Setup the Zoho CRM Integration

Zoho CRM is a fully-fledged CRM for managing customers through a sales process.

Oncord features a customer contact database which is useful for collecting leads and engaging in marketing activity.

A fully fledged CRM like Zoho can be used when you need:

• Sales people with restricted access to a subset of contacts;
• Deal management - for example, needing to manage a high-touch or long sales cycle.
• E-mail client integration - tracking every email message sent between your staff and the customer.
• Sales pipelines - for example, tracking an enquiry from a lead from enquiry, to quotation through to service delivery.
• Advanced reporting on the above processes.

What Data is Synchronised?

Before you start, you should fully configure Zoho CRM to operate in a way that works for your business. Zoho CRM can be complex so you may wish to engage an expert to work with you to configure Zoho CRM.

Zoho has two customer database modules that can be configured within Zoho. These are Leads and Contacts.

Important: Oncord either synchronises with the Leads OR the Contacts module. You cannot synchronise with both simultaneously.

The Zoho integration works by synchronising the following information:

From: Oncord - Contacts To: Zoho - Leads OR Contacts	From: Zoho - Leads OR Contacts To: Oncord - Contacts
All Contacts within Oncord are exported to either the Zoho Leads or Contacts module. Updating a contact's details in any part of Oncord will also update Zoho CRM. Deleting a contact in Oncord will delete it in Zoho.	All Leads or Contacts within Zoho CRM are imported into Oncord. Changes made in Zoho are automatically reflected in Oncord. Deleting a record in Zoho also deletes the linked contact in Oncord.

Additionally:

• Custom fields can be configured to synchronise between both systems.
• Groups can be configured to synchronise with 'Boolean Input' fields in Zoho.

When Does it Sync?

You can choose to enable or disable automatic synchronisation within the Zoho App integration page (Go to Settings > Apps > "Configuration" link under the Zoho App).

Oncord will batch-sync within Zoho ten minutes after an update takes place within Oncord.  For instance, if you updated a contact's e-mail address at 2:00pm.  The changes would be reflected by 2:10pm within Zoho.

If no update takes place in Oncord, a scheduled sync will take place after one day to download new data from Zoho.

Enable & Connect the Zoho Integration

Navigate to Dashboard > Settings.

select the "Third Party Integrations" page.

Find the Zoho application and Click the "Enable" button.

A pop-up dialog will redirect you to allow Oncord to access Zoho.

After clicking the "Connect to Zoho" button, you will be presented with the below page which will allow you to give Oncord API access to Zoho.

Select the account you would like to synchronise with and click the "Authorise" button. You will be redirected back to your dashboard.

Configuration

After connecting, you will be presented with configuration options. Check the options carefully and configure the integration before synchronising.

Leads or Contacts Module
As mentioned earlier, Oncord can sync with either the Leads or Contacts module of Zoho. It cannot sync with both. Choose the module to synchronise with.

Time Zone
Select the timezone.  You must choose the same timezone as the configuration set within your Zoho account settings or data will get out of sync.

Custom Fields
Custom fields can be configured in Oncord to extend the default contact fields.
If the same field exists in both Oncord and Zoho CRM, you may wish to synchronise that field.

Extra System Fields
There are a few extra system fields that can also be synchronised.  

• Contact Id - This is a custom field that can be setup in Zoho to represent the sync'd contact_id in Oncord.
• Contact URL - This is a custom field that can be setup in Zoho for Oncord to send a link to the contact's profile.  
  This is convenient to get a 'one-click link' back to Oncord from within Zoho.
• Subscription Status - a True|False field that can be configured to sync the subscription status.

Groups and Boolean Fields
Zoho CRM does not have a Groups feature.  Instead Zoho's recommendation is uses a "Boolean Field" to represent the membership of a in a group.

Oncord can sync Groups with a Boolean custom field in Zoho CRM.  Configure the field in Zoho first.
Then you can select groups in Oncord to sync with Zoho boolean fields.

Synchronise

To perform the first manual synchronisation and configure the integration, select the "Synchronise button" in the Zoho box displayed on the Integrations page.

You can either choose to sync all records or those records modified since the last sync.