Managing multiple services in Non-Profit Organizations

Managing multiple services in Non-Profit Organizations

Edition: All Paid editions | Industry: NGOs or Non-Profit Organizations | Features: Layouts, Workflow Rules, Blueprint, Assignment Rule, Reports and Dashboards

The Requirement

Life Drops is an NGO that works towards saving the environment with a focus on water conservation. They have four areas of focus which they call the "four pillars" of their organization. They are: afforestation, water conservation, waste management and awareness camps. 
  1. Afforestation: Any organization, whether it is an educational institution, a company, or any other establishment, can approach Life Drops to help them plant trees on their premises.
  2. Water conservation: The NGO also accepts requests from local farmers to help with water body restoration efforts such as reviving rivers and constructing water conservation facilities.
  3. Waste management: As part of corporate social responsibility efforts, organizations may approach Life Drops to help them recycle their waste. The NGO offers 4 main categories of waste management: industrial waste, agricultural waste, commercial, domestic waste.
  4. Awareness camps: And lastly, Life Drops conducts summer camps for children and general awareness camps for people of all age groups to learn about the importance of saving the environment, methods to dispose of waste, water conservation guidelines, etc. They enroll campers and each camp is conducted for a specified period at the end of which the participants are certified by Life Drops as an acknowledgement of their effort at the camp. 
Life Drops is now looking for a solution to manage their database for all these service lines efficiently. Their specific challenge is to find a way to manage the requests for all these 4 lines of services in a single database with appropriate demarcation of data sets for the four lines of service. Suggest the best ways for them to use Zoho CRM to manage multiple lines of services efficiently in the same database. 

The Solution: Multiple Page Layouts

When companies need to manage multiple brands, departments, or lines of service in the same CRM account, they can do so efficiently with multiple layouts. Creating layouts allows them to keep processes and people separate, while still using the same CRM account. The following is a detailed step-by-step solution for the requirements for Life Drops to manage the "four pillars" of their organization using a single Zoho CRM account.

Creating layouts

Life Drops maintains a master list of individuals and corporations who have chosen their services, in a module called "Beneficiaries". However, when it comes to actually implementing the services, there is a chance for confusion,  as there are four services that a beneficiary could be using: Afforestation, water conservation, waste management, and awareness camps. And there are different people managing each service and the processes involved. In order to track all beneficiaries in a single module, but still differentiate them based on the service provided, Life Drops can create four different layouts, one for each service, and assign the right people and processes to each layout.


To create page layouts:
  1. Go to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields.
  2. Click the Beneficiaries module and select the Standard layout.
  3. Rename the Standard layout as "Afforestation" and add the desired fields.

    As this is the primary service, this layout can be made visible to all profiles.
  4. Go back to the list of layouts. Click on the Afforestation layout and clone this layout.
    Name the second layout "Waste Management".
  5. Add the fields and sections for waste management. Here, you can remove the fields related to afforestation, as they may not be relevant. Note that fields removed from a layout are still part of the module. They are just not used in this current layout but are still available for reuse at any time. Fields removed from a layout are not deleted fields, but they are termed "Unused field". You can resore a removed field back to its layout at any point in time from the Unused Fields section. 
  6. Once you have added all the fields and sections to the Waste Management layout, repeat the same steps for the Awareness Camps and Water Conservation layouts.
  7. Once you have created all the layouts, assign each of them to the relevant departments.
Now, the four layouts have been successfully created in the Beneficiaries module.
Now when you enter a new beneficiary into the CRM system, you will be able to choose the correct layout.


For example, let's say a company Acme, Inc. approaches Life Drops with a request to help them with planting trees in their campus as part of their CSR efforts. 
To enter the requirements of Acme, Inc., you would go to the Beneficiaries module, add a new record, choose the Afforestation layout and then enter the details.


Adding layouts helps with differentiating beneficiaries by the services they are interested in.
Once you have filled out the Beneficiary form for Afforestation, you will see a field called Layout that is auto-filled. This Layout field is key in differentiating and keeping the departments separate from each other within the same module.

When Life Drops enter ten other beneficiaries in CRM, a few for Afforestation, a few for Waste Management and other services, they will now have a master list of Beneficiaries. This list will reflect all beneficiaries, however in this list, it's difficult to sort beneficiaries by service.

So, for their convenience, they can create Custom Views to filter records based on the service (layout), to allow them to see the records for a specific service.


Also, only users with access to a specific layout will be able to enter data into it. For example, since the Afforestation department only has permissions for the Afforestation layout, they will not be able to view the other three layouts. So the data is kept separate. Similarly, other processes in Zoho CRM can also be defined based on the services (layouts). 

Layout based workflow rules

Life Drops wants to send an introductory email to its beneficiaries explaining all the NGO activities they offer. However, the activities mentioned in the email will differ depending on the services that the beneficiary is interested in. For example, a university that has opted for afforestation will receive an email about all the activities relevant to afforestation. They may not receive information about waste management activities. Similarly, a beneficiary who wants water conservation will receive an email about activities related to that and not anything else. So there would be four totally different emails to be sent to four different groups of beneficiaries, depending on the specific service they want. This whole process can be automated in no time, using layout-based workflow rules.

Procedure:
  1. Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
  2. Click Create Rule.
  3. Choose the Beneficiaries module.
  4. In the Rule Trigger section, select the Record Action as Create.
  5. Under Conditions, select Records matching certain criteria and enter the following criteria:
    Layout IS Afforestation.
  6. Under Actions, select Instant Action and then Email Alert and associate the Afforestation Welcome Email template.


  7. Click Add condition.
    Enter the condition: Layout IS Waste Management.
  8. Under Actions, select Instant Action and then Email Alert and associate the Waste Management Intro Email template.
  9. Click Add condition.
  10. Enter the following condition: Layout IS Water Conservation.
    Under Actions, select Instant Action and then Email Alert and associate the Water Conservation Intro Email template.
  11. Click Add condition.
  12. Enter the following condition: Layout IS Awareness Camps.
  13. Under Actions, select Instant Action and then Email Alert and associate the Awareness Camps Intro Email template.
  14. Click Save. 
Notes:
  1. Make sure you select Beneficiary Email as the email recipient in the Email Alert settings. This will make sure that the email is sent to the beneficiaries.
  2. You should have previously created all four email templates and have them ready in Customization > Templates > Email Templates. 
Now, whenever you create a beneficiary in any of these four layouts, the corresponding intro email will be sent to the beneficiary automatically.

You can create other automated CRM processes such as layout based assignment rules, blueprints and reports. 

Layout-based assignment rules 



Layout based Blueprints 



Layout based Reports and Dashboards 



So, wherever you have criteria in CRM, you can perform CRM functions based on layouts, keeping the processes and people separate while managing everything seamlessly in the same CRM account.
=============
DISCLAIMER: Data seen on the screenshots (product images on this page) are fictional and intended as an example and any resemblance to a real person or organisation is purely coincidental and not intended. 
=============
More use cases for Non-profit Organizations

    • Related Articles

    • Automate donor generation and retention activities in Non-Profit Organizations

      Edition: Paid editions | Industry: NGOs or Non-Profit Organizations | Features: Webforms, Workflow Rules, Reports and Dashboards The Requirement Second Life is an NGO that offers support in multiple service categories that include healthcare, child ...

    • Managing Multiple CRM Organizations

      Access multiple CRM accounts using one sign-in Zoho CRM allows users to access multiple organizational (CRM) accounts using the same email address. This is especially useful for organizations who maintain different CRM accounts to manage their ...

    • Streamlining business processes in a Non-Profit Organization

      Edition: Enterprise and above | Industry: NGOs or Non-Profit Organizations | Features: Blueprint, Module Customization The Requirement Idea Box is an NPO that extends their support to aspiring entrepreneurs. They offer regular guidance and coaching ...

    • FAQs on Multiple CRM Organizations

      1. In how many CRM accounts can I be a Super Admin? You can be a Super Admin in up to five org accounts. Once you reach the limit, the Create New Organization link will become inactive. However, you can accept invitations to be part of up to five ...

    • Can I create multiple organizations in the CRM mobile app?

      No, you cannot create multiple organizations from your mobile app. However, you can login to multiple orgs and switch between orgs from your mobile app. you can accept only the first invitation that you receive. For example, if Org 1 sends you an ...