Workflow Rules in Zoho Recruit are a set of actions (alerts, tasks, and field updates) that are executed when certain specified conditions are met. These rules automate the process of sending email alerts and SMS alerts, assigning tasks, and updating certain fields of a record when a rule is triggered.

A workflow rule consists of the following elements:

1. Basic Details: Specify details on the record type for which the rule applies. Also includes the rule name and description.
2. Rule Trigger: Specify when the rule should be triggered for a record and what it should be based on. There are two options:
   
   • Execute based on a record's action: Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created or edited, deleted, or a specific field is updated.
   • Execute based on a date field's value: For all the records matching the rule criteria, the rule will be triggered either monthly or yearly based on the value of the date field that is selected.
3. Rule Criteria: List the criteria to filter out records that meet the criteria. The workflow rule is triggered by these records.
4. Actions: Specifiy the action to be automated for records that meet the set criteria.
   
   • Instant Actions: Add alerts, SMS triggers, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions to be triggered immediately when the rule is executed. For the Edit and Field Update actions, you can also convert candidates, contacts, or clients.
   • Scheduled Actions: Add alerts, SMS triggers, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions to be scheduled and triggered at a specified time.

Create Workflow Rules in Zoho Recruit

The steps to create a workflow rule are divided into 4 parts. 

Part 1 - Enter the basic details of the rule 

1. Click Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. In the Workflow Rules page, click Create Rule.
3. In the Create New Rule pop-up, do the following:
   
   • Select the module the rule applies to from the dropdown list.
   • Enter the Rule Name and Description.
4. Click Next.  

Part 2 - Specify the rule trigger  

There are two options for how the rule will be triggered for a record that matches the rule criteria. You need to select one of these options when you create a workflow rule and you cannot change it later.

• A Record Action:- Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created or edited, deleted, or when a specific field is updated.
• A Date Field's Value: For all the records matching the rule criteria, the rule will be triggered either monthly or yearly based on the value of the date field. This option is only available in the Enterprise Edition.

Execute Based on Record Action 

When new candidates are created in Zoho Recruit, you may want to automatically send them an email, SMS alert, or a series of emails at set intervals. You may also want to create tasks for these new candidates, or trigger a workflow when specific fields are updated in the records. The Execute Based on Record Action execution option lets you specify an action (Create, Edit, Delete, etc.) to trigger workflow rules. 

1. Select one of the following options:
   
   • Create: Executes the rule when records are created.
   • Edit: Executes the rule when existing records are modified.
   • Create or Edit: Executes the rule when records are created or existing records are modified.
   • Field Update: Executes the rule when the values of the specified fields are modified in a record.
   • Delete: Executes the rule when certain records are deleted. Only workflow alerts and webhooks can be associated with this rule. 
   • The delete action can be:
     
     • Deleting a record from the Details Page.
     • Deleting from the List View (one by one or in bulk).
     • Using the Mass Delete feature.
     • Deleting from a record's Related List. For example, deleting a contact from an account.
2. If you select the Field Update
   
    
   option, do the following:
   
   • Choose the field name from the dropdown list.
   • Choose one of the following:
     
     • Execute the rule when all of the selected fields are updated.
     • Execute the rule when any selected field is updated.
3. Click Next.

Note:
When you configure a workflow rule for the Events module, you will see another rule trigger, Cancel. Choose the Cancel trigger if you want to configure a workflow action when an event is canceled.

Execute Based on Date Field's Value  

You may want to get an email or SMS reminder a week before an interview date or send an email to candidates reminding them when their interviews are. In these cases, the records do not need to be created or edited for the rule to be triggered. It is triggered based on the value in a date field. This execution option lets you pick a date field from a record and allows you to define the day for the rule to be triggered. When using this option, a maximum of 3,000 records can be triggered every hour. If there are more than 3,000 records, the remaining records will be executed the next hour. This option is only available in the Enterprise Edition.

1. Choose a date field from the dropdown list.
   All the date fields in the module the rule is being created for will be listed.
2. Choose On, Before, or After from the dropdown list to set the Date of Execution.
   The rule can be set to trigger up to 90 days Before or After the value in the specified date field.
3. Specify the time of execution in hours and minutes.
   For DateTime fields, there is an option to trigger the rule based on the time in the field value.
4. Select the execution cycle as Once, Every Month, or Every Year.
5. Click Next.

Note:

• A locked rule cannot be edited by other users. If required, they can clone the rule and make changes to the cloned copy.
• The actions associated with a locked rule, such as alerts, field updates, and tasks, are also locked and cannot be edited or deleted by other users.
• For a rule to be triggered using the Field Update option, both the rule criteria and the execution criteria must be true.
• If your Zoho Recruit account is downgraded or the subscription expires, the workflow rules will be disabled. If you renew your subscription, you will need to manually re-enable the rules.
• If the Delete option is selected as the execution criteria, the workflow rule will not be triggered when records are deleted from the Recycle Bin.
• You can only configure and associate workflow alerts and webhooks for a workflow rule with Delete as the execution criteria.
• Workflow rules will be triggered when records are modified using mass update or macros and when ownership of records is changed. Rules are also triggered when tasks are created through macros.

Part 3 - Set rule criteria

1. Specify the rule criteria details in the Rule Criteria section.
2. Click Add Criteria to add multiple criteria.
3. Click Next.  

Edit Criteria Patterns 

The Criteria Pattern Editor in the custom list view helps you develop advanced filters using simple logical operators AND and OR. 

Note:

• You can specify up to a maximum of 25 criteria for a list view.
• If you are associating a convert action (an instant action) with the rule, it is mandatory to specify the criteria.

To edit criteria patterns:

1. Navigate to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. Click on a workflow rule in the Workflow Rules page.
3. In the Edit Rule page, review your existing criteria and click Change Pattern.
4. Modify the filters in the Pattern Editor box and click Save.
5. Save the modified custom view.

Example:

• You would like to trigger a workflow rule for all the candidates who were created by the current user and whose interview owner is either Charles or Patricia, who are applying for the position Marketing Analyst.
• This can be defined as Creator is Current User; Interview Owner is either Charles Zillum or Patricia Boyle, and Position is Marketing Analyst.
• You can create these criteria easily using the Criteria option given below:
• The criteria pattern will be automatically set as:
• Since this criteria pattern does not match your requirement, you can edit it to:
• You can use the following characters in the Criteria Pattern Editor:
  
  • Round brackets: ( )
  • AND and OR operators
  • Criteria Row Number
• You can choose when to execute the workflow from the options below: 
  

Important Notes  

• You cannot add or delete a criteria row in the Specify Criteria section while the Change Pattern box is being used to edit the pattern.
• The operator's precedence will not be taken into account if you do not specify brackets. For example, if you specify the criteria as 1 or 2 and 3, it will be considered as ((1 or 2) and 3)
• You can change the AND or OR in the criteria row and it will also be updated in the Editor.
• You can change the AND or OR condition in the pattern and it will also be updated in the rows.
• If you specify criteria 1 and 2 and save them, the pattern will be shown as (1 and 2) when you edit it. For (1 and 2) or 3 the pattern will be shown as ( (1 and 2) or 3 ).
• If you add more rows to the editor and then delete them one by one there will be additional brackets displayed in the pattern. For example, if there are four rows added and you delete the third row, the criteria pattern will be ( ( ( ( 1 and 2 ) ) ) or 3 ). If the first row is deleted, then it will be shown as ( ( ( ( 1 ) ) ) or 2 ). When you save the criteria, it will change to ( 1 or 2 ).
• Make sure that you do not use any of the following as they are invalid: (), (and), (or).
• If the brackets do not match, the criteria will be invalid.
• There will an error message if the number of rows and the numbers in the pattern do not match or if there are any numbers missing from the pattern.
• If the final brackets are missing, there will be a difference between the pattern in the Criteria Patterns Editor and its view mode.

Your Criteria Pattern in Editor	Your Criteria Pattern in View Mode
( 1 and 2 ) or ( 3 and 4 )	(( 1 and 2 ) or ( 3 and 4 ))
1 and 2 and 3 and 4	(1 and 2 and 3 and 4 )
( 1 or 2 ) and ( 3 or 4 )	( ( 1 or 2 ) and ( 3 or 4 ) )

Part 4 - Associate instant and scheduled actions 

Workflow rules are only meaningful if an alert, task, field update, webhook or custom function is associated with the rule. They are classified as Actions and can be either Instant Actions or Scheduled Actions. Once an action is created, it can be associated with multiple rules. 

In the Actions section, do the following:

1. Create an Instant Action by associating alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions. 
2. Create Scheduled Actions and associate alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions. 
   A maximum of five scheduled actions can be created for each rule.
3. Click Save.
   Note that you cannot save a rule without creating either an instant or a scheduled action.

Note

• You can associate a maximum of five alerts, five tasks, and three field updates with each action.
• You can associate up to six) custom functions per workflow rule—one instant action and up to five time-based actions. You can also associate up to six webhooks per workflow rule—one instant action and up to five time-based actions.
• A maximum of five scheduled actions (alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions) can be created for each rule.
• If your Zoho Recruit account is downgraded or the subscription expires, the workflow rules will be disabled. If you renew your subscription, you will need to manually re-enable the rules.

Associate Actions to Rules

Create Instant Actions

Instant action includes email alerts, SMS triggers, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions that are triggered immediately when the rule is executed. There are two ways of associating these actions:

• Create alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions and associate them with the rule. You can also create an action to convert candidates.
• Select existing alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions to associate with the rule. 

To create an instant action:
(If you are creating a workflow rule, go straight to step 4.)  

1. Click Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. In the Workflow Rules page, click on the rule for which you want to create an action.
3. Click Edit to modify the rule settings.
4. In the Instant Actions section, associate alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions with the rule:
   
   • In the corresponding section, click the Add icon and specify the details to create a record and associate it with the rule.
   • In the corresponding section, click the Associate icon and select an existing record and associate it with the rule.
5. Click Save.

Note

• For a workflow rule, not all the actions (alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions) will be listed. If the rule is for candidates, only the actions created for candidates will be available for association.
• Only one set of instant actions can be created with alerts or tasks associated with it.
• You can associate no more than five alerts, five tasks, three field updates, one custom function, and one webhook to each instant action.

Create Scheduled Actions

Scheduled actions include alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions that are triggered in a specified amount of time after the rule is executed. You can schedule the actions to be triggered based on the Rule Trigger Date, record Created Time, record Modified Time, or any other time or date fields in the module. You can see the list of scheduled actions for individual records under Upcoming Actions.  

There are two options to associate these actions:

• Create alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions and associate them with the rule.
• Select existing alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions to associate with the rule.

To create scheduled actions:
If you are creating a workflow rule, go straight to step 4.

1. Click the Settings icon and go to Setup > Automation > WorkflowRules.
2. In the Workflow Rules page, click on the rule you want to create an action for.
3. Click Edit to modify the rule settings.
4. In the Actions section, click Add a Scheduled Action.
5. Enter a Name for the scheduled action.
6. Specify the Execution Time. This is when the associated actions should be triggered.
7. Click Save. 

Follow these steps in the Scheduled Actions section to associate alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, or custom functions with the rule:

• In the corresponding section, click the Add icon and specify the details to create a record and associate it with the rule.
• In the corresponding section, click the Associate icon, select an existing record, and associate it with the rule.

Click Save.

Note

• For a workflow rule, not all the actions (alerts, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions) will be listed. If the rule is for candidates, only the actions created for candidates will be available to associate.
• You can create a maximum of five scheduled actions for each workflow rule.
• Each scheduled action can have a maximum of five alerts, five tasks, three field updates, five custom functions, and five webhooks.
• If the Email Opt Out option is enabled, emails will not be sent to the candidates.
• For the Workflow Management feature, the organization's time zone will be used for calculating a day. If the time zone has not been defined, the Super Administrator's time zone will be used.
• Scheduled actions are not accurate to the minute. There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered.
• If your email alerts reach the limit for the day, any remaining emails scheduled to be sent on that day will not be sent.
• If the Execution Time that is calculated is in the past, the action will be triggered immediately. There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered.
• The scheduled actions for a record will be listed under Upcoming Actions in the Records Details page.
  Notes on Per Day Limits:
• The limit for emails to be sent per day using workflow alerts will be 100 x the number of users in the account, or 5,000, whichever is lower.
• A maximum of 300 actions will be triggered every hour. If there are more than 300 actions per hour, the remaining actions will be executed in the next hour.
• The Super Administrator of your Recruit account will be notified if the workflow email alerts limit is exceeded for the day. 
• The per day limits (e.g.: email limit) are calculated based on PST.
• Limits for custom functions:
  
  • Calls per Day: 10,000 calls/day or 200 calls per user license in the organization (whichever is lower)
  • Integration Tasks: 5,000 Zoho API calls/day using Deluge
  • Get Data: 5,000 calls/day
  • Post Data: 5,000 calls/day
  • Send Email: 500 emails/day
• Limits for webhooks:
  
  • Professional Edition: 10,000 calls/day or 100 calls/user license (whichever is lower)
  • Enterprise Edition: 10,000 calls/day or 100 calls/user license (whichever is lower)
    

Situations when the scheduled actions will be rescheduled: 

• The Execution Criteria for the rule is either Edit or Create or Edit. When the rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions are triggered and scheduled actions are scheduled for the record.
  If a user edits the record and the rule criteria is no longer fulfilled, then the scheduled actions previously scheduled will be deleted. If the record is edited again and the criteria is satisfied, then the scheduled actions will be rescheduled.
• The Execution Time for scheduled actions can also be based on a custom date and time field. When a rule criterion is satisfied for a record, the instant actions will be triggered and scheduled actions will be scheduled for the record.
  If a user edits the record to change the value of the date and time field, the scheduled actions will be rescheduled according to the new date and time value. 

Situations when scheduled actions will be deleted or not be rescheduled: 

• The Execution Criteria for the rule is either Edit or Create or Edit. When the rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions will be triggered and scheduled actions will be scheduled for the record.
  If a user edits the record and the rule criteria are no longer fulfilled, then the scheduled actions will not be scheduled again.
• If the Enterprise Edition is downgraded to the Free Edition, all the scheduled actions that have been scheduled for the record will be deleted.
• When records are deleted, all the actions scheduled for the records will also be deleted. If the deleted records are restored, the scheduled actions will not be rescheduled. 

Situations when the scheduled actions will not be executed: 

• When an event is canceled, the actions scheduled for the event will not be executed.
• When a candidate is converted, the actions scheduled for the record will not be executed.

Lock Workflow Rules

If you want to make sure that no one edits a workflow rule unless absolutely necessary, you can lock the rule. When a rule is locked, it cannot be edited until it is unlocked again. A locked rule indicates to your fellow administrators that it should not be edited unless absolutely required. A workflow rule can be locked after it is created.

To lock a workflow rule:   

1. Click the Settings icon > Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. From the Workflow Rules list view on the Rules tab, click the rule that you wish to lock.
3. In the selected workflow rule details page, click the Lock icon next to the rule name.
4. In the Lock Rule pop-up, enter the reason for locking the rule. This message will be displayed to other administrators who try to unlock the rule for editing.
5. Click Lock.

Note

• Only Administrators can lock or unlock a workflow rule. This option prevents other users from editing or deleting the rule. If required, other users can clone the workflow rule.
• A rule can be unlocked by following the same procedure. You can click the Unlock icon in a workflow rules' details page and proceed to edit the rule.

Use List View and Summary View

There are two views for the workflow rules that are created in your account: the list view and the summary view. By default, you will see the list view, which is a list of all the workflow rules for either all modules or the selected module.  
The summary view lists the criteria and field updates associated with the rules to help you get a clear picture of all the rules and where they are used.

Note

• You need to select a module to check the summary view. This view is not available when you select the All Modules option.
• The summary view is only available for workflow rules, not for alerts, tasks, and field updates.
• You can reorder the rules in the list view to change the sequence the rules need to be executed in. The Reorder option will only be available after you select a module from the dropdown list.
  

To use summary view:

• Click the Settings icon > Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
• Select a module from the dropdown list in the Workflow Rules page.
• Click the Summary View icon.
  All the rules for the selected module will be listed along with their criteria and the associated field updates. You can click Show More to see the other items associated with the rule.

Delete Workflow Rules

Workflow rules can be deactivated when not in use. You can also delete unwanted workflow rules.

Note
When you delete a workflow rule, all the scheduled actions for the records will also be deleted.  

To delete workflow rules:

1. Click the Settings icon > Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
2. In the Workflow Rules home page, click the Delete icon for the rule you want to delete.