A smart process (SPA) in Bitrix24 is a constructor for your own CRM entities: a custom card type with its own fields, stages and kanban for records that are not really leads, deals or tasks. Contracts, procurement, complaints, recruiting and equipment handover all fit. Smart processes accept the same automation rules and workflows as deals. This guide covers when a smart process is justified, how to create one and how to automate it.
What is a smart process — and how is it different from a deal?
A deal is a sale: it has an amount, a pipeline and a client, and the whole interface is built around moving toward payment. A smart process is an empty frame: you decide which fields, stages and links it has. A warranty complaint is not "sold", and a purchase request has no client — forcing them into deals means noise in sales reports and fields that make no sense. Smart process items are stored separately, get their own pipelines and kanban, link to contacts, companies and deals, and are served by the same universal REST API (crm.item.*) as the rest of the CRM.
When are deals enough — and when do you need a smart process?
Signs that a process deserves its own entity: the records are not about money (complaints, documents, assets); they need a stage set that does not match the sales pipeline; they need reporting that should not mix with sales; or one deal spawns several parallel sub-processes — contract, installation, training. If all you want is a second sales pipeline, deal pipelines already cover that, and a smart process only adds maintenance. The practical test: picture the records inside your sales report. If they obviously do not belong there, they belong in a smart process.
How do I create a smart process?
Open the CRM settings and find the smart process section. Name the new entity and enable the blocks you need: stages and kanban, client fields, links to deals, tasks — and the workflows toggle, which matters most: without it, automation rules and workflows are unavailable for the entity. Then add custom fields and configure the stages. The smart process appears in the CRM menu as its own section with a kanban; items are created manually, through the REST API, or by a robot fired from another entity.
How do I automate a smart process with robots?
Open the smart process kanban and switch to the Automation rules view — setup is the same as in deals: pick a stage and add an action, stock or installed from the Market (the basics are in the automation rules guide). Roboteka robots appear in smart processes after install too. Typical patterns: on a review stage, the Compound condition (AND / OR / NOT) robot checks several fields at once with AND/OR grouping and returns a single Y/N to branch on; and a deal workflow can locate the linked smart process item with the Find smart process item robot — it searches by stage, assigned user or a custom JSON filter and returns the item ID and title, the match count and a found flag for the next steps.
What are the common mistakes with smart processes?
The first is creating a smart process for something the product already covers: repeat sales fit deal pipelines, internal employee requests fit tasks. The second is forgetting to enable workflows when creating the entity: the toggle can be switched on later in the settings, but teams often work by hand for weeks, not understanding why the Automation rules view is missing. The third is piling every field into one entity instead of linking smart processes: a card with forty fields is worse than two linked cards with twenty.
Where to go from here
Smart processes turn Bitrix24 from a sales CRM into a platform for any record-keeping process — and the automation is shared with deals: automation rules, workflows, triggers. Start with one process that lives in a spreadsheet today, move its stages into a kanban, and add two or three robots from the robot catalog on the key transitions. If one is missing, describe the task — we build the robot for free and add it to the shared library.