Kaizen 126 Circuits in Zoho CRM

Kaizen 126 Circuits in Zoho CRM

Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!
Today, we will discuss an exciting topic—Circuits in Zoho CRM.

For starters, we will discuss what Circuits are, how beneficial they are for businesses, different views of a Circuit, and the different states and flow controls.

In the next post, we will discuss associating a Circuit to a blueprint, workflow, and a button, testing and execution, and see a Circuit in action with an interesting use case.

What are Circuits in Zoho CRM?

We use different microservices to accomplish our business needs, but most of the time, we are forced to switch over to multiple places.

With Circuits in Zoho CRM, you can integrate multiple microservices in a single platform and create automated workflows, all within your CRM!

For example, consider that you have an e-commerce application that involves multiple processes like tracking inventory, payment processing, fulfilling and tracking orders, generating receipts and reports, etc.
Typically, you would code this entire logic and use it to fulfill your business needs. But, with Functions in Zoho CRM, you can write the logic for each of these individual processes and simply orchestrate them using Circuits.

So, for the above example, you can simply create an automated workflow using Circuits and use the functions in the right order. That's not just it! You can re-use these functions elsewhere, too.

Another simple example of a Circuit is when you want to automating sending SMS alerts to users when an event occurs. How this is different from a workflow is that in this circuit, you can have a function that triggers an SMS alert, and also a function that sends an email to the user when the SMS alert ails. This involves circuit's functional states and a decision making state.
Like this, the use cases of circuits are endless.

Advantages of Circuits

  • Automate your routines
    Convert all your manual routines to automated workflows to save time. Avoid the need to trigger or interrupt applications to control the system flow, as you can create smooth-sailing, smart workflows that control themselves.
  • Scale fast
    Handle any number of requests hassle free as your workflows get executed on cloud. While Zoho Circuit dynamically allocates resources on need, you can focus more on building your applications rather than managing them.
  • Update in minutes
    Building the business logic of your applications in workflows empowers you to update the applications quickly. Swap or reorganize the components easily and build the modified applications in minutes.
  • Low-code
    Create a circuit effortlessly with the visual drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easier for the users with minimum coding knowledge.
  • Developer-friendly
    Circuits help you manage parallel processes, service integrations, spot failures, retry, and view logs, within minutes. Developers can focus on the business logic and not worry about these factors.
  • Orchestrate CRM Functions
    Use various CRM functions on your circuit to integrate multiple third-party apps and Zoho CRM seamlessly. Write functions once, and orchestrate them in circuits to solve different business needs.
  • Automate IT and business processes within CRM
    Create a circuit, associate it with a workflow, blueprint, or button, and automate your entire business process. With high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance, circuits ensure the performance of your workflow remains consistent even with changing states and an increase in frequency.
  • Diagnose errors and view audit logs
    A detailed log of each execution provides the status of each state's task execution, the payload and parameters passed, and the responses and exceptions generated.
  • Use Existing Functions
    From picking functions you've already tried, tested, and are up and running in your CRM account, to using a circuit within another circuit, this flexibility opens up possibilities of handling so much of your out-of-the-box requirements in a single space.

How are Circuits different from Workflow Rules and Blueprints?

Circuits is simply an orchestration of functions with powerful state management capabilities, along with in-built flow controls to automate the business process.

Workflow rules help us automate repetitive tasks and standardize business processes within the CRM system.
Workflow rules are useful in simple automations that the sales person does on a regular basis, like sending an email after record creation.

Builder View and Code View of a Circuit

Builder View


This view offers an easy drag-and-drop interface to build your circuit. The left pane in this view comprises all the states that can be added to a circuit.
The right pane comprises Configuration and Input/Output.

The Configuration tab lets you give a name to the state, choose its type, and select its next state.



The Input/Output tab allows you to control how JSON data must flow from one state to another through Paths.
Paths are strings beginning with $ that identify the components within the JSON. Specific parts of a JSON can be accessed by denoting their attributes in Input Path, Result Path, and Output Path.


This tab contains the following.

1. Input Path
Input path selects parts of the input JSON to pass to the state. You can also pass parameters to the input as a collection of key-value pairs. The values of Parameters can either be static or parts of the input JSON selected as a Path. For example, if your state's input is
{
"Entry1": {...},
"Entry2": {...}
}
then, you can apply the input path as $.Entry2 within the state definition. So, only the data inside the "Entry2" object will be passed as input to the state.

2. Result Path
After the input is processed by the state, Result Path selects what combination of the state result and the actual state input has to be passed to the output.

3. Output Path
Output Path further filters the data from the Result Path to pass it as state output.

Code View of a Circuit


In Code View, you can define your state machine in a simple JSON-based, structured language. Once a circuit is created, a sample workflow with the pass state as 'State 1' is created by default.

States of a Circuit and Flow Controls

Circuits offer a cascading structure to different states in a business process, allowing you to write functions that each feed their output into the next one, or any other one you pre-define, individually. You can also reroute, pause for a certain period, or feed it in batches to enable just about any sort of action.
Simply put, Circuits have different 'functional states' and 'flow controls' that allow you to automate execute your business process.

Flow Controls

Flow Controls let you control the flow of your circuit. To achieve this, Circuits make use of different states that allow you to make the execution, 'Wait' for another state, 'Pass' the input of a state to another, use 'Success' and 'Failure' to stop the execution of the Circuit.



The different states available are:
  • Pass: Transfers the input from one state to another.
  • Branch: Decides between branches of execution based on input.
  • Parallel: Performs simultaneous executions.
  • Wait: Inserts a delay for a specific time. The maximum wait time is 30 days.
  • Batch: Implements multiple group executions. You can have a maximum of 10 jobs per batch.
  • Success: Terminates an execution, returning 'Success'.
  • Failure: Terminates an execution, returning 'Failure'.
For more details on states, refer to this article.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM states help you execute business logic in circuits with respect to the data available in CRM.



You can write functions in the built-in editor or orchestrate existing ones, get the details of a record as an input to other the states, get the details of your org, user, CRM variables and use them in your Circuit.
You can also trigger another Circuit within a Circuit using the 'Circuit' flow control.

'Function' State
Use this state in your Circuit to use an existing function in CRM. Depending on your need, you can configure the input and output, and control data flow in your circuit. Only the functions that are REST API-enabled are shown here.



'Circuit' State
You can use another Circuit in one of the states and configure the flow accordingly.



'Record' State
This state fetches the details of a particular record in a module in CRM. You can choose to pass a portion or all of this state's result as an input to the next state in the circuit. Note that the information displayed will be based on the scope provided to the user.
Depending on where the Circuit is associated(Blueprint, Workflow, Button - Create/Clone/Details/Edit View pages, individual record, mass action), the response of the Record State differs.

'Org' State
This state gives you the details of your CRM org that you can use in your circuit.

'User' State
Use this state in your circuit to get the details of the current user in your org and process this information in other states.

'Org Variable'
This state gives you the details of all CRM Variables in your org.

Error Handling

When you use any of the Zoho CRM states, you can also perform error handling as these functional states tend to have runtime errors.

On TimeOut

When a functional state runs longer than the expected time, timeout errors occur. For handling timeout errors in code view, the field value "errorType": "Error.TimeOut" will be added.

On Execution Failure

When a state's execution fails due to some exception that cannot be processed, it can be handled using execution failure. In code view, key-value "errorType": "Error.ExecutionFailure" is appended.

Custom Error

You can also have custom error handling for your states.
Configure Exception Type and Exception Value to set the error handling options based on the error code or error message delivered by the state's output.
Retry the function in case of failure or timeout, set the Attempt (number of retries) and Delay (wait time after failure for every retry attempt).
In case of failure, if the retries fail to fix the error, the State will Fallback the error output to the Next state in the Result field.

We hope you found this post useful. Stay tuned for part 2!
Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.


Cheers!
Shylaja S



    • Recent Topics

    • Sales

      1/ How can I make a discount on invoice exmple : invoice 5,100 le , custmar pay 5000 and I need to make this 100 le as a discount , how can i make it ?! 2/ Is thare any report can make me match my company’s balance with the customer’s balance?

    • Include Project Hours when Creating Estimates from Projects

      Hi Currently, in Books, you can create estimates from Projects by inserting tasks that pull both the task and the hourly charge rate. But it doesn't pull the budgeted hours for the task, so you manually have to remember the number of hours for a given

    • acc

      Regularly sending statements to customers is an imperative part of many business processes as it helps foster strong customer relationships and provides timely guidance on pay//

    • South African Payment Gateways

      Since the "Demise" of Wave many South African users have moved over to Zoho and yet for years users have been requesting Integration with a South African Payment Gateway to no avail. Payfast was the most commonly requested gateway as it supports recurring

    • Calendly does not show scheduled Meetings

      I use Calendly as my standard booking tool, but no matter what I am doing, Calendly shows any appointment as free (when in fact there already is an appointment in CRM Calendar or Zoho Calendar). Drives me nuts - cannot go away from Calendly due to various

    • CRM Implementation

      I need to implement Zoho CRM. Is there a useful user manual available to guide me through the implementation?

    • Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates - December 2024

      Hi all, We're excited to be back with the latest updates and developments on the Creator platform. Here's what we're going over this month: Deluge AI assistance Rapid error messages in Deluge editor QR code & barcode generator Expandable RTF and multi

    • Zoho Social integration with Zoho Flow

      Is there any plans for Zoho Social integration with Zoho Flow?

    • Marketing 2.0 has been a catastrophe

      Anyone else having significant issues with their link between their CRM and Marketing automation since moving to version 2.0? We had an easy flow for triggering leads in the CRM to journeys in Marketing Automation but now nothing seems to work properly.

    • Pop Up

      Hello, I want to automatically display the information of the attached data in the product module in the related list section of my data in the lead module when the current time matches the "Call Time" field of my data in the leads module. How can I achieve

    • Cannot average "Duration (Time)" from Pick List History Tracking in Reports

      Okay, let's say I have a custom module. In this custom module I have a pick-list named "Status" with "New", "In-Progress", "Completed" values. I also have turned ON pick-list history tracking and chose "Time" to track the duration in (instead of "Calendar

    • Field Update: can't find a custom multi-line text field in the options list

      I want to update a custom text field (large size multi-line: 32000 characters) that I have added in the Accounts module using this functionality https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/automate-business-processes/actions/articles/field-updates , but I

    • Authorize.Net Update: Disable Transaction IP Velocity Filter to Avoid Payment Failures

      Update: The Authorize.Net integration was updated on November 20, 2024. To prevent recurring transaction failures, we recommend disabling the Transaction IP Velocity Filter at the earliest. We’re updating the Authorize.Net integration in Zoho Books on

    • Need to send a single email to up to 20 recipients

      I want to send a single email to ~16 or 20 recipients. It appears that I cannot do this in Zoho email as it gets flagged as unusual activity. I need to be able to communicate with this group on a regular basis. What am I missing that Zoho doesn't allow

    • 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

    • Note not being pulled for other modules in email template

      Hi there, Currently i am creating an email template that is able to pull the data from notes field in estimate module and email it to procurement team where they will be able to receive the email with the contents of the note, i am unable to replicate

    • Unable to Schedule One-to-One Emails in Zoho CRM

      Hi everyone, I’m using the Zoho CRM Professional Edition and facing an issue with scheduling one-to-one emails directly from CRM. While I can send immediate emails without any problem, I don’t see an option to schedule these emails for a later time. I’ve

    • Canvas Detail View Related List Sorting

      Hello, I am having an issue finding a way to sort a related list within a canvas detail view. I have sorted the related list on the page layout associated with the canvas view, but that does not transfer to the canvas view. What am I missing?

    • Repeatable Fields/Sections in Zoho CRM

      Hi Zoho Team, We have a module in CRM named "Clients". We would like to know whether it is possible to have a feature enables us to have repeatable sections in our clients' profiles? For example, if we customized a section in the clients' profiles named

    • Zoho Analytics: Requests for view access

      Hello, We have a user that might request access to a certain view, report etc. However this request for access is being sent to different admins within the workspace, is is possible to set who the "approver" is of these requests? If not what are the rules

    • Boolean Fields in Mail Merge Displaying as Checkmarks

      I'm really liking the new mail merge functionality. It's replaced the Zoho Sign extension for us. One problem I've seen is that boolean operators (i.e. Checkbox fields) in CRM merge as "True" or "False". This looks a little ugly in my final document — is there a way I can get those to display as checkboxes?

    • Formula in Sub Form

      Hello - I have created a sub-form and the data is going to be insurance policy information. However some of the policy amounts are based on a percentage of a main coverage. For example, Debris removal coverage is 5% of the main dwelling policy. Is there

    • Zoho cases and remote work api

      How to use zoho cases listing api? When i try to hit the endpoint specified in the docs , i get the error : the page you are looking for does not exist with a 401.

    • Email alias already exist

      Hello, I'm getting an error message the email alias already exist when attempting to add 2 email addresses. The emails are associated with an account I deleted. I started a new account and need to add them back to get 1 email at each. I have an open ticket

    • Migrate emails from a shared mail box to a private mail box

      How is possible migrate a shared mail box if the migration tool require a password, and the shared mail dosent have ?

    • Support poor service

      I just wanted Zoho support to give me some more concrete answers. I’m facing SMTP error issues, and they told me that the South American IP was experiencing problems, but they didn’t provide an estimate for when it would be resolved. Now my company is

    • Zoho say my domain seems to be already associated with another account

      I created a zoho account for try my domain mail configuration. When I want to add my domain in this page https://mailadmin.zoho.com/hosting?plan=free then this shows an error that is "This domain is already associated with this account a*****n@f*****."

    • Incorrect Device Time

      Hi On my windows laptop I can't sign into Zoho mail due to "incorrect device time". I'm in Toronto, Canada. How can this be resolved?

    • Get user images by API

      Hi For our internal management software, I want to retrieve user photos via REST API: curl --location --request GET 'https://profile.zoho.com/file?fs=thumb&ID=<zoid>' \ --header 'Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken <token>' The token has `profile.userphoto.ALL`,

    • Depois de 1 ano não consigo receber e-mail

      Consigo enviar e-mails mas não estou recebendo nenhum e-mail isso aconteceu pontualmente após eu completar 1 ano de uso. Me ajudem por favor

    • Submitted form URL

      I am using the feature "Include a link to allow respondents to edit their responses" for the first time. This URL is included in the email sent to the user after they press Submit. If a form is Saved, there is a section called Partially Saved Entries

    • Function for Emails tranfer from Lead to Deal

      Hi Due to the fact that my Deals conversion needs to be done in 2 ways - depending on the fact if those records already exists or not - resources in fields are different. I am making function control conversation for Leads but I have problem with transferring

    • Create a new immigration service- Similar to immigration law software

      It will be good if you can build a new service. Data will be pulled from the employee form. Then automatically users should be able to complete immigration forms like I 129, ETA 9089, ETA 9035 E, G- 28, W4, I 9 PDF forms and then be able to send for signature with Zoho sign. Immigration Softwares like docketwise can be used for ideas. The advantage with this it sits within Zoho people and employees don't have to feed data in another system

    • Accessibility in Zoho CRM: Not just a feature—a way to empower

      For instructions on setting up these controls, please check this help document: Configuring accessibility controls. Hello everyone, Today (December 3, 2024), on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we begin our journey towards a CRM that

    • Zoho Meeting very bad video quality

      Hello, I need 1080p HD on my Zoho Meeting as explained here: Low Resolution/Quality Video (zoho.com) Currently, video quality is lagging with 400mb internet which is not acceptable for my business. My 1080p 60FPS webcam performs well on platforms like

    • Contacts with Deals not appearing.

      What: I simply want to see all of the contacts that are tied to an open deal Problem: In Contacts Module > When filtering on Contacts with an open deal, Zoho only shows some Contacts instead of all. Details: More specifically, I should have ~200 contacts

    • Auto-sync field of lookup value

      This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.

    • CRM limit reached: only 2 subforms can be created

      we recently stumbled upon a limit of 2 subforms per module. while we found a workaround on this occasion, only 2 subforms can be quite limiting in an enterprise setting. @Ishwarya SG I've read about imminent increase of other components (e.

    • Version of Cliq included with Zoho One and Limitations

      I'm confused by the information presented in the application detail page of Zoho One. I'm a solopreneur with a single-seat Zoho One Enterprise license and I need to communicate externally .. extensively. The plan details page suggests channels are limited to 100 members. Whereas the pricing plan comparison page on the Cliq marketing site says 2500 for enterprise level.  If it's 100... that's going to kill my use case as it is my understanding that external customers can only be communicated with

    • Resubmit for Approval for Zoho Books Module in CRM

      The integration between CRM and Books is great, but it is incomplete in many areas. One of them is if an estimate/invoice/sales order is rejected, the users in CRM cannot resubmit it for approval. Let's face it, sales people will mostly be in CRM and

    • Next Page