What?
So this is a pretty cool feature in Zoho CRM that I hadn't used much but definitely worth an article. The ability to block field picklist options from being selected based on the profile of a user.

Why?
There were several alternatives we considered beforehand which still didn't fit the requirement: A client's first-line agents would have a lead record with the status "New Lead". The client wanted that if the status had changed to something else, the first-line agent would not be allowed to set it back to "New Lead". Automations and workflows could however (run as Administrators). Mapping a dependency field didn't fit the bill because we want "Lead Status" to be displayed to the first-line agents. Making this field read-only to first-line agents also wouldn't help as some of the options should be selectable. Two separate fields weren't quite right either: 1 as read-only (permission only to higher level) and 1 picklist as selectable means that the first-line agent would be referring to 2 status fields and not really knowing which one defines the stage the lead is at.

How?
Well this can be done through a validation rule. After working in Zoho CRM for over 3 years, this is the first time I'm using it so I'm documenting it.

For this example, we're going to use my use-case scenario mentioned earlier: first-line agents can't select a specific option in the Lead Status picklist:

  1. Login to ZohoCRM > Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Leads
  2. Select "Validation Rules" and cick on "New Validation Rule"
  3. Choose the layout, this has to be the highest level (I think) as a custom lead layout didn't work
  4. Choose field to validate > Select "Lead Status"
  5. Choose validation type as "Validate using function" and click on "Next"
  6. For functions, select "Write your own"
  7. Give it a function name, eg. "fn_Validation_LeadStatusChange", a display name, eg. "Fn - Validation - Lead Status Change", and a description...
  8. You will be presented with a deluge IDE editor. I'm putting in the following code: 
    /* *******************************************************************************
Function:       fn_Validate_LeadStatusChange
Trigger:        Function executed when a record is changed
Inputs:         String crmAPIRequest
Outputs:        output message to user

Date Created:   2022-02-11 (JoelLipman.com - Joel Lipman)
                - Initial release
                - Checks the user profile of the logged-in user and allows the change or not
******************************************************************************* */
// 
// declare
m_Output = Map();
v_UserID = 0;
v_UserProfile = "";
l_DisallowedProfiles = List({"Agent"});
l_DisallowedOptions = List({"New Lead","Appointment Booked","Lead Confirmed"});
//
// capture event
m_Webhook = crmAPIRequest.toMap();
//
// check if user info is provided
if(!isnull(m_Webhook.get("user_info")))
{
	//
	// extract user ID
	v_UserID = m_Webhook.get("user_info").get("id").toLong();
}
//
// if user ID was extracted sucessfully
if(v_UserID != 0)
{
	//
	// get user details (we need the profile)
	r_UserDetails = zoho.crm.getRecordById("users",v_UserID);
	if(!isnull(r_UserDetails.get("users")))
	{
		for each  r_User in r_UserDetails.get("users")
		{
			if(!isnull(r_User.get("profile")))
			{
				v_UserProfile = r_User.get("profile").get("name");
				break;
			}
		}
	}
}
//
// get field value that we want to check for
v_LeadStatus = "";
if(!isnull(m_Webhook.get("record")))
{
	//
	// extract lead status
	v_LeadStatus = ifnull(m_Webhook.get("record").get("Lead_Status"),"");
}
//
// if user profile is not allowed to make this change
m_Output.put("status","success");
if(v_LeadStatus != "")
{
	if(l_DisallowedProfiles.contains(v_UserProfile) && l_DisallowedOptions.contains(v_LeadStatus))
	{
		m_Output.put("message","Your user profile does not allow you to change the lead status back to \"" + v_LeadStatus + "\"");
		m_Output.put("status","error");
	}
}
//
// return response
return m_Output;
  9. Click "Save" and Done!
Yields:
Alert advising user not permitted to change lead status

Additional Note(s):
  • If the user's profile is blank, the rule will not apply to them.
    l_Disallowed = List();
l_Disallowed.add("Joel");
if(l_Disallowed.contains(""))
{
	info "Yay";
}
else 
{
	info "Nay";
}
// yields "Nay"
//
v_DisallowedString = "Joel";
if(v_DisallowedString.contains(""))
{
	info "Yay";
}
else 
{
	info "Nay";
}
// yields "Yay"
//

Source(s):