Leveraging Zoho CRM’s Approval Procedures and Blueprint

Staying competitive in today’s fast-paced corporate environment requires optimising processes. Process simplification, mistake prevention, and procedure adherence are three goals that organisations strive for continuously. This article explores the features that can revolutionize your business operations.

Introduction to Approval Procedures

Approval processes play a vital role in today’s organizations, providing a structured, controlled, and accountable approach to decision-making. Whether it’s granting approval for contracts, managing expenses, or overseeing critical transactions, having a well-defined authorization process is indispensable. Zoho CRM’s Approval Procedures offer a systematic way to manage and automate these workflows.

Simplifying Authorization

Consider a scenario where your company’s Sales Director needs to approve a contract before it can proceed to the quotation stage. Traditionally, obtaining such approvals might involve a flurry of emails, phone calls, and manual procedures, leading to delays, potential mistakes, and confusion.

Zoho CRM’s Approval Procedures simplify this process, ensuring that the Sales Director grants written authorization before a contract advances to the quotation stage. Let’s explore how to establish an efficient authorization procedure step by step:

Step 1: Accessing Approval Processes

1. Navigation: Begin by navigating to “Settings” ➤ “Setup” ➤ “Automation” ➤ “Approval Processes.”
2. Creating a New Process: Find the list of existing approval processes, if any, and create a new one by clicking the “New Approval Process” button.

Step 2: Configuring the Authorization Process

3. Providing Details: In the “New Approval Process” form, fill in the necessary details. This includes specifying when the process should start, typically when a contract undergoes an update.
4. Adding Rules: Add rules to the process by clicking the “Add Rule to this process” button. These rules define the conditions that trigger the authorization process.

Step 3: Defining Rule Criteria

5. Setting Rule Criteria: Define the criteria by selecting which records will be affected by this process. In our example, choose “Stage” as the field, “is” as the operator, and “Proposal/Price Quote” as the value.
6. Designating Approvers: Assign approvers or multiple approvers. Specific users or roles can be designated, ensuring that the right individuals are responsible for granting authorization.

Step 4: Post-Approval Actions

7. Actions After Authorization: Proceed to Section 3 of the setup, which addresses subsequent steps after authorization (Figure 7-46). Here, you can configure what should occur within the CRM when the procedure is accepted. These steps can be customized for each approver.

Step 5: Managing Multiple Approvers

8. Handling Multiple Approvers: If multiple individuals are involved in the authorization chain, create additional steps accordingly, ensuring that the process accommodates all necessary authorizations.

Step 6: Completing the Authorization Process

9. Finalizing the Process: Set up the steps that will be executed only when all approvers in the chain have given their authorization. This ensures a comprehensive and structured workflow.
10. Configuring Workflow: Continue configuring workflow steps as necessary and proceed to section 4.

Step 7: Actions Upon Rejection

11. Handling Rejections: Specify actions to be taken when the authorization request is rejected in section 4, “Actions upon Rejection.”
12. Rejection Criteria: Set up “Needs Further Review” as the value for rejection, indicating that the request necessitates additional scrutiny.
13. Saving Rules: Save the rules and meticulously test the authorization process to ensure it functions as intended.

Step 8: Saving the Authorization Procedure

14. Finalizing the Process: Once the entire authorization process is set up, save it by clicking the “Save” button, rendering it ready for deployment.

By following these steps meticulously, you can create a robust and automated procedure that ensures every contract adheres to the designated workflow and receives the necessary authorization before advancing further.

Design Plan

Effective business processes serve as the foundation of any successful organization, covering various facets of daily operations such as sales, procurement, finance, and logistics. The entire company is responsible for regulating and advancing all these subsystems to accomplish both short-term and long-term goals. However, adhering to these processes can be challenging, particularly for new employees or team members when dealing with intricate workflows.

This is where Zoho CRM’s Blueprint feature comes into play. Blueprint is a potent tool that empowers you to map out, automate, and validate your company’s processes, ensuring that they are meticulously followed, reducing errors, and boosting efficiency.

Crafting a Blueprint

Let’s explore how to create a Blueprint for managing lead statuses, a common process within a sales-oriented organization:

Step 1: Accessing Blueprint

1. Navigation: Start by navigating to “Settings” ➤ “Setup” ➤ “Automation” ➤ “Blueprint.”
2. Creating a New Blueprint: Find the option to “Create Blueprint” and click this button to initiate the setup.

Step 2: Configuring Blueprint

3. Completing the Details: Fill out the “Create new Blueprint” dialogue box with the necessary information. This includes specifying the blueprint’s name, the unit it applies to, and the layout.
4. Defining Prerequisites: Define prerequisites, such as selecting the field to control, which, in this case, is “Lead Status.”

Step 3: Blueprint Design

5. Visual Blueprint Design: Utilize the visual designer provided by Blueprint to map out the possible states of the process, corresponding to different lead statuses.
6. Establishing Transitions: Create transitions between these states to delineate the process’s flow. Configure transition criteria and steps as required to guide users through each stage.
7. Saving the Blueprint: Once the Blueprint aligns with your intended process, save it for future use.

By adhering to these steps, you can create an all-encompassing Blueprint that guides users through specific processes, assures compliance with established workflows, and minimizes the likelihood of errors or deviations from the intended procedure.

Execution of Plans

After crafting a Blueprint, it becomes a valuable tool for guiding users through various processes within your organization. For instance, when a lead’s status changes, Blueprint can prompt users to take necessary steps, ensuring the lead adheres to the designated workflow. This not only maintains uniformity but also aids new employees or team members unfamiliar with the process in navigating it effectively.

Utilizing Blueprint Reports

Zoho CRM offers informative reports and statistics through the Blueprint feature. These reports provide a comprehensive view of how your processes are being employed, offering valuable data for analysis and optimization.

Sample Reports:

• Transition Occurrences: This report offers a visual representation of the frequency of transitions for each stage of a given Blueprint. It helps identify which transitions occur most frequently and which stages may encounter bottlenecks or delays.

The following benefits may be yours by studying these indicators:

• Create process maps with more accuracy.
• Pinpoint areas of heightened activity and potential workflow bottlenecks.
• Detect steps when processes are frequently abandoned or underperformed.

Additionally, these reports assist in refining existing processes by identifying areas for enhancement, ensuring your workflows align with your company’s actual procedures.

In conclusion, Zoho CRM’s Approval Procedures and Blueprint functionalities empower organizations to optimize their processes, enhance efficiency, and reduce errors. By streamlining authorization workflows and automating intricate procedures, businesses can achieve both short-term and long-term objectives effectively. Embracing technology-driven solutions like these is essential in today’s dynamic and competitive business landscape.

© Image credits to Steve Johnson