Coming in the Salesforce Summer ’21 release is a new way to add fields to a flow screen element.
Instead of manually configuring and adding new fields to a Screen element, you can use the new Fields selector.
Now, before you get too excited about this there are two conditions:
You need to be using Summer ’21 edition
You need to have a variable representing a single record
This is a beta feature in Salesforce Summer ’21 which is available in pre-release orgs now, in preview orgs from May 7 and in your production orgs between May 15 and June 12.
Being a beta feature means you can test it in your sandboxes but it is not recommended for production use.
The second condition is having a variable that represents a single record. Let’s take a look at what this means:
Here is a simple screen flow that has a Get Records element:
The element is configured to only get the first record (so it meets the condition of a variable containing a single record). It does this by passing in recordId (the ID of the page we started this flow from).
Next, we add a Screen element:
The new Fields (beta) function is now available:
Select the Fields (Beta) tab (1) and then in the Record Variable field (2), specify the record variable that contains the fields we want:
The available fields are now displayed, separated into Required Fields and the regular fields:
The available fields can now be dragged across to the screen element. No longer do you have to manually create and configure new fields!
You will need to add an Update or Create records element to update or create new records – but at least the creation of new fields on a screen is simplified.
I had a challenge today at work. I needed to display a list of Open Opportunities and Open Cases for any given Account. The aim was to give an account manager a quick view of what Opportunities and Cases were currently in progress for the Account before they touched base with their key contact.
At first, I thought I could just use a related list, but I only wanted the open opportunities and cases, not the whole lot. I also wanted to only show five (5) records of each so it did not take up too much space on the page. There was no way I could find to filter the related list view and only show a maximum of five records.
I’m not a developer, I think I am allergic to Apex but I’m pretty confident with my Salesforce flow skills. So I started thinking, I could do a get records and only get the open opportunities/cases that are related to this Account. The next problem was how to display them in a compact format and finally how to display a maximum of five records?
That’s where UnofficialSF.com comes to the rescue and Eric Smith’s datatable flow component. This allows me to display the records in a table format and also limit the dislay to the first five records.
Here is the full description of the flow for the Opportunity related list, the case flow is almost identical but uses the case object.
First step is to create a new variable: recordId, of type text with Available for Input checked (so we can pass the account ID into the flow from the account page).
Create a New Variable
Get the Open Opportunities related to the Account (recordId)
Add an Assignment Element to Count how many opportunities were returned
Install the datatable component
Before you can use the datatable component you need to install it (and it’s two dependencies from UnofficialSF.com)
Salesforce is concentrating their future development efforts on Flow, so it’s time to take a good look at the reasons why Flow should be your no-code automation tool of choice on the Salesforce platform.
This is the second in a two-part series designed to help you get started learning flow. If you missed the first part, you can find it here.
Build on your success
Now you have conquered your very first flow, let’s tackle something a little more complex and gradually build up your skills and confidence. Before long you will be over the hump and on your way to tackling more complex flows.
Flow 2: Customer Feedback
The challenge:
We want to get feedback on customer support issues to see how satisfied our customers are with our support service. When we are talking to the customer on the phone and we are closing the case, we will ask three quick questions.
Did we solve your problem?
Did we solve it quickly enough?
How well did we do overall?
For the first questions we have three responses that will earn points towards the total feedback score. The responses can be Yes (2 points), Partially (1 point) or No (0 points).
For the question Did we solve it quickly enough – there is a sliding scale from 1-4 with 4 being the fastest response we could have achieved.
The final question How well did we do overall, also has a scale from 1-4, with 4 being we did an excellent job.
The three questions give a total feedback score out of 10.
We only want the survey to be available once the case is closed. Once the survey has been completed and the total feedback score is recorded, we don’t want the survey to be available again for that case. We do not need to store the responses for the three questions, all we need to keep is the final score.
The survey will not be filled out by the customer, the service agent will do this as they are talking to the customer and closing off the case.
Flow Logic:
Our flow will work something like this. First, we will get the record for the case. We then check if the case has been closed. It must be closed first to get the feedback. If not, we display an error. If the case is closed, we check if the feedback has already been collected, if not we proceed to display the three questions and finally save the new feedback score to the case record.
Create a field on Case to store the result
Before we start building our flow, we need a new number field on the case object to store our feedback score.
The field will have a label of Feedback Score, of type number, length of 2 and zero decimal places:
Create a new Flow
From the setup menu, select Flow and then click New Flow.
Select a Screen Flow:
Step 1: Get Case Record
In this step we will read the case record. We will need to create a variable to pass across the ID of the case we currently have displayed, then we can get the record.
Before we start building our flow, we need to create a few variables, a formula and some choice values for our survey questions.
Variables
To pass the current case record to the flow so we can get the case record and inspect some of the field values, we need to create a new variable named “recordId”. The case of this variable name is very important, the “I” is a capital letter i and the rest must all be lower case. This variable will automatically be populated for us with the value of the current case record.
Click the Manager tab (1), then New Resource (2), and fill out the fields as shown below to create this variable. Note we are making this variable for Input as the value will be passed from the currently displayed case record to the Flow.
We also need variables for the problem_overall score and for problem_solved_quickly. We will use them later but create them now to make life easier. Note we make them available as Output this time because they are going to go out from the Flow and be written back to the case record.
Create a variable of Data Type Number configured as follows:
And one more variable also of type Number:
We should now have three variables:
Get the Case Record
Next, we drag a “Get Records” element onto the canvas (page).
Fill out the details for getCaseRecord as follows:
Step 2: Check if the case is closed
Next, we need to add a Decision element to our canvas and configure it to help check if the case is closed or not:
First, create the CaseClosed outcome:
Next, create the CaseOpen outcome:
Step 2a: If the case is not closed, display error and stop.
If the case is not closed, we can’t add the feedback now so we will display an error and stop the flow.
Drag a Screen element to the canvas:
Configure the Screen element to display an error message:
Next drag a Display Text element into the middle of the screen (1):
Enter the error message (2) and it will be displayed in the middle of our display screen (3).
Step 2b: If the case is closed, continue to step 3.
If the case is closed, we can continue.
Join up the elements we have placed on the canvas:
Step 3: Check if the feedback has been done
Drag another Decision element and configure it to check if the feedback has already been completed. We don’t want to do it again.
Configure the first outcome:
And the second one:
Step 3a: If feedback score > 0, display message and stop.
If the feedback has already been done, we will display a message and stop the flow. Note: This is really not an error, it’s just we have already completed this process and don’t want it repeated.
Drag another screen element to the canvas, then drag a Display Text element into the middle of the screen element and configure as follows:
Step 3b: If feedback score is blank, continue to step 4
If the feedback score is blank, we can continue and collect the feedback.
Join up the new elements we have added:
Step 4: Get the Customer Feedback
This time we need to drag a Screen element to the canvas so we can configure our data input screen that will display and capture the answers to our three questions.
Drag a Radio Button element onto the screen:
For this element, we need to configure as follows:
Next, we will configure the three choices:
Click in the first Choice box and click + New Resource:
Select the type of resource as Choice:
Configure the choice_yes, giving it a Label of “Yes” and a choice value of 2. This means if the customer problem was solved with this case, we add 2 points to the case feedback score.
Repeat the process to add the second choice:
And once more to add the third choice:
The Radio Button choices config should look like this:
Next, we will add the first Slider and configure it:
There is one more section to configure the slider, this is where the value for the slider position (where the user slides it to) will be stored. {!problem_solved_quickly}
Now we add the second slider and configure it:
Storing the result in {!problem_overall} – the variable we created back at the start.
Step 5: Save the results
Finally, we need to save the results.
Before we do that we need to add up the scores for the three questions to get a final score (case_feedback_score). To do this we will create a new formula as follows:
Note: That could have been only 0 decimal places as we are using whole numbers.
There are two parts to saving the results. First, we need to copy our total score from our input screen across to the case field. Then we can save the case record.
We will first drag an Assignment element to the canvas and configure that so we have the Feedback_Score__c field on the case record being assigned the value of our formula (which has added the three scores from the survey screen).
At this stage, the case record is held in memory, it has not been saved yet.
Finally, we add an Update Records element to save the new details to the case record.
Drag an Update Records element onto the canvas and configure:
Note that we didn’t need to specify all the fields we wanted to update, we just use the complete record from our getCaseRecord element.
This final step will save the case record to Salesforce, updating our Feedback Score for the survey on this case record.
Connect up the remaining elements so the final flow looks like this:
The last step is to Activate our flow. You can do this from within the Flow Builder:
Or you can do it from the list view of all flows:
On the list of all versions, you can activate, deactivate, run, delete or edit an old version of the flow:
Edit the Lightning Record Page
We only want our flow screen to display when a case is closed. We can configure this within the Lightning Record page as follows:
Drag a flow component onto the page as shown:
Select the new flow component (1) and configure as shown. The filters (2) control when this component will be displayed. The first one specifies to only show when the case has a status of closed and the second one specifies to show only when the Feedback Score is greater than or equal to zero. We still want the flow to display if the survey has been completed as we configured a special message for that back in Step 3a.
Add the Feedback Score to Page Layout
In order to see that our flow has run successfully and the Feedback score is being calculated correctly, we need to add it to the case page layout:
Drag our Feedback Score field onto the page layout. It does not really matter where you place it, in this example it was placed at the top of the page so we can find it quickly.
Save the page layout.
Test your Flow!
If everything has been completed successfully, we can now test our flow.
First, select a case that is NOT closed. We want to see that our flow does not display until the case is closed.
Change the case to Closed.
Our flow appears!
Fill in the survey, taking note of the numbers you selected. Remember for the radio buttons Yes = 2, Partial =1 and No = 0.
Click Next to complete the survey.
If everything went well, your flow will now display a message indicating the feedback has been completed for this case and the Feedback Score will be displayed on the case page:
If you got this far and everything worked, congratulations!!
If something is not quite working as expected, go back and double check your configuration. You can also use the Debug function in the flow to step through the flow to help you identify errors.
Advanced Flow Features
Break your flow apart
For very complex requirements or to create re-usable components that can be used by other flows, you can create a number of sub-flows and call them from your main flow. This has several benefits:
It reduces the complexity of the main flow.
It isolates functionality within the sub-flow, making problem solving and debugging easier.
Your sub-flows can be reused by other flows. If you have a common function that needs to be used several times in your application then you can write it once and call from many flows.
For example:
You need a flow that can take an Opportunity and create a single Order or multiple Orders -OR- take a Quote and create a single Order or multiple Orders. Rather than adding all this complexity into one flow, it is broken down into a main Flow and four (4) Sub-flows.
Reference: You can get this free flow template from www.taveza.com
Remember: If you are installing into your Developer org you need to select Install in Production. A Developer Org is not a sandbox. Sandboxes only exist within a fully licenced Salesforce org.
Extending with Heroku
“This post focuses on expanding flows with Heroku compute. Specifically, how to expose Heroku apps as external services and securely access them via flows using Flow Builder as the low-code development environment.”
Keeping a consistent naming convention is important to be able to quickly identify what a Flow does. I like to start with the object name, followed by a short description of what the flow does. e.g. Lead-UpdateRating
Get more great training resources with our online training material that provides everything you need to get certified in the following:
With Salesforce concentrating its future development efforts on Flow, it’s time to take a good look at the reasons why Flow should be your no-code automation tool of choice on the Salesforce platform.
Why Choose Flow?
There are three key reasons to choose Flow:
Performance
Architecture
Future
Better Performance
Performance tests conducted by Salesforce indicate that Before Save Flows can improve performance by 10-20x over Workflows or Process Builder.
Salesforce analyzed the actions executed by Workflows, Process Builder, and Flow by customers in April 2020. Of the 150 billion transactions executed, 100 billion (66%) were for same record updates. If converted to Before Save Flows these actions would have a significant performance improvement.
Workflow rules and Process Builder use a different runtime environment to Flow and will never match Flow’s faster performance and lower resource consumption. The start-up phase for both Workflow and Process Builder is inefficient and wasteful of resources.
In addition, Salesforce is concentrating its efforts on Flow performance, debugging, management and deployment which will not benefit either Workflow or Process Builder.
Salesforce has recently made it pretty clear that the future for no-code automation is Flow. This does not mean that Workflow and Process Builder are going to disappear any time soon.
What this does mean is that the future development of new features will be largely around Flow. They will continue to support Workflow and Process Builder but what you have today in functionality terms is what you will have for the next several years with no improvements either planned or in development.
The roadmap for Flow is to match and exceed the features of Workflow and Process Builder. There are still a few shortcomings where functionality does not yet match but these are on the roadmap for development over the next 12 months.
How do I get there?
So, if I am using Workflows and Process Builder now, how do I move to Flow?
There are a number of steps to follow:
Upskill
Target Selection
Tool Selection
Identify Actions
Start Small
Build on your success
Upskill to Flow
If you are already comfortable creating Workflows and building processes with Process Builder, you will find the initial learning curve to move Flow is a steep one. Many of the functions that were done for you in Workflows and Process Builder are done differently in Flow. You may need to retrieve records, assign values and update those records; however, you have much greater flexibility and capability with Flow.
If you need to read many related records from several different objects to perform a transaction you can do that with Flow. Imagine building a wizard like app in Flow that reads Account, Contact and Opportunity records and then displays the key data for further input or update.
You also have the capability of asking the user for input. You can retrieve records and then ask the user what they want to do next, perhaps based on values in those records.
Select your Target
Salesforce recommends a single tool be used for your automation and a single process for each object. While this is not always possible, it should be a target that you aim for.
There are exceptions to this rule, especially in a large complex organisation and you may want to explore the approach listed below:
What you don’t want is a mixture of Workflows, Process Builders, Flows and Apex Triggers all updating the same object. The problem is not just the additional performance overhead every time a user creates or updates a record but determining the order of execution.
This means which one will fire first? With multiple automation tools or multiple Workflows, Processes or Flows on an object, you have no guarantee which one will execute first.
Perhaps the best starting point is to select an object with a small number of workflows and work towards combining them into a single Process Builder or Flow.
Select your Tool
While you have a choice of three no-code automation tools to choose from, Process Builder or Flow Builder should be your top candidates.
We recommend you only use Process Builder as a bridging step towards Flow if you are not yet experienced building flows.
If you are already comfortable building Flows then Flow should be your tool of choice.
Use Process Builder when you need ISNEW, ISCHANGED, PRIORVALUE functions. These should be available in Flow in the next 12 months (by the Winter 22 release).
Note: There may still be situations where your automation is very complex or needs to operate on a large number of records. In this case, the best tool may be an Apex Trigger. You may need help from an experienced developer.
Identify all the Actions required
Having selected your target object and preferred tool, create a list of your existing Workflows, Process Builders and Flows that operate on that object.
Take a close look at each action and complete the following table for your selected object:
Lead Object Automations:
Tool
Name
When
What
How
Description
Workflow
UpdateRating
Create
Update Rating
Revenue > $500,000 and Lead Source = Partner Referral
Update rating to Hot if conditions are met
Workflow
NotifySalesMgr
Create
Send Email
Industry = Banking
Email Sales Manager if industry = banking
Process Builder
Add Task
Update
Add task to call Lead within 3 days
Lead Source = Web and Status = Working – Contacted
Create a task to place a follow up call to the lead
Start Small
Start with a very simple Flow so you understand the process of creating, running and debugging a flow. It will help your confidence to get over the steep learning curve and get you motivated to climb the next step.
The UpdateRating workflow in the table above would be a good starting point for your first flow.
Flow 1: Update Rating for a Lead
Let’s create a simple flow:
Start by creating a new flow of type: Record-Triggered Flow.
Trigger the Flow When: A record is created
Run the Flow: Before the record is saved
Select the object: (Lead)
You will need two decisions and one assignment element for this flow
Drag a Decision element to the canvas:
Configure the first decision to check: is the AnnualRevenue greater than $500,000?
Drag another decision element to the canvas:
Configure the second decision to check: is theLead Source = Partner Referral?
Drag an Assignment element to the canvas:
We will now configure the field we want updated (Rating).
Join up the elements:
Save your flow and activate it.
Notice how we did not need to get the lead record or save the record?
The flow will get the record automatically for us as it is triggered when the record is created. Because it is a before save flow, the flow is actually run before the record is saved by the user. No need to do anther save, it is all done in one transaction.
This simplicity and before save feature are what makes this flow execute quickly.
Test your flow:
Now go back to your Sales App or any app that has access to leads and create a new lead record. Enter a number > $500,000 for Annual Revenue and select Partner Referral as the lead source. Save the record and check that the rating has been set to Hot by your flow.
If this was successful, congratulations you have built your first flow!!
Build on your success
Now you have conquered your very first flow, tackle something a little more complex and gradually build up your skills and confidence. Before long you will be over the hump and on your way to tackling more complex flows.
In part 2 of this two-part article, we tackle a more complex flow that gathers feedback from a customer with a simple form and creates a customer feedback score.
