Create a series of actions based on an event that you specify. A workflow helps to automate a users actions and ensure business procedures are carried out.
Permissions are required to work in the application Setup.
A workflow is an action that may happen when triggered by something happening in the program. For example, after entering a new sale, an email may be sent to the sales manager. Workflows are based on rules (conditions to meet when an event happens) and actions (what the application is to do when the rules have been met).
See below, Considerations When Creating Workflows, to help understand how they work, and to make sure that they will do what you want them to do.
Start from Setup > Development > Workflows. This will show you the list of existing workflows.
Click the New button to create a new workflow.
Select the Object that you will be working with. This could be a customer, invoice, sales record, etc.
Enter a brief, descriptive Workflow Name for the workflow and what it does or is for.
Enter a longer Description to fully describe the purpose and function of the workflow to help others understand what it is for.
Select Activate this rule when you are ready to make the rule run, other wise the application will ignore it.
Select System Only to limit access to the rule by other users, to prevent changes to the workflow .
Select when the workflow should start. You can select one or more of these options.
When a record is created: When a new record is saved, such as entering a new lead, contact, invoice, sale, etc.
When a record is updated: When changes are made to an existing record, such as updating a contact's address, or marking an invoice as paid. Only Once means the workflow and actions will only even happen once. Anytime the criteria is met means whenever the record is updated and the workflow criteria for that record is also met it will run.
When a record is deleted: When the user removes a record from the application.
When custom button clicked: Make the workflow available to be used by custom buttons, so they can be run with a button click instead of just an event where the information on a record changes. This is also used if Add-In applications that are installed from the App Store need to use that workflow.
Click the Rule tab.
Click the New button to create a new rule and set of actions based on that rule.
Enter a short and descriptive name for the rule.
Filters:
If you want the action to apply to all records, do not create a filter.
You can create a filter by selecting and adding criteria for the rule. This allows you to define with even greater detail if the action(s) should be performed. For example, if the event is adding a new contact record, you could create a filter where the action will only take place if the contact is 18 years of age or older. You could then create another rule for the workflow event, where a different action could take place if the new contact was 17 years of age or younger. See Filters Overview for more information on creating filters.
Select the Action Type. This is what the application will do when the event happens and the conditions in the rule (if any) have been met.
Insert: Add a new record. Select the object that you want to add the record for. This will bring up a template for the object where you can enter default data. Alternately, you can chose from any other templates the object may have from the Template drop-down list and use those. The template data will be used when the new record is created by the action.
Update: Make changes in an existing record. Select the object that you want to update the record for. This will bring up a template for the object (or you can chose from any other templates the object may have) where you can enter data. This data will be used to update the record for an already existing record. Only the fields where you enter data will be changed.
Delete: Remove an existing record. Select the object, and then the record that will be deleted.
Email: Send an email message. This will let you compose an email message, or choose an email message template to use for the message that can be sent to the appropriate user or contact.
Return Value: This allows you to select a specific record from an object and use the information from that record.
Virtual Code: If your application has any virtual functions installed through other added applications you can select one of them to run.
You can add more than one Action to the Rule if necessary, for example the first action can Delete one record, then the second action will add a new record.
Click Save to save the rule and action(s). If you want to add more rules, Click New and add the next rule.
You can order the rules by clicking on the rule in the list and then clicking the arrows. Note that the application will start with the first rule and work it's way down. If the conditions for a rule are met, it will perform the actions for that rule, then end the workflow. So if there are three rules, and the first one is run, then the application will not check the second or third rule.
Click on the name of a workflow.
Double click on the rule that you want to edit.
Make changes to the rule, it's filters, actions, etc.
Click Save to save the rule and action(s). Click Cancel to return to the rule list without saving any work.
A workflow can have more than one rule. When the triggering event happens it will attempt to match the conditions of the first rule and perform any actions if it is true. If no actions are performed it will try the next rule and action, and so on. For example, the triggering event may be adding a new contact. The rule may be based on what city the contact is from. Rule One is if the contact is from City A, do action one. Rule Two is if the contact is from City B, do action two; and so on. Once an action has taken place, the workflow will stop. So if there were three rules, and the first rule was not met (so no action taken), but the second rule was met and the action happened, the workflow would stop and not attempt to check the third rule.
The workflow will perform the action if the criteria is true. It will do the action each time it is checked and the criteria is met. This could result in an action happening many times when you only want it to happen once.
For example, you have a workflow that sends an email notification when a Task has it's status changed to In Progress. (If Task Status = In Progress, send Email.) It is set to "When a record is updated." The first time the status is changed to In Progress, it will send an email. If anyone edits the task, say to change their progress from 0% to 50%, the status will still be In Progress, so the workflow will send the email again.
If your workflow updates a different object than the record you are working with, you have to specify what record you are updating on that object. This is to prevent a workflow from updating all the records on the related object. You specify this by using the {Trigger.<Field Name>} functions to specify the relationship and what records you are updating. You can also use the Advanced Business Rule section to filter for specific records to be updated as well.
Developers can also create timed system workflows. These can not be edited by users, only activated or de-activated by the user. They run on an hourly schedule and evaluate the objects and records by their criteria, and perform any necessary actions.
A maximum of 1000 records per workflow per hour can be processed. Any remaining records will be evaluated and processed during the next cycle, up to 1000 records, and so on. This is to prevent any one workflow from using too many system resources.
If a record is processed (an action taken) it will not be processed again that day even though it may meet the criteria.
Normally a workflow is checked when a user does something with a record; they create it, change it, delete it, etc. This lets the application check the workflow and perform actions itself, without the user doing anything. This is a powerful addition to your business processes, where the application itself can check to see what needs to be done and what business rules need to be enforced. This is useful when you want to do things on a timed basis. For example, send a reminder email one day before the appointment date. Or notify a manager if a lead record or opportunity record has not been updated for more than 5 days. Or create a task for a user to contact a customer if the last contact date is more than one month ago.
Filters Overview
Email Overview
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