Channels

Channels

The following channels are available for the users to create Requests:
  1. Email Parser
  2. Web form
  3. Customer Portal 

Email Parser

Using an Email Parser, you can automatically fetch data from the emails you receive and add them as records in your Zoho FSM solution. Using an email parser, the details in the email can be directly added as a record in your solution, eliminating the need to do so manually. The various steps comprising the creation and configuration of an Email parser are described in the sections below. We will explain how using the email parser you can extract details from Requests received through emails and add them as records in the Requests module of your Zoho FSM solution. 

Naming and Module selection

In the first step, assign a name to the parser and select the module that you want to create the parser for.
  1. Navigate to Setup > Channels > Email and click the Email Parser tab.
  2. Click Create New Parser.
  3. In the Create New Parser pop-up, provide the following details:
    1. A Parser Name.
    2. Select Requests as the Module in which you want the records with the data parsed from the emails to be created.
  4. Click Next.

A Parser Email Address will be generated when a parser is created. This is the address that the email to be parsed has to be sent to.  

Prepare Template for parsing

For the content of the emails to be parsed, it should be in a specific type of template. In this step, you will provide a sample email content that will be used as the template for parsing all the emails. There are two types of templates that you can use to parse your data: Key-value pair and Paragraph format. In our example we will be using the  Key-value pair format.

Key-value pair: A pair consisting of a Key and a Value, which are separated by a delimiter. The Key is a unique identifier for some item of data. For example, First name or Email. These keys will have values associated with them. For example Sam for First name, sam.neil@gmail.com for Email, etc. A Delimiter is a separator that is used to indicate the start or end of your data. The delimiter could be a colon (:), equal sign (=), or hyphen (-).

Sample
Subject: Sample Request
Description: Sample for Request from Email Parser

The steps to add these templates are as below:
  1. In the Give us the email content to be used as template for parsing by drop-down, select the Copy and pasting email content option.



  2. Paste the sample email content in the pop-up and click Parse.



    The key in the key-value pair is mapped to the fields in the Request module. If the field mapping is not done automatically, then you can select the appropriate field.



  3. Click Next. 
The table below contains details of the Request module fields to which the key in the key-value pairs is to be mapped.

 Key
 Value
 Map to Request field
 Subject
 Sample Request
 Subject
 Description
 Sample for Request from Email parser
 Description
 First Name
 Robin
 -
 Last Name
 Ellacot
 -
 Email
 Email
 Priority
 Normal
 -
 Phone
 1234567990
 Phone
 Preferred End Time
 10/09/2019 12:00:PM
 -
 Preferred Start Time
 10/09/2019 2:00:PM
 -
 Street
 200 Dewitt Ct
 -
 City
 Sacramento
 -
 State
 California
 -
 Zip
 95838
 -
 Country
 USA
 -

Select Fields to be updated

While adding a record, you can mention a value that a particular field in the module should be updated with. Use the / symbol to add or remove the entries.

Assign Record Owner

You can select the owner of the record. In the Assign based on, choose either a User or a Role and click Next. If more than one users are added, then the round-robin method of assignment will be used.


Add Approved Email Addresses  

  1. Provide the email addresses that you will be sending the emails from to the parser email address.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Click Save.

Create Workflow

A workflow rule has to be created for updating the customer details in the newly created Request record. To create the workflow rule:
  1. Navigate to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules and click Create Rule.
  2. In the Create New Rule dialog box, select Requests as the Module to apply the workflow rule to. Enter a Rule Name and a Description and click Next.
  3. Select the Rule Trigger as shown below and click Next.



  4. Select the Rule Criteria as shown below and click Next.



  5. For Instant Actions, select Function. In the Functions pop-up, select the function you want to associate with the workflow and click Associate.



  6. Click Save. 

Create Custom Function

A custom function needs to be created that will do the following:
  1. Fetch the customer details from the newly created Request record.
  2. Search the Customer module for a contact with an email address as the one in the newly created Request record.
  3. If a match is found, then the newly created Request record will be updated with the details of the existing Customer.
  4. If a match is not found, then a new record is created in the Customer module and the newly created Request record will be updated with the details of the Customer. 
To create the Custom function
  1. Navigate to Setup > Automation > Actions and select the Custom Functions tab.
  2. Click Configure Function.
  3. Enter a Name and select Requests as the Module to be associated.
  4. Add Function Arguments:
    1. Click Edit Arguments.
    2. Add an argument for Request ID and click Save.



  5. In the Deluge Editor, enter the script and click Save.

Web form   

To receive service requests through your web channel, you can use Web forms. You can create and embed Request forms in your website. The steps to create and embed a Request form in your website are described in the sections below: 

Create the form  

  1. Navigate to Setup > Developer Space > Webforms and click Create Web Form.
  2. Drag and drop the fields you need in the form and click Next Step.

Specify form details

Add form details specific to your requirements. In the Form Details page, add the following details and click Save:
  1. A Form Name
  2. The Form Location URL
    This is the URL of the web page where the Request form will be hosted. If the domain name in the Location URL does not match with the URL where the web form is hosted, then the information will not be captured. You can also enter [*] in the  Location  URL field to capture from other/multiple domains.
  3. The Landing page URL
    This is the URL of the web page to which the visitor needs to be redirected once the web form is submitted.
  4. Choose one of the below options for Assign Owner
    Choose a user: All the records generated through the form will be assigned to the selected user.
    Choose a Request assignment rule: Select an existing assignment rule or create a new one. Records will be assigned to the users based on the rules you set.
  5. Enable Notify Request Owner using System Generated Mail or From Mail Template. When a notification email has to be sent to users within the organization, it is sent as a notification from the email address notifications@zohocrm.com.
  6. Acknowledge Visitor using one of the below two options:
    1. Choose a default response for all visitors: Choose an Email Template (see screenshot below) that will be used to send email to the leads generated via this web form and a From email address.



    2. Using Auto-response Rule

Embed the form

You can generate the code for the Request form. To obtain the code to embed in your site:
  1. Click Embed options for the Request form.



  2. Copy the code and paste it in the website where you want the Request form.

Customer Portal       

Refer this page for details.

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