Assigning Territories

Assigning Territories

How are Territories Assigned?

Automatically

  • Territories are automatically assigned to accounts, contacts and deals when they are created or modified.
  • When a record meets the criteria of a territory, only then is it validated for its sub territories.
  • If a record does not meet the criteria, it will be validated for the next territory of the same level in the hierarchy.
  • When a record satisfies the criteria of a territory, it will be assigned to that territory and Zoho CRM will further move on to check if the record meets the criteria of the other territories and sub territories in the hierarchy.
  • For example, take the following territory hierarchy:

    In the example:
    • If the record meets the criteria for North America and also for its sub territory, Central then the record will have Central territory assigned to it. Please note that both the territories, North America and Central, will not be assigned to the records.
    • If the record meets the criteria for Zylker, but does not satisfy the criteria for other territories in the hierarchy, then only Zylker will be assigned to the record.

Manually

  • Territory managers can manually assign records to their territories and sub territories.
  • Users with Administrator profile can also manually assign territories to records.
  • Territories that are manually added can only be removed manually. Automatically assigned territories cannot be removed manually.

Territory Assignment for Accounts

Here are some scenarios:

Scenarios
What will happen?
Record meets the criteria of a single territory.
The record will be assigned to the territory.
Record meets the criteria of multiple territories.
The record is assigned to all those territories.
Record does not meet the criteria of a parent territory but meets the criteria of its sub territory.
Neither the parent territory nor the sub territory will be assigned to the record.
Record does not satisfy the criteria of any territory.
No territory will be assigned to the record.

A maximum of ten territories can be assigned to an account. Here are some use cases and the consequence

Territory Assignment for Contacts

Here are some scenarios:

Scenarios
What will happen?
An account is not associated to the contact.
Territory will not be assigned to the contact.
The account associated to the contact does not have a territory.
Territory will not be assigned to the contact.
The account associated to the contact has a single territory.
The account's territory will be assigned to the contact.
The account associated to the contact has multiple territories.

Territories will be assigned based on the following criteria:

  1. The contact owner is part of any one territory of the account.
  2. The contact owner is the territory manager of any one territory of the account.
  3. The contact creator is part of any one territory of the account.
  4. The contact creator is the territory manager of any one territory of the account.
  • A maximum of ten territories can be assigned to a contact of which only one territory can be automatically assigned based on the account associated to the contact. For more details, refer to the Assignment of Accounts table.
  • With the above use cases, if the system does not determine a single territory then territory will not be assigned to the contact.

Territory Assignment for Deals (Opportunities)

Deals are always associated to Contacts and/or Accounts. Hence, the territory to which a deal should be assigned to is based on the contact or account it is associated to. Note that if you have enabled Deal Rule for Territories then the deals are further validated based on the deal rule and then territories are assigned.

Let us say your organization distributes the deals based on the deal amount or size. You have one territory named US and two sub territories named Big deals and Regular Deals. The bigger deals worth more that $5000 are assigned to an experienced sales rep whereas the deals less than $4000 are assigned to two other team members. In this case your deals from US will be assigned to the US territory, but to further assign the deal to the appropriate Big deals or Regular Deals, you can use Deal Rules. Each of these territories can have a deal rule created that has the criteria to filter out the deals.  

As the first step, deals are assigned to territories based on the associated contact or account. 

Contact associated to the Deal - If the contact associated to the deal has a territory assigned to it the same will be assigned to the deal. Additionally, if the Deal Rule is enabled, CRM will check for Deal Rules in that territory and assign accordingly.

Account associated to the Deal - If the contact associated to the deal does not have a territory assigned to it, CRM will check for the Account associated to the deal. It will then assign the territory based on the Deal Rules, if any. 

    If there are sub territories,
    • The system will check the first level territories for Deal Rule. If none exists, it will skip to the second level and check. The system will not check further if no Deal Rule is available in the second level as well.
    • When the Deal Rules exists in the first level territory in the hierarchy, but the record does not satisfy the criteria, then the system will not check the second level.

    Note:

    • If a deal does not satisfy the criteria of the Deal Rules, or more than one territories seem to match then the territory is simply assigned based on the account or contact it is associated to. Refer to the table below for more details.

    Also, territories will be reassigned to deals, if the associated account or contact is modified. Here are some business scenarios:

    Scenarios - Contacts
    		What will happen?
    An account or contact is not associated to the deal.
    		Territory will not be assigned to the deal.
    The contact associated to the deal has a single territory.
    		The contact's territory will be assigned to the deal.
    The contact associated to the deal has multiple territories.

    Territories will be assigned based on the following criteria for:

    1. The deal owner is part of any one territory of the contact.
    2. The deal owner is the territory manager of any one territory of the contact.
    3. The deal creator is part of any one territory of the contact.
    4. The deal creator is the territory manager of any one territory of the contact.


    Scenarios - Accounts
    		What will happen?
    The account associated to the deal has a single territory.
    		The account's territory will be assigned to the deal.
    The account associated to the deal has multiple territories.

    Territories will be assigned based on the following criteria for:

    1. The deal owner is part of any one territory of the account.
    2. The deal owner is the territory manager of any one territory of the account.
    3. The deal creator is part of any one territory of the account.
    4. The deal creator is the territory manager of any one territory of the account.


    Note
    • Only one territory can be assigned to a deal.
    • With the above use cases, if the system does not determine a single territory then territory will not be assigned to the deal. Also, note that if a territory is manually assigned to a record, the territories will not be assigned automatically based on the use cases mentioned above.

    Territory Reassignment When Records Are Modified

    For accounts, the associated child records are contacts and deal. When an account is modified and falls into another territory, the associated contact and deal may also be reassigned to a different territory. The following table will provide details on the various use cases when the parent record is modified.

    Here are some business scenarios:

    Parent records that are modified
    		What will happen to the associated records?
    A record that was part of two or more territories is now reassigned to a new territory.
    		Records will be reassigned to the new single territory.
    A record that was assigned to only one territory is now assigned to additional territories.
    		Records will remain assigned to the parent record's territory. It will not be assigned to the new additional territories.
    A record that was assigned to only one territory is now reassigned to new territories.
    		Records will not be assigned to the new territories. The associated records will not be part of any territory.
    A record that was assigned to more than one territory is now assigned to additional territories.
    		Records will remain assigned to the parent record's territories. It will not be assigned to the new additional territories.
    A record that was assigned to more than one territory is now reassigned to new territories.
    		Records will not be assigned to the new territories. The associated records will not be part of any territory.

    Run Rules to Assign Territories Automatically

    When the territory's assignment rules are run, records that meet the rule criteria in the territory will automatically be assigned to the territory. Initially, when you go to Setup > Users and Control > TerritoryManagement > Assign Territories in your Zoho CRM account, you need to run the rules for the existing accounts. Based on the account's territories, the associated contacts and deals will also be assigned to territories. If you enable Deal Rules, you can run rules for deals as well.

    You can look up records and assign them to territories using one of the three options listed below:

    • By Territory - Records from the selected territories will be listed. You can select the records and assign them to territories.
    • By Custom View - When you have the records sorted using list views, it is easier to view and assign them to the appropriate territories.
    • Apply my own criteria - When both the options above do not serve the purpose, you can always define a set of criteria to filter records. This option, allows you to modify the set of criteria using the ChangePattern option.

    To search records and assign to territories

    1. Go to Setup > Users and Control > TerritoryManagement > AssignTerritories.
    2. Choose Accounts or Deals from the drop-down.
    3. Choose one of the following from the drop-down:
    • Territory - Select the territory and sub-territories from the drop-down list.
    • Custom View - Select the list view from the drop-down list.
    • My own criteria - Specify a set of criteria to filter records.
    • Review the matching results that are listed and click Run Rules.
      Records will be assigned to various territories based on the territory rules. You will receive a confirmation email when the process of assigning territories is complete.
    Note
    • Territories that are manually added can only be removed manually. Automatically assigned territories cannot be removed manually.

    See Also
    Territory Management - An Overview
    Decision guide for territory management
    Using Territories

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