Digital Box Case Study: Zoho CRM

At a glance

Enquiries to SOW in one pipeline

Project stages with approvals

Milestones billed on completion

Support handled as tickets

The challenge

What Digital Box needed to fix

Digital Box is a Jordanian digital agency building websites and apps and running marketing. Work moves from discovery and a statement of work to delivery stages, milestone billing and ongoing support retainers.

Discovery to SOWProposals and SOWs had to follow discovery quickly.
Project stagesDelivery ran in stages with time and cost approvals.
Milestone billingInvoices followed project milestones.
Support retainersOngoing support needed tickets and recurring billing.

Team meeting around a boardroom table during a presentation. Photo credit

Before and after

What changed for the team

BeforeAfter

Proposals and SOWs had to follow discovery quickly

Enquiry, discovery and SOW run in one Zoho CRM pipeline

Delivery ran in stages that needed time and cost approvals

Project stages carry timesheets and approvals in Zoho Projects

Client invoices had to be raised in line with project milestones

Milestones are billed from Zoho Books on completion

Ongoing support work needed both ticket handling and recurring billing

Support is handled as Zoho Desk tickets with retainer invoices

How it works

The business process, step by step

01
Enquiry
Enquiries from the website contact forms land in Zoho CRM, where the sales team reviews each one and records the contact, their organisation and what they are looking for.
02
Discovery
The team runs discovery with the client to gather requirements, and the findings are recorded against the opportunity in Zoho CRM to shape the proposal.
03
Proposal and SOW
A proposal and statement of work are prepared and agreed in Zoho CRM. When the client signs, the won deal creates the project in Zoho Projects.
04
Project stages
Delivery runs in stages in Zoho Projects. The team logs timesheets against each stage, and time and cost approvals are handled in the project before a stage is closed.
05
Milestone invoice
When a project milestone is completed, finance bills it through Zoho Books as a milestone invoice, linked to the project so billing follows actual delivery.
06
Support and retainers
After launch, support emails become tickets in Zoho Desk, retainer clients are billed on recurring invoices in Zoho Books, and Zoho Analytics reports project profitability.

The solution

What we built for Digital Box

Shyphan delivered the project on Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, Zoho Books, Zoho Desk and Zoho Analytics, covering a 6-step process with 4 integration points.

Enquiries, proposals and SOWs

Zoho CRM interface — Zoho CRM product screenshot, for illustration

Stages, timesheets and approvals

Zoho Projects interface — Zoho Projects product screenshot, for illustration

Support tickets

Zoho Desk interface — Zoho Desk product screenshot, for illustration

Project profitability

Zoho Analytics interface — Zoho Analytics product screenshot, for illustration

Milestone and retainer invoices

Who uses it

Sales and account managers

Capture enquiries, run discovery and agree proposals and statements of work in Zoho CRM

Project managers

Plan delivery stages in Zoho Projects, review timesheets and approve time and cost per stage

Delivery team

Log time against project stages and tasks in Zoho Projects as the work progresses

Finance team

Raise milestone and retainer invoices in Zoho Books linked to each client project

Support team

Handle support emails as Zoho Desk tickets for clients on ongoing support retainers

Architecture

How the systems connect

InputsContact formsSupport inboxSigned SOWs

Delivered by Shyphan

OutputsMilestone invoicesRetainer invoicesProfitability reports

Integrations

Contact forms to CRM
Enquiries captured.
Won deal to Projects
Projects created on signature.
Milestones to Books
Milestones billed.
Support inbox to Desk
Emails become tickets.

Reports and dashboards

Project profitability

Revenue billed against time and cost logged per project, reported in Zoho Analytics

Sales pipeline

Enquiries, proposals and SOWs by stage and client in Zoho CRM

Milestone billing

Completed milestones and their invoice status in Zoho Books per project

Support tickets

Open and resolved Zoho Desk tickets for each retainer client

The results

What the system does now

Enquiries to SOW in one pipeline
Project stages with approvals
Milestones billed on completion
Support handled as tickets

Delivery

Five phases, discovery to support

01
Discovery
Process mapping, documents and data reviewed with each team.
02
Design
Target flow agreed across 5 apps and 4 integration points.
03
Build
Apps configured, custom logic built and integrations connected.
04
Test and train
User acceptance testing with real scenarios and role-based training.
05
Go-live and support
Cut-over, hypercare and ongoing improvements.

Local rules built in

General sales tax

Sales tax applied correctly on invoices.

JoFotara readiness

Invoices structured for Jordan’s e-invoicing system.

Access control

Role-based access with audit logs.

FAQ

Questions about this project

How does a signed deal turn into a project?

When a proposal and SOW are signed, the won deal in Zoho CRM creates a project in Zoho Projects. The delivery team starts from the agreed scope, and stages, timesheets and approvals are tracked from that point.

How are milestone invoices triggered?

Project milestones in Zoho Projects are linked to Zoho Books. When a milestone is completed, it is billed as a milestone invoice, so invoicing follows delivery and each invoice can be traced to the project stage it covers.

How is ongoing support managed after launch?

Emails to the support inbox become tickets in Zoho Desk, so each request is logged and assigned. Clients on support retainers are billed through retainer invoices in Zoho Books, keeping support work and its billing connected.

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Digital Box

What Digital Box needed to fix

What changed for the team

The business process, step by step

Enquiry

Discovery

Proposal and SOW

Project stages

Milestone invoice

Support and retainers