Trigger points refer to the places, or rather, features, from which a function can be triggered.

Button

The Button option lets you trigger the function by clicking a button. You can place the button in any location in your CRM, such as the View page or the List View page of a module.

When you click the button, the function is triggered and executed. This option is useful if you have a function that needs to be triggered manually by users rather than being triggered automatically based on events or specific criteria.

Automation

One of the most commonly required CRM functionalities is automation. Since functions can be related to advanced customization, using them alongside automation can be a very powerful combination.

You can use functions in Workflow Rules and Blueprint. These two features are very useful for anyone who wants to automate their business processes. Adding functions to theses features will let you take your productivity to the next level.

Schedules

Although automation helps you handle most of your business processes, there are some time-based actions which cannot be implemented through automation. This is because time-based actions are be triggered infrequently, meaning the automation process would be dormant for a long time and only be executed once or twice a week or a month.

There is a dedicated feature in Zoho CRM to let you schedule actions to be performed at specific intervals. You can use functions to execute customized actions at regularly scheduled intervals.

Related List

Each record in Zoho CRM can have other records associated with it. For example, a contact can have notes, activities, potentials, products, and attachments associated with it. These associated records are called related lists and are provided by default, but you can also add a custom related list to a record. Custom related lists help you view data collected from other sources.

Functions let you add a functionality to your custom related list. For example, if you need information from a third-party application to be displayed as a related list in any module, you can do this with functions.

Standalone

Standalone functions follow the concept of Function-as-a-Service, or FaaS for short. They allow users to use Zoho CRM as a server to run their applications without needing to deploy them on their own servers.

Serverless (standalone) functions let the user execute event-driven functions that are instantly scalable. This lets a developer work their magic without having to worry about implementation, tweaking, or scaling a server.