Subforms - An Overview
In simple terms, a subform is a secondary form or a table, which will enable you to include multiple line items into a primary form.
Your CRM data are often inter-dependent. Often, you may have the necessity to associate multiple items to a single record. In technical lingo, we call these "line items". For example, while ordering a mobile phone, a customer may place the order for accessories such as mobile charger, flip cover and a microphone - along with the main product. So, these become "sub-products". While customer A orders these three accessories, customer B may order another 5. Each accessory may require essential information such as amount, rate, quantity, discount and so on.
This Accessories section in itself becomes a form - where you ask for details such as name of the accessory, price, quantity, vendor and so on. So essentially you have two forms:
- A primary product form, which contains details about the main order: mobile phone.
- A sub product form, which contains details about the associated accessories. This is nothing but a subform in CRM.
The common scenarios wherein you can use the subform are in these sectors:
- Sales Sector: A subform to associate contact details to accounts
If you have many contacts that you are working with in a specific company, create a subform to jot down the details of the contacts.
- Education Sector: A subform to associate academic details to a student
A Student application form may require the applicant to fill a complete section on Academic Details and Previous employment details, if any. This may contain details about the employer, job title, description and so on. While the primary form is still all about the student, the subform is a table with details about previous companies and associated information.
- Insurance Sector: A subform to associate dependent details to an applicant
A life insurance form may ask an applicant to fill dependent details - this section would be a form in itself with details required such as Dependent Name, Age, Sex and other identity related information. While the primary form is still about the insurance policy holder, the subform is a table with details about his/her dependents.
- Real Estate Sector: A subform to associate References details in a rental application form
A house rental or lease form could contain a section on Floor Plans. These could require details such as apartments, description, area etc. While the primary form is still about a property, the sub form could be about details about the houses under this property.
Other Advantages:
1. Can add different types of fields including:
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a: Lookup field. So can select fields which are located in other modules.
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b: Formula field. However, formula field value can only be calculated based on the sub form, not from the primary/parent form.
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c: Can show the aggregate value (such as: SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN) if the field is a Number, Currency, Decimal, or Percent.
2. Can create reports to show the sub form data with primary/parent's data
3. Sub form records can be fetched by using Zoho CRM custom function: zoho.crm.getRecordById("ModuleName", Primary/Parent Record ID)
You can click this link
to find more details from Zoho CRM website.