SPF, MX records, and DKIM are all verified. I've entered the information correctly in cPanel and Email Routing is set to Remote Mail Exchanger. I am able to send, but unable to receive emails. When I sent a test reply to it, I get the following error: The response was: 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try 550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or 550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at 550 5.1.1 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser

• Download API file contents from browser

  Hi Team - is there something being planned to be able to trigger file downloads from the browser via a deluge script? i.e. retrieve a file via API, trigger the file download directly from the browser. Or... using the convertToPdf function (https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/functions/file/convert-to-pdf.html)

• When using "locations" in zoho books, can you keep the two locations totally separate from each other?

  I am looking to add a location but I don't want to intermingle the banking or other accounts. I want that to be like two separate independent branches that use different banking accounts, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. The people who are in

• Adding a Channel to SalesIQ

  I have a client that currently uses Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk. They would like a live chat to place on their website that has a mobile app and chat bots (something like SalesIQ). However, they would also like to have all this work over SMS as well. Does the SalesIQ API allow this? Can I add visitors without them being a visitor on a website? Thanks! Bryan Redeagle

• 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

• Important Features Missing

  Hey all I love linkthread, but i am missing some important features. I want to be able to include my Google Tag Manager. I have all the important stuff in my GTM Container: Facebook Pixel, LinkIn Pixel, Zoho Pagesense and so on. So i am able to do retargeting

• Zoho SignForms: Prefill parameters with spaces render as “+” in the document (even when using %20)

  Hello Zoho Sign team, we are using SignForms with prefill parameters passed via URL. Spaces in parameter values are being rendered as “+” in the finalized document—even when we URL-encode spaces as %20. This is critical for us because we prefill addresses

• Currency selector (based on variable) usage in comparsion

  Hi, I've developed a currency selector based on the following topic, and it's working well in pivot tables and charts: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/how-can-i-allow-my-users-to-choose-a-currency-for-the-dashboard I also have a comparison

• Customize Column in Projects - Default View for Template?

  Is there a way to have the columns you'd like to see added to a template? I want my customized columns to show up every single time I create a project from that template. It appears I can customize them in the template but when I create the project they do not transfer over.  Template: See below how the columns in order are : Task, Owner, Status, Assigned, Website URL, Blog H1..etc. When I create a project from that same template it comes out as: Task, Owner, Status, Tags, Start Date, End Date, etc

• Ask the Experts 24: Analytics, data administration, and mobile experience with Zoho Desk

  Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Ask the Experts(ATE) series! We were so focused on our Autumn 2025 release that we didn't host an ATE session last month. In this month's ATE, we'd like to expand our areas for discussion: we'd like to listen to your

• Multi-Page Forms in Zoho Creator!

  Let’s make long applications easier to handle by dividing them into pages, adding a progress bar, and guiding users step by step through complex data entry. This would be a total game-changer for the user experience and could significantly boost completion

• Email login error

  Login successfully but email page error

• Shared Mailboxes Disappeared

  Zoho Mail users in our company haven't been able to see their Shared Mailboxes for the past few hours. I've checked with App and Web Access, but they can't access them. When I send emails to their addresses, I get no error messages. They're still visible

• Remote Server is misconfigured

  Dear Team, I am unable to use email id as remote server is misconfigured. It would be really great if you could help on this and get this resolved. Thanks & Regard Rohit Gupta

• why cant i access my email account. it keeps asking me for reverifiying my account by entering my password.

  I cant access my account. it keeps asking me for reverifcaton by entering my password. once its entered it asks for it over and over.

• Free webinar alert on October 16 - Less Complexity, More Security: Workplace + Directory

  Hello Zoho Workplace Community! Security and productivity shouldn't be at odds—and with Zoho, they're not. Discover how Zoho Workplace + Directory delivers seamless collaboration with enterprise-grade security, all in one integrated ecosystem. Join our

• Workdrive and ChatGPT Team Synced Connectors

  Hi, we want to be able to integrate Zoho Workdrive with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Team plan. Google Drive and OneDrive both offer this, zoho please catch up asap. We dont want to have to put our company files in google drive, we want to allow chatgpt Team edition

• Alias Name (on items) use case in Zoho inventory

  Hey, Hope everyone is well. Wondering if anyone can shed some light on the use case of Alias Names on Products in Zoho Inventory? Cheers, Chris

• Updating an Invoice Line Item's Discount Account via API Call / Deluge Custom Function

  I need help updating an invoice line item's discount account via API. Below is a screenshot of the line item field I am referring to. Now the field to the left of the highlighted field (discount account) is the sales income account. I am able to modify

• Send e-mail with attachments

  Dear Zoho, How is that possible in Zoho Flow to send an e-mail with attachment?  Just a simple example: Zoho Flow checks my Zoho mails and if the conditions starts the trigger then I would like to send an email with the original email's attachment. Any idea? BR, Adam

• How to I get checkboxes on a subform to update via deluge

  Hello, would someone be able to tell me what I'm doing wrong here? I am trying to take the contents of a Deals subform and add them to an invoice then update the checkbox on each row so that 'add to invoice' is unticked and 'invoiced' is ticked. The output

• Unified customer portal login

  As I'm a Zoho One subscriber I can provide my customers with portal access to many of the Zoho apps. However, the customer must have a separate login for each app, which may be difficult for them to manage and frustrating as all they understand is that

• Zoho Projects - Task Owner filter at Project level

  Hi Projects Team, The feature requests I would like to raise is the ability to create a custom view at the project level for projects with tasks owned by a user or users. For example "Ashley's Projects" custom view might contain a list of project in which

• Cadences

  I have just started using Cadences for follow-up up email pipeline. Is it just me or do you find the functionality very basic? For example, it will tell me (if I go looking for it) if someone has replied to a follow-up and been unenrolled; but it won't

• Would be really awesome to have Created Time and Modified Time showing for custom functions list

  It would be SO HELPFUL to be able to sort custom functions by created time/ modified time. Also seeing a created by/ modified by with the little profile picture would be supremely helpful as well. Just really hard sometimes to find a function you were

• Ticket Export Does Not Include Ticket Threads

  Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, I hope you’re doing well. I would like to report an issue regarding the ticket export functionality in Zoho Desk. Currently, when exporting tickets, the ticket threads or conversation history are not included — only the ticket

• Next Page