Today I want to welcome you to the world of Flows. We will break this down into a couple different blogs since this is a large topic to cover in one day. However, I first want to introduce you to them and explain how they can assist you in your SFDC organization.

Flows were designed by SFDC to help you create a more complex workflow without having to know or understand APEX. APEX can be very hard to jump into if you are a non-developer, so this is a great alternative for the everyday admin of SFDC. Basically, flows does exactly what it sounds like. It is a guided user experience based upon a set of steps and questions you predefine in your flow. For my example, I set up a flow that will guide a receptionist or a Tier 1 support user through a set of questions that will automatically create a case, activity and update my account with a last contacted date. The goal for setting up this flow is not only creating a better experience for the user to create a Support Case for your customer, but also creating a process in which your users will not miss any details when creating a support case. This also helps to save time for your users with their everyday duties.

First and foremost, before you can create a flow, you need to make sure your user account has permissions to create flows. To check your account toward the top right of the SFDC screen click Setup -> Manage Users –> Edit “YOUR USER NAME” user. Check the “Force.com Flow User” box.

Setup Flow User

Once you have done that you will want to go to Setup -> Create -> Workflows & Approvals - > Flows.

Create_Flow

Now we are ready to begin our adventure with Flows!

Now Lets do a quick breakdown of what our flow will accomplish and capture.

  1. Is this System Critical?
    1. YES
      1. Questions Screen
        1. Phone Number
        2. Customer Number
        3. Issue start date
        4. Describe Issue
      2. Behind the Scenes Flow Magic!
        1. Create Case
        2. Create Activity
        3. Update Account
      3. Thank Customer for Contacting Support
    2. NO
      1. Ask the customer to open a support ticket on the website