WORKFLOW: AUTOMATING THE PROCESS

Abstract Begin by designing workflow actions, such as email alerts, tasks, field updates, and outbound
Your company oper- messages. Then configure workflow rules and approval processes that determine the conditions
ates more efficiently under which Salesforce executes the actions.
with standardized in-
ternal procedures and
automated business
processes. Set up Creating Workflow Tasks
Salesforce to automat-
ically perform these
procedures and pro- Workflow tasks assign a new task to a user, role, or record owner. For example, automatically assign
cesses based on your follow-up tasks to a support representative one week after a case is updated.
organization’s work- To get started with workflow tasks, click Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals
flow. > Tasks.

• The type of record you choose determines the rules that you can associate with the workflow
task. Workflow tasks can only be associated with workflow rules or approval processes for the
same type of record: contact, account, lead, and so on.
• If you assign a workflow task to an opportunity team role containing more than one person,
the owner of the record that triggered the rule becomes the task assignee.
• If a workflow task is assigned to a role containing more than one person, the owner of the record
that triggered the rule becomes the task assignee.
• Workflow tasks assigned to an empty role are reassigned to the person who triggered the rule.
• Distinguish your workflow-generated tasks from other tasks by starting the subject with some
workflow notation.
• Before deleting a workflow task, check if any workflow rules or approval processes are using it.
• Avoid assigning workflow tasks to roles with multiple users.

Creating Email Alerts

Best Practices Email alerts send an email to one or more recipients you specify. For example, automatically send
• Before deleting a workflow sales management an email alert when a sales representative qualifies a large deal.
alert, check if any workflow
rules or approval processes To get started with workflow alerts, create email templates for your workflow alerts, then click
are using it. Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals > Email Alerts.
• Create a standardized
letterhead to use for all the • Add additional recipients that are not Salesforce users, leads, or contacts.
email templates you use for • Specify which template the email alert uses.
workflow alerts.
• Unlike workflow tasks, workflow alerts that are set up to email a role occupied by more than
one person will send an email to each person in that role.
• Insert a link to a case or opportunity using merge fields in email templates.

Last updated: October 20, 2012

 Workflow: Automating the Process

Defining Field Updates

Best Practices Field updates change the value of a field. For example, automatically change the Owner field on a
• Avoid associating more than contract three days before it expires.
one field update with a rule
or approval process that To get started with field updates, click Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals
applies different values to the > Field Updates.
same field.
• Before you begin, check the • Create field updates for standard or custom objects.
type of the field you want to • To use a formula, avoid choosing a checkbox or picklist field because updates based on formulas
update. Read-only fields like
are not supported for these field types.
formula or auto-number
fields are not available for • Use the same operators and functions you use for custom formula fields when your field update
field updates. is based on a formula.
• To replace a field’s value with a blank value, make sure the field is not required.
• Before deleting a field update, check if any workflow rules or approval processes use it.

Defining Outbound Messages

Best Practices Outbound messages send a secure configurable API message in XML format to a designated
• Before deleting an outbound listener. For example, automatically initiate the reimbursement process for an approved expense
message, check if any report by triggering an outbound API message to an external HR system.
workflow rules or approval
processes use it. To get started with outbound messages, click Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow &
• Give outbound messages a Approvals > Outbound Messages.
description that makes it
easy for other users to tell • If you do not see these options, your organization may not have outbound messaging enabled.
what it does. Contact salesforce.com to enable outbound messaging.
• You can include the session ID in your outbound message.
• Create outbound messages for standard or custom objects.
• Outbound messages are sent as a Salesforce user. Determine the user to use when sending your
outbound message.

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 Workflow: Automating the Process

Creating Workflow Rules

Best Practices Workflow rules schedule and execute workflow actions when records meet specified criteria. For
• Before configuring workflow example, automatically send an email alert to the account team of a high-value opportunity ten
rules, click Your Name > days before its close date, or assign follow-up tasks to a support representative two hours after a
Setup > Create > Workflow
case is updated.
& Approvals > Settings and
set the default workflow To get started with workflow rules, click Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals
user.
> Workflow Rules.
• To monitor pending
time-dependent actions and • Specify the criteria that determine when Salesforce executes the workflow rule. Any change
cancel them if necessary,
click Your Name > Setup
that causes a record to match this criteria can trigger the workflow rule—even changes to hidden
> Monitoring > fields.
Time-Based Workflow. • Saving or creating records can trigger more than one rule.
• Your sharing model may prevent users from viewing records associated with workflow tasks.
• To configure a workflow rule with scheduled actions, add time triggers and associate actions
with them. The associated actions are time-dependent, executing according to the time trigger
when a record matches the workflow rule criteria.
• You can add time triggers to a workflow rule if all of the following are true:

◊ The evaluation criteria is not set to Evaluate the rule when a record is: created, and every
time it’s edited.
◊ The rule is inactive.
◊ The rule does not have pending actions in the workflow queue.

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 Workflow: Automating the Process

Creating Approval Processes

Best Practices Create simple or sophisticated multi-step approval processes that automate any authorization process
• Design workflow actions so in your company, such as expense reports, vacation requests, and discount requests.
that you can use them for
both workflow rules and To get started with approval processes, click Your Name > Setup > Create > Workflow &
approval processes. Approvals > Approval Processes.
• Before you begin creating an
approval process, draw a • Approval processes are different from workflow rules in that users must submit a record for
diagram of the steps in your approval whereas workflow rules fire when their conditions are met.
approval process.
• Each approval process specifies the steps necessary for a record to be approved and who must
• Test your approval process
in your Salesforce Sandbox
approve it at each step.
before activating it. • A step can apply to all records included in the process, or just records that have certain attributes.
• Clone processes to create
similar ones more quickly. You can use the Process Visualizer to:
• Educate your users on the
criteria a record must meet
• Display a flowchart of each saved approval process.
to be submitted. Salesforce • Improve communication about the approval process and gain buy-in from step owners.
displays an error message Reinforce your company's policies by documenting the decisions you reached when the approval
•
when users click Submit if
the record does not apply to process was designed.
any active processes. • Print an annotated version of the approval process, where numbers added to the diagram
• After creating approval correspond to details in a table, which is included in the printable view.
processes, use the graphical
Process Visualizer to
• Share approval process diagrams by saving annotated versions as PDF files (requires an Adobe®
visualize and understand the PDF print driver).
defined flow and decisions. • Help you quickly locate key details by searching multi-step or complex diagrams for matching
text.
• Help you visualize and understand graphically:

◊ The steps necessary for a record to be approved.

◊ The designated approvers for each step.
◊ The criteria used to trigger the approval process.
◊ The specific actions to take when a record is approved, rejected, recalled, or first submitted
for approval.