Zoho CRM Field of Lookup

Zoho CRM Field of Lookup

Lookup fields enable users to associate records between two modules. Let's say, for example, you have two modules: Students and Courses. By adding a lookup field called Course type in the Students module, users can select a course when a new student record is created or added in Zoho CRM, as well as view the list of students enrolled in a particular course in the Courses module's related list.
 
While the Course type lookup field displays the names of the courses in which a student has expressed interest, in instances when you want to view more details—such as course fee, course duration, subjects, course instructor, and so on—you can use the field of lookup module option.

Business scenarios

  1. View additional details of a contact in the Deals module
    Sales associates can view a contact's email address, phone number, referrer, and—alongside the primary lookup field—the contact's name. They can also view the values in these fields in a report created for the Deals module.
  2. Find the loan applications approved by a certain approver
    In the Applications module, adding a loan approver field can help agents quickly find the email address, role, and other details of the person who approved an application. Including a loan approver's email address field in the layout via the field of lookup option can also be helpful. Agents can also filter records on modules' list view pages based on the lookup field or the fields of lookup field added in the module. 

Working with field of lookup 

Field of lookup modules can be used in the following steps.
  1. Identifying and selecting the field - Depending on your business requirement, you need to identify and select the specific fields from the lookup module that needs to be added.
    For example, course fee, course duration, instructor, etc.
  2. Choosing the method to relate the fields - Once you have identified and selected the field from the lookup module to associate, you need to choose whether to map this with an existing field in the primary module, for example, course instructor, or add as a new field, like course fee, or course duration.
NOTES:
  1. While mapping fields, only similar field types will be listed for selection. Similarly, and adding new fields, fields with similar data types will be created.
  2. You will have the option of similar field types, when it comes to mapping the fields. However, there are certain exceptions like Picklist, Multi-Select, Auto-Number, Lookup, Formula, User Lookup and Record owner, etc.
    Lookup module fields (parent module)
    Field type newly created or fields listed for mapping
    Picklist
    		Single line
    Multi-select
    Multi-line (small)
    Auto-number
    Single-line
    Lookup
    Lookup or single line
    Formula
    Field type will be decided based on the return type of the formula field
    User lookup and record owner
    User lookup or Single-line

Adding a field of lookup 

To add field of lookup
  1. Log into your Zoho CRM account with Admin privileges, and click on the setup icon (  )
  2. Navigate to Customization and then to Modules and Fields.
  3. Select the module and go to the layout editor.
  4. Click the More icon next to the lookup field.
  5. Click Add field of lookup module.
  6. In the Field of lookup module page, click Add Fields.
  7. Choose a field from the lookup module.
  8. In How do you want to relate the field value with the [Contacts] module?, check either Add as new field or Map with existing Fields.
  9. If you choose Add as new field, enter the field name where you want the value to be added.
  10. If you choose to Map with existing fields, choose the field to which you want to map.

  11. Click Done.
  12. The added field(s) will be displayed in the Field of lookup module page. The relationship type will show if the field is added or mapped.
  13. Click + Add Fields, to include more fields.
  14. You can add upto 5 fields.
  15. Click Save.
  16. Click Save and Close, to exit the layout editor. 

Points to remember 

Data population

  1. For importing records - During import, the values for field of lookup fields are populated based on the values present in the imported file. Only if the value is empty, it will be populated based on Lookup record.In case the field value is empty then the system will check if any values are present for these fields in the existing lookup records and replace it. For example, while importing deals, if the contact's phone is empty in the field, then the phone number present in the contact record will be captured directly.
  2. During Lead conversion - When a lead is converted and a contact, account or deal is created, then the values of the related fields will be populated from the mapped fields in the leads module. However, if the fields have empty values then, value form the lookup will be populated.
  3. Updating records in the lookup module - The FOL field values will be populated only when the record is updated in the lookup field.
    When the related field in the parent module record is updated it doesn't change the value in the field of lookup fields.
    Similarly, when the field of lookup field is updated it doesn't change the value of the mapped field in the parent module.
  4. The field of lookup module will not be listed in the Find and merge - During find and merge, only the lookup fields will be listed and based on the lookup value that is updated in the master record, the data in FOL will be populated.
  5. During mass owner updates, the related data will be populated in all the FOL fields.
  6. Value in a field of lookup field will be populated if it has both Read-write and Read-only permission. 

Configurations side

  1. Unsupported Fields - The field of lookup is not supported for multi-select lookup, file upload, multi-user fields, or image upload fields.
  2. Parent lookup field is moved to unused fields/deleted - The dependent fields added to the module layout as fields of lookup will also be moved to unused fields. However, the relationship will still exist.
    If the parent lookup field is deleted from the layout, the dependent fields would still be available, but the relation for the field of lookup will not be existing.
  3. These fields cannot be marked as "Unique" fields.
  4. The character limit of the FOL fields is determined based on the parent field - After the field of lookup fields are created, the character limit of those fields cannot be edited and will be dependent on the parent field.
  5. Fields that are added to a layout via the field of lookup option cannot be updated through the field update option available in automation or process management such as workflows, blueprint, CommandCenter etc. 
    Similarly, if a field is used in one of those field update actions, it won't be listed to map under a field of lookup.
  6. System-defined fields can not be a field of lookup field.
  7. When multi-currency is enabled, the currency value populated in the FOL is based on the record currency and exchange rate present in the current record.
  8. If the value is changed in the parent field, the value in FOL won't be changed, and if the value in the child is changed, the value in the parent will not be changed, i.e. 2- way sync is not possible.

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