Chapter 24: Customizing Zoho CRM

You can customize the Zoho CRM user interface according to your organization-wide business (sales, marketing, support, and inventory management) process. The customization includes renaming tabs according to industry terminology, modifying standard fields, adding custom fields to various modules, modifying page layouts, modifying related list views, and others.

In the Zoho CRM system some of the standard fields, pages, related lists, and modules (tabs) are provided for the benefit of administrators to jump start customization of the product. You can customize these functions as per your business process. Before working with customization functions you must have collected your organization-wide sales, marketing, support and inventory management requirements. While planning for the product customization, discuss with the respective CRM system users in your organization and understand their exact requirements for a better visibility on Zoho CRM implementation.

Zoho CRM Customization Flowchart

In the Zoho CRM system modules you can perform the following operations:

• Rename tabs
• Create custom fields
• Add/modify pick list values
• Customize page layout
• Change tabs order
• Change the related list order
• Modify Default Custom Views

Renaming Tabs

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The ultimate aim of the any CRM system is to acquire customers with less expenditure, reduce the churn rate, retain customers, and sell more products/services in future. The fundamental philosophy is approximately same across the industries but the terminology used in defining sales, marketing, and support processes may vary slightly.

The Zoho CRM system provides an option to change the standard tab names according to your industry terminology. For example, if you are planning to use the Zoho CRM for a Real Estate business you may change the "Account" tab to "Tenant" where for an Educational Institution may rename as "Parents" and so on. After changing the tab name, the changes are reflected in all the standard pages in user interface except custom reports and dashboards.

Rename Tabs

To rename the tab

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup Home page, click the Tab Settings link.
3. In the Tab Settings page, click the Rename Tabs link.
4. In the Rename Tabs page, click the Edit link for the tab name to be changed.
5. In the Change Tab Name page, specify the new name in the New Tab Name field.
6. Click Save. The tab name and other text will be updated according to your changes.

Creating Custom Fields

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By default, some of the standard fields are available in each module, which helps you to start working with the CRM system. You may consider adding more industry-specific custom fields according to your business process. You can add custom fields in all the modules except tasks and events modules.

Adding Custom Fields

In the Setup: New <Module>Edit form, you need to specify the custom field-related information. The following table provides descriptions of the various fields in the form.

To add custom fields

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup: Home page select the required <Module> Settings link.
3. In the <Module> Settings page click the Fields link. In the <Module> Fields page all the available fields are displayed.
4. Click the New Custom Field button.
5. In the Custom Field Settings - New Custom Field page, do the following:
   1. In Select Field Type section, select the filed type.
   2. In Provide Field Details section, enter the field name, field size, and decimal places in the Label, Length, and Decimal Places fields respectively.
8. Click Save. The custom field is added to the respective module. To check the field, select the corresponding module and add/edit the record. The new field added is displayed under Custom Information section to enter the required details.

Customizing Pick list Values

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By default, some of the industry standard pick list values are available in each module. You can modify the pick list values as per your organization business process and replace the existing value with new value so that records will be associated to new values.

Customize Pick List Values

To add/modify pick list values

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup: Home page, under <Module> Settings section, click the Field List link.
3. In the <Module> List page, edit the field with data type Pick List (For example, Lead Source field in the Lead List page).
4. In the Edit Pick List page, add/modify values in the Values list box. Once you have updated the pick list values you can sort the values alphabetically and use the first values as the default pick list value.
5. Click Save.

Example: If you want to add, modify, or delete the pick list values for Lead Source field in Leads module:

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup: Home page, under Lead Settings section, click the Field List link.
3. In the Lead List page, edit the Lead Source field.
4. In the Edit Pick List page, add/modify values in the Values list box. Once you have updated the pick list values for Lead Source you can sort the values alphabetically and use the first values as the default pick list value.
5. Click Save.

Warning: If you delete/modify any of the pick list values, records associated with the values are changed to "None" and no longer use the deleted values. Hence you are strongly recommended to first change the values in records to another value and then delete/modify the pick lists.

Customizing Page Layout

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Page customization is one of the most important administrator function that should be completed before rolling out the CRM system for your organization. You can use the Drag & Drop customization to perform the following operations:

• Show/hide fields in pages: By default all the standard fields are displayed in each module page layout. You can hide some of the standard fields, add new custom fields to the pages, and move fields from one section to other section.
• Add/Modify sections in pages: By default some of the sections are available in each module. You can add, modify or delete the sections.
• Change field navigation: You can use the tab key to navigate the fields while entering the field details. In each section, the tab navigation order can be configured either to Left --> Right or Top --> bottom.
• Change field properties: You can change the fields to mandatory or optional (read-only). But you cannot change the property of the standard mandatory fields (For example, Company name in Leads module is a mandatory field. You cannot change the Company field to read-only).

Drag & Drop Customization

To modify the page layout

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup: Home page, under <Module> Settings section, click the Edit Page Layout link.
3. In the Edit Page Layout page, do the following:
   • Show/Hide fields: Drag the field to be hidden from the Page Layout: <Module> section and drop to the Field List section. You can also drag the fields to be shown from the Field List section to the Page Layout: <Module> section.
   • Create new sections in page: Click the Create New Section button. In the Section Information popup box specify the section name and tab order (Left -->Right or Top -->Bottom) in the Name and Tab Order fields respectively.
   • Change the property of the fields: Select the field to be modified and click the Edit Field Properties button. In the Edit Field Properties popup box change the field property to Mandatory or Read-only.
4. Follow the same procedure till you have completed the page layout customization.
5. Click Save. The updated the page layout is reflected for all the users in your organization according to their field level access.

Changing Tab Order

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You can change the order of the modules according to your organization's business process. You can hide all the tabs except Home tab.

Change Tab Order

To change the tab order

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Tab Settings section, click the Customize Tabs link.
3. In the Customize Tabs page, change the tabs order and show/hide some of the tabs.
4. Click Save. Tab order will be changed for all the users.

Changing Related Lists

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In each module you can change the order of the related list views and show/hide some of the related lists as per your requirement.

Change Related List Order

To customize the related lists

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup Home page, click the <Module> Settings link. The module can be Lead, Account, Contact, and others.
3. In the <Module> Settings section, click the Customize <Module> Details link.
4. In the Customize <Module> Details page, change the related list order from the Selected List box or hide related lists that are not required.
5. Once you have completed the operation, click Save.

Modifying Default Custom Views

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By default, some of the standard list views are available in each of the module home pages. You can change the default list view as per your requirements. Whenever user accesses a particular module Home page, the modified list view is displayed.

Modify Default Custom View

To modify custom views

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup Home page, click the <Module> Settings link. The module can be Lead, Account, Contact, and others.
3. In the <Module> Settings section, click the Custom View Settings link.
4. In the Custom View Settings page, change the default view to be displayed from the New View drop-down list.
5. Click Save.