ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?
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My company is really pushing for a database/reporting option that will replace two messy but company critical spreadsheets. I'm the SOLO IT Director/Person but they decided to go around me to a building engineer who has C# experience to see if he can program it. But between his normal duties and the time needed to do this, he passed. But he lead them to Zoho Creator so they are turning it back over to me, despite some of my concerns with it. But it is what it is and I have to move forward with it (and a whole other discussion). My concerns about ZoHo were the cost per user for what little they will use it for and Zoho's slow support and forum moderation. I tried to look for options within our Office 365 Enterprise E1 that would be as easy as ZoHo but I couldn't.
The main spreadsheet has always shown the deliveries with the customer in the rows and details about the deliveries like colors, date, miles, dollars, etc in the columns. The current sheet separates the weeks of deliveries by a simple black line and at the bottom of the sheet is the year to date dollar totals to show the owner of the company. This is pretty much the sheet he drives off of to know how sales are. The other sheet shows what is yet needed to deliver a job. All the data I've so far imported into the database on Zoho will let me create these two reports and other options.
The problem I have is I can't get find documentation on how to do things in ZoHo to make it report like the spreadsheet. Sure, a lot of it is simple but finding documentation in ZoHo or getting a response in email or forums is difficult.
I'd love some opinions on ZoHo but I don't think my company will change from this now. So, overall, I'm looking on how to get more detailed reporting as described above and to make it print and look neat.
Thanks...
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vFront is likely what you want.
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Not used Zoho Creator. I like Zoho overall, but things like that I feel are just really bad ideas. But we have developers, so we don't have the limitations that some companies have, either.
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@scottalanmiller said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
vFront is likely what you want.
@scottalanmiller said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
Not used Zoho Creator. I like Zoho overall, but things like that I feel are just really bad ideas. But we have developers, so we don't have the limitations that some companies have, either.
I'll check out vFront. But might be a moot point unless I can whip something up real quick. I'm still taking baby steps in improving my dev skills
I think ZoHo is going to be a waste of money if we are going to end up just dumping back to Excel to format (which my boss suggested if ZoHo can't make reports like we want.)
I'm just surprised there isn't an active community for ZoHo. My forum posts seem to be in limbo on their official forums.
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@garak0410 said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
@scottalanmiller said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
vFront is likely what you want.
@scottalanmiller said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
Not used Zoho Creator. I like Zoho overall, but things like that I feel are just really bad ideas. But we have developers, so we don't have the limitations that some companies have, either.
I'll check out vFront. But might be a moot point unless I can whip something up real quick. I'm still taking baby steps in improving my dev skills
I think ZoHo is going to be a waste of money if we are going to end up just dumping back to Excel to format (which my boss suggested if ZoHo can't make reports like we want.)
I'm just surprised there isn't an active community for ZoHo. My forum posts seem to be in limbo on their official forums.
vFront requires no dev skills, it's like Access but using sensible components.
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@garak0410 said in ZoHo Creator - Anyone Using It?:
I'm just surprised there isn't an active community for ZoHo. My forum posts seem to be in limbo on their official forums.
Not surprising, what would such a community have in it?
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Drupal can do this really well but if may be more work than you’re after.
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Zoho Creator is good I also use Quickbase
Personally, I like using Zoho Social to merge into Creator so you kinda get the best of two worlds.
Low Code tools are almost all the same in most general cases so if you have excel or word docs that need to have a better structure and do some automation, low code tools are the way to go.
The tool can make whatever you want as long as you design it right. I use a preferred partner for apps that I need additional help with so I have a win/win scenario.
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@scottalanmiller I've never heard of vFront but it sounds like it is not in the same category with Zoho and Quickbase. Zoho definitely is a good product and while I haven't had to deal with support as much (I have but limited) that is why when you have issues consider getting a partner in their network. It's not a monthly thing for a partner unless you want it to be.
The app you have sounds like it could be made in as little as 2 weeks or as much as a few months compared to going with a traditional development cycle. However, I do have one gripe, that's Shadow IT and also over zealous power users who make bad business decisions when it comes to low code environments. Short of that little to no problems.
Just for you to gauge my level of usage, I have developed over 30 apps which are being used by my staff and other offices, DOL, DOJ and a few other county and state entities. 95% of my development is in Quickbase but I do have time and play with Zoho and Podio and now also AppSheet.
When it comes to this you have also have Google App Maker and Microsoft Power Apps which are all good in certain ways.
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When it comes to Zoho Creator, like many apps you may see around the interwebs, most companies have moved to a layout which is a 2 or 3-panel layout which is a big plus for me. I use Quickbase and the design layout kinda is lacking, however, with their new CEO came a newfound investment in ironing out some layout issues and simple api issues.
My biggest reason for loving Zoho creator would be how it integrates with what I consider to be a life blood for some smaller companies which is basically Zoho Social and Zoho Connect. That helps enable communication to your clients/customers (Social) and inter-communication (Connect). In comparison, it is what Facebook for Workplace is going to become in the future.
Zoho has actual phone apps (big plus) while Quickbase doesnt (just a web app with a style sheet change). I love Podio in that it is built up from the ground up to be mobile app and web friendly and quick to extend it's functionality.
I would assume the key features your looking at are:
-custom reporting
-easy of development
-cost sensitivity
-what you consider as mail mergeI re-read your OP and I want to say if you're just trying to make a tabular/spreadsheet report out the box Zoho does that just as much as anyone else in low-code dev.
Sounds like you may be trying to wing it and just push through, but I would suggest watching the webinars (which they have tons on their site and youtube). Also 3rd party people like myself make youtube videos as well detailing the design/development process. It is there just one quick google
Also I don't mind helping wherever I can!!!
