Hello folks,
I wrote for the Salesforce Admins Blog this week.
What is Process Automation?
How do you acquire this crucial skill?
Read my Process Automation blog post on the Salesforce Admins website by clicking here.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 06/23/2022.
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Hello folks,
Suppose you know you need a record-triggered flow: You want to perform automated steps based on the transactions executing in your Salesforce Org.
If you deal with related records, you know you will be in the after-save mode (a.k.a. Actions and Related Records).
If you have come this far, this means you have already found answers to two essential questions:
You know that I answer a lot of flow questions on a regular basis. My observation is that folks often struggle with the next critical step:
Which object will I be triggering on?
Based on the previous decisions, we know you are already dealing with at least two objects. However, suppose a junction object is involved, like an Opportunity Contact Role that connects the Opportunity to Contacts or an Opportunity Line Item that connects the Opportunity to the Products. In that case, you may have three or more objects involved.
This is the part where things get confusing:
Which object will I trigger on, and what object(s) will I create/update?
The answer is surprisingly simple when you fill in the blanks in this format:
I want to create/update __ Object records when __ Object records are created/updated.
What you write in the second blank will show you what object you are triggering on.
Once you know that, you will need to go from one Object to the other using the relationships. Depending on the depth and the structure, you may use multiple gets.
I thought I’d step back from technical posts for now and focus on the fundamentals again.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 06/15/2022.
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Hello folks,
Last week I told you that I challenged myself to use as few elements as possible when searching for particular records among the cases in my Org. You can find the Collection Filter and Collection Sort post here.
I started with a get element that returns all the cases that have both account and contact assignments. I was able to extract the following information with only one get element:
It took me 21 elements, including one get, to find all these records. How did I achieve this? Check the image above for the details. Click on the image to see a bigger version.
Enjoy.
Andy Engin Utkan
P.S. If you like this newsletter, forward it to your friends. They can sign up for it here.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 06/07/2022.
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Hello folks,
How powerful are the collection sort and collection filter elements? How should you use them?
I experimented with collection filter and collection sort elements to see how far I can go using only one get element. In other words, I wanted my flow only to use up one SOQL against the governor limits.
I started with a get element that returns all the cases that have both account and contact assignments. I was able to extract the following information with only one get element:
Please see the image for the results.
How many elements did I use? Did I have to loop?
Here are the answers:
I experimented with the formula criteria inside the collection filter element without much luck. I think this functionality does not allow for filters with variable values on the right side of the equation. “ContactId on the current record = ContactIdVariable” formula did not work.
What do you think? Can these elements save you lengthy loops and executed elements?
How many elements, excluding the start or the end element, did I use to extract this information.
Join the discussion on LinkedIn here or Twitter here.
Live session recording links:
Watch Melody Lwo of Salesforce Flowsome and me either on LinkedIn here or YouTube here.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 05/30/2022.
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Hello folks,
This is an exciting week for all of us. The Release Readiness live webinars are here.
I was reading the Release Notes for Summer 22 this past weekend and I was wondering whether I can use the brand new Slack invocable actions in my Salesforce flows already. Salesforce announced the new actions are in beta, and they will be released sometime in June. It turns out I can already use them. I don’t even need a Preview Org or Summer 22 Sandbox for it. The steps required took some time to discover, but the whole thing is fairly simple to set up.
I am posting a step-by-step guide here so that you can dive directly into it. Try it now without wasting any time. Here are the 6 steps you need to take to post to Slack from Flow:
1. Go to “Setup” and “Enable Slack for Salesforce”. Review and agree to the Pilot terms if you want to proceed.
2. Create and assign a permission set to the user who will post on Slack and use the integration. The permission set will have “Connect Salesforce with Slack” system permission activated.
3. Now go over to your Slack Workspace. You can use a free Workspace, but if you have used all your permitted 10 App limit, you will need to remove an App. On the upper left side click on “More”, then “Apps”. On the screen you see in the middle, click on “App Directory”. Find “Sales Cloud for Slack”.
4. Go to the App page. Click on “Add to Slack”. This will take you to a web page that is super confusing. Find “Add Sales Cloud For Slack App”. Click on the link. Give the necessary permissions. (Update: I received feedback that the Sales Cloud Slack app did not work for some folks. If this is your experience try one of the other apps on the same page. I tested the Salesforce Digital HQ app as well, and this app worked for me.)
5. Now go to any public channel on Slack. Click/tap on the channel header where you see the title. Scroll all the way down and get the channel ID as seen below.
6. Go to Salesforce and build a simple Autolaunched Flow with one single element. You will need to add the invocable action “Send Slack Message (Beta)”. Configure it as seen below. Include the Slack Channel ID. Run it. Voila!
Next week, I will continue my preview with the new screen flow functionality.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 05/24/2022.
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Hello folks,
I dedicate this newsletter issue to the announcements for new content coming from me next month (May & June):
Now let’s get back to reading the Release Notes. Summer 22 will be in all of our Orgs soon.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 05/17/2022.
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Hello folks,
I presented at Texas Dreamin’ two weeks ago. I shared a use case I implemented using the Orchestrator.
The main message of my presentation was to think big when you are working with the Orchestrator.
There are a few reasons for that:
There were a few observations I shared:
What was the use case I presented?
First, the salesperson wins an opportunity; then, the system checks whether the product in the opportunity line item is in the inventory or not. Next, the automation asks management to approve the order fulfillment and the production request if there is insufficient inventory. Finally, the Orchestrator will create a contract and an order for the opportunity, then a work order to get the item produced if necessary and shipped right after.
Overarching broad processes like these are great for the Orchestrator.
I think it is important to think big before tackling the Orchestrator canvas.
Let’s remember you will be much better off mapping your process before you implement it using this tool. Things will get complicated.
Check out my process map for the use case on top of this page.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 05/10/2022.
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Hello folks,
After a busy week of TDX22 and two Dreamin’ events happening simultaneously, my tired brain is trying to gather and compile all the information. We need to avoid this scheduling conflict in the future.
Let’s dive into the future of automation on the Salesforce platform.
Summer 22 release notes are out. We will know more when the Release Readiness Webinars happen soon. However, we know already that the Orchestrator is GA.
The Orchestrator is a flow of flows, in other words, automation that helps us string flows together. It gives us the superpowers of scheduling and delaying screen interactions and assigning them to users, queues, and groups. Please read J. Steadman’s blog post here for the details.
On top of that, we have a few other posts worth mentioning that were published recently:
What do all these signs tell me:
We are in for a faster ride than ever before. Buckle up.
Recently released content:
Next week, I will continue my preview with the new screen flow functionality.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 05/03/2022.
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Hello folks,
Summer 22 is arriving soon, and the second part of my quick tour is here.
In the last issue of the newsletter, I showed you a few changes that will be released soon. Let’s continue.
Screen flow enhancements:
1-Collapsible headings for sections: We received the functionality of multicolumn sections in screen flows a few releases ago, and I love them. With this release, we get a header, which makes the section collapsible.
2-Dynamic Forms (Fields – Still Beta) supports Name and Address Fields: Fields functionality is a very promising functionality that now supports Name (Salutation, First Name, Last Name) and a full Address. I don’t understand why this is still in beta, though.
3-Dynamic Forms Address automatically populates address: When you combine the new Address field with the Google Typehead functionality, you give the user the power to populate the address fields automatically.
Some other notable enhancements:
1-Orchestrations are deployable via change sets now.
2-Associated flows can be opened from within the Orchestration via a link.
3-You can order triggered Orchestrations with Flow Trigger Explorer exactly as you do with flows.
I want to add that dragging items on the Flow Trigger Explorer changes your flow’s running order parameter setting. The screen shows you a confirmation screen explaining the change.
The big news of this release is the addition of the No-Code Flow Testing (Beta), though. I am super excited about this, but I will take my time to review it before going into more detail.
I am heading to Texas Dreamin’. I will present there on the Flow Trigger Explorer and the Orchestrator. Come to my session if you will be there. If you won’t be there, no worries; I will present similar content soon virtually. Stay tuned.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 04/26/2022.
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Hello folks,
Summer 22 is arriving soon, and I am here to give you a quick tour of the new functionality coming your way.
But before I do that, I would like to share that I wrote a brand new post for Salesforce Ben. It was published a week ago, and it is still the number one post on the site. Please read my post titled “7 Foundational Skills Before Learning Salesforce Flows” here.
The format of this post will include pictures more than words. Let me show you screenshots of what is coming. This release is loaded again with flow enhancements:
1-Flow Trigger Explorer supports manual reordering of triggered flows. You can create a new flow right from this dialogue. This action will prefill the start element for you. RT Orchestrations are also supported, which I have not seen or tested yet. When you open Flow Details and Versions on the right-side panel, you see all flow versions. You can open each version via a link and activate the version you want on this side panel. This functionality is better than the existing alternative in my humble opinion.
2-RT Automation got some serious love in this release. Now we can build complex formulas in our start entry criteria. Let me test and tell you how debugging works later. We get assistance via field and function pickers when building the formula. You can go crazy now with field values, prior field values, and functions.
The formula builder checks syntax similar to the formula field builder of the object manager. If you are sloppy with your work, you will get a red error message when you check syntax via this button. The formula resource builder did not get any love though, as far as I know.
3-Low-code flow testing comes to life. On your flow canvas, you will see a “View Tests” button on the upper right side. You will have to agree to the terms when you click on it because the functionality is in beta as of Summer 22. Then, you click create, and you start building your test.
I played around with the test builder a little bit. Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the functionality. I saw this error message very frequently. At least for now, I can easily say this functionality deserved the beta badge.
Next week, I will continue my preview with the new screen flow functionality.
Enjoy.
P.S. Originally published on 04/18/2022.
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