Disclosure: I work at Skyfall Labs, an official Zoho Partner, so I have a commercial interest. The facts below are from Zoho's own help page, linked at the end; advice is labelled as advice. Originally published on skyfallhq.net.
A common sign of a CRM that has grown messy is a pile of custom modules that overlap with the standard ones. Zoho's help pages explain what custom modules are and what they cost you in flexibility later. This post sets that out.
What Zoho says a custom module is for
Per Zoho, standard modules come with predefined fields and layouts for Sales, Marketing, Customer Support and Inventory, and most of them can still be edited. Custom modules are for cases where the standard, predefined modules do not always meet your requirements. Zoho's examples are a school using Students, Teachers and Parents, and a hospital using Doctors, Patients and Nurses. Zoho's page does not give a formal checklist for choosing between a custom and a standard module.
Zoho also distinguishes custom modules from Custom Apps, which are built with Zoho Creator and placed as custom tabs.
Who can create one and how
- Users with the Module Customization permission in their profile can access the feature; Zoho says Admin profiles have it by default.
- Go to Setup, Customization, Modules and Fields, and under the Modules tab click Create New Module.
- Choose organization modules (or team modules, if that fits), enter the singular and plural names, and save. Names must be unique.
- Add the teamspaces where the module should appear, select the profiles that get module permission, and save.
Stated limits
Zoho states that module counts are combined for custom and team modules: Standard 10, Professional 25, Enterprise 200 and Ultimate 500. It says there are no longer user-based restrictions on adding custom modules, and its page does not state a module limit for the Free edition. Custom fields are not available in the Free edition, field limits vary by edition, and a Custom Fields Left counter shows how many you can still create. Formula fields are not available in the Standard edition. Check feature availability for your edition on Zoho's page before designing around any of these.
What you can change later, and what you cannot
- You can rename a module, add or remove fields, rearrange sections and fields, and change profile permissions. Removed fields move to an Unused Fields section.
- Zoho says the field properties of default fields are not editable, though the default field name label can be edited.
- Zoho says that once you delete a custom module you cannot restore data from it. Deletion permanently removes its records, custom fields, workflows, reports, dashboard components, email templates and other associated items, and Zoho says to make sure the module is not linked to another module first.
- If you downgrade to an edition that does not support a custom module, Zoho says its data is hidden and returns when you upgrade.
What custom modules can do
Per Zoho, custom modules support field-level permissions, imports, backups, mass emails, macros, workflow rules, relationships with standard modules and autoresponders. Layouts are configured with a WYSIWYG Module Editor, with Quick Create forms and a Detail View per layout, and you can preview a layout as a specific profile.
Choosing between custom and standard (practical advice)
This section is advice from experience, not vendor documentation.
- Ask first whether the thing you want to track is really a person, a company or a sales opportunity. If it is, a standard module with extra fields, a layout or a picklist value may be enough.
- Build a custom module when you track a distinct kind of record with its own fields and its own relationships, such as a policy, a property or a project.
- Write down how the new module relates to Accounts, Contacts and Deals before creating it, since deletion cannot be undone.
- Check the module count and field limits for your edition so you do not hit a cap mid-project.
- Test in a sandbox or on a small data set before importing real records.
