Announcing a change to how null values in formulas are computed in Zoho CRM

As you all know, the formula field is a versatile field that enables you to perform varied computations, from simple math to concatenation to field value comparisons.

To learn more about the different capabilities of formula fields, read Data types in formula fields.

What's the change?

Previously, if the value of a participating field was empty, the formula field considered its value to be "0". This is logically incorrect, as zero is a value, whereas null/blank is the absence of a value, which are not the same. This has resulted in erroneous calculations.

We've fixed this behavior.

Henceforth, any formula field without a value will not be computed. The returning value in the formula field will be blank.

Let's understand using an example.

Zylker storage is a physical unit that rents out storage spaces. To help visitors know the price beforehand, Zylker has configured a formula field.

Formula: Rent= No. of storage units * price * duration

Syntax: (${Leads.Price per unit}*${Leads.Number of units}*${Leads.Period of storage required})

As you can see from the image, the "Period of storage required" or duration field is empty. CRM used to consider no value to be 0 and returned 0.

After the update, the rent field will be blank, per the corrected logic.

In cases where the zero or blank value doesn't impact the output (for example: addition), the calculated output will consider a lack of input as zero.

Formula: Rent= (No. of storage units * price * duration) + tax

Syntax: (${Leads.Price per unit}*${Leads.Number of units}*${Leads.Period of storage required})+${Leads.Tax}

In the above image, you can see that even if the tax field is empty, it doesn't hinder the calculation, and so the formula calculates the rent in this case.

That's all for this announcement. We'll roll this behavior out to all users in all DCs shortly. To learn more about formulas, read Building Formula Fields  .

• Related Articles

• Zoho CRM: Introducing Rollup summary

  Hello All, We hope you're well! We're here with an exciting update that goes right into CRM's core capabilities. It's called the Rollup summary. Let's go! Your CRM is a vast database with well-connected data sources, where you can access both the ...

• Zoho CRM: Global Sets

  Hello all, We are thrilled to announce Global picklists, a much awaited feature for CRM Admins! As administrators who implement and manage CRM solutions, you may have dealt with picklists that are present across multiple modules and have the same ...

• Zoho CRM : Compliance Made Easy for Email Authentication

  We are introducing you with significant updates to enhance email authentication and verification processes across Zoho CRM and other Zoho services. These changes aim to bolster security, ensure compliance with industry standards, and improve user ...

• Zoho CRM: The Canvas Record Form for Enhanced Customization

  Zoho announced Zoho Crm innovation with Canvas functionality now extends to record forms, enabling you to personalize record entries with the power of Canvas! Enhancing CRM Interactions with CanvasIn the heart of any CRM lies the ability to manage ...

• Zoho Analytics 6.0 Beta: A New Era in Data Analytics

  Zoho has introduced Zoho Analytics 6.0 Beta, a significant upgrade tailored to the diverse needs of business users, data analysts, data engineers, and data scientists. This version incorporates extensive user and market feedback, offering innovative ...