Automation with Flow
Navigating automation and all its possibilities can be a tough challenge, especially using a comprehensive platform such as Salesforce. With this article, we attempt to give you enough clarity to either have a go at trying automations for your org, or at least get some good grounding on what you would like and how you would like it implemented by specialists like us.
The first point of order is a reminder of why automation is a good idea. It frees your time (and your team's time) up to focus on more meaningful tasks, and it ensures that the process you want in place is always followed 100% of the time.
The second most important piece of information you need to know right away is that Salesforce tools do not need you to write code - meaning both the learning curve and the readability of the processes built are very friendly.
What kind of automation is the right one for me?
Now, to the interesting part. The beauty and the bane of Salesforce is that there is a solution for everything that is relevant to your particular business, you only have to put some work into forging it.
Automation is so paramount in today's world that Salesforce has made it available for all editions, with some differences:
Processes and flows are available in: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Approvals and Workflow are available in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
So here are your automation building blocks:
Approvals
Process Builder
Flow Builder
Workflow
A couple of key differences between processes and flows:
Processes run in the background — you just see the results when they are finished
Flows are interactive — they can request input from the user and branch to a different action depending on that input
Processes are triggered by an event like a record being created or updated
Flows are triggered by the user doing things like clicking on a button or a link
Salesforce wants you to succeed, which is why they give you a super detailed breakdown of all the feats and actions you can take depending on what tool you are using and what is the purpose of your automation.
This table should be more than enough for you to figure out if you can achieve what you need with what you currently have. As per everything else, you can always get in touch with us and we can help you navigate through the different options and give you a clear pathway to follow.
If you want to dig deeper on your own and learn more about all the tools, your best option is to read through the thorough documentation that Salesforce has made available to everyone, and complete the most relevant paths on their Trailhead (see the Useful Resources section at the end of this article).
Flow Solutions: a dedicated category on Appexchange
Another powerful solution that Salesforce has made available to all its clients is the Flow Solutions category on their Appexchange.
They are partner-built integrations designed to simplify the flow building process by making it easier to create flows that connect with and perform actions on third-party systems without requiring additional integration or code.
Examples of available Flow Actions include accepting a credit card payment, conducting a credit check, checking the weather forecast, and adding a video player.
