What are Record-Triggered Flows?
A record-triggered flow is one of Salesforce's most powerful automation tools, allowing processes to run automatically when a record is created, updated, or deleted. It allows admins and developers to design business logic declaratively - without writing code - using Salesforce's Flow Builder. Whether you're updating fields, notifying teams, or integrating external systems, record-triggered flows bring efficiency and consistency to your workflows.
Benefits of Using Record-Triggered Flows
With record-triggered flows, you can replace complex Apex triggers for many scenarios, reduce technical debt, and empower admins to manage automation independently. These flows are versatile, scalable, and—when used correctly—can greatly enhance user productivity and experience. Below are some key benefits your organization can achieve by leveraging record-triggered flows:
- Declarative and Code-Free: This tool enables non-developers to build powerful automation without relying on Apex code, opening the door for admins to directly handle business requirements and minimizing reliance on developers for everyday tasks.
- Performance Optimization: Before-Save record-triggered flows are faster and reduce the need for Apex triggers for simple field updates.
- Flexibility: Flows can handle tasks ranging from updating related records to interacting with external systems, allowing complex business processes to be automated seamlessly.
- Error Management: It provides built-in tools to capture and handle errors efficiently.
Use Cases for Record-Triggered Flows
Record-triggered flows are versatile tools that can be applied across a wide range of scenarios, helping organizations streamline their processes and enhance efficiency. Below are real-world examples where record-triggered flows can make a significant impact on your Salesforce org.
Use Case 1: Lead Qualification Made Easy
- Scenario: A technology company receives a large volume of Leads daily, and their sales team struggles to manually prioritize high-value prospects. When a new Lead is created, check if the industry is “Technology” and the revenue is greater than $1M. If so, automatically set the Lead status to “Qualified” and assign it to a senior sales representative.
- Solution: Create a before-save flow on the Lead object. Add a Decision element to check the Industry and Revenue. If Industry is “Technology” and Revenue > $1M, add an Assignment element to set the Status field to “Qualified.”
Use Case 2: Managing Inventory Levels Automatically
- Scenario: A retail company tracks product inventory in Salesforce. When a product is sold and an Opportunity is marked as "Closed Won", update the product inventory record to deduct the quantity sold and notify the warehouse team if inventory levels are below the reorder threshold.
- Solution: Create an after-save flow on the Opportunity object. Use a Get Records element to find the related product inventory record, then add a Decision element to check if inventory levels are below the reorder threshold. Use an Update Records element to deduct the sold quantity and add an Action element to notify the warehouse team via email or Chatter.
Use Case 3: Territory Assignments for New Accounts
- Scenario: A global enterprise creates multiple Accounts daily. When a new Account is created and its address falls within a specific region, assign the Account to the appropriate Territory Manager and send them an introductory email.
- Solution: Create an after-save flow on the Account object. Add a Decision element to evaluate the region based on the Account’s address, then use an Assignment element to assign the Account to the appropriate Territory Manager. Finally, add an Action element to send an introductory email to the assigned manager.
Use Case 4: Enhancing Customer Satisfaction
- Scenario: A customer service team closes hundreds of Cases each week. When a case is closed with a "Resolved" status, check if the customer satisfaction score is low. If so, create a follow-up Task for the customer success team to reach out and improve the relationship.
- Solution: Create an after-save flow on the Case object. Add a Decision element to check the satisfaction score. If the score is low, use a Create Records element to create a follow-up Task for the customer success team.
Using Before-Save vs. After Save: When to Use Each?
Just like Apex triggers, record-triggered flows can run in before-save or after-save contexts. Each serves a specific purpose.
Before-Save Flows
Before-Save flows are executed before a record is saved to the database, allowing quick updates to the same record without additional data operations. It is used on the below scenario:
- Updating fields on the triggering record-itself without the need for complex logic or additional database actions, such as setting a default value or recalculating a total.
- Validating field values and showing custom error to users before saving them to ensure data integrity
Key Considerations: Before-save flows are optimized for Fast Field Updates, therefore it cannot create, update or delete related records, send notifications or interact with external systems.
After-Save Flows
After-Save flows are executed after a record is saved to the database, enabling actions involving related data. It is used on the below scenario:
- Performing actions on related records in the systems based on changes to the triggering record. For example, updating the Account's Last Deal Date when an Opportunity is updated to Closed Won.
- Creating or deleting related records. For example, when a new Order is created, automatically generate Order Line Items records.
- Triggering email alerts, Chatter notifications or external API calls. For example, notify a team when a high-value opportunity is created.
Key Considerations: While After-Save flows sounds more powerful, it consumes higher resource than before-save flows, and must be optimized to avoid hitting governor limits.
Best Practices for Record-Triggered Flows
- Use Before-Save Record-Triggered Flows for Simple Field Updates (updates on the same object) as it is faster and more efficient than the after-save flows. Note that by default, the flow is set to run on After-Save context. It's a setting that admins and developers usually overlook.
- Ensure that there is no overlapping logic with Apex triggers or other flows to prevent redundancy and conflicts.
- Design flows to handle bulk updates effectively to avoid hitting governor limits
- Another best practice is to also include a fault path on every data manipulation elements to manage unexpected errors and log them if necessary
- Always test in a sandbox environment to ensure functionality and avoid issues in production.
- In terms of naming convention, name your flow and their elements clearly and add description for better maintainability.
- Use subflows to simplify large, complex processes, improving readability and reusability.
Conclusion
Record-triggered flows are a game-changer for Salesforce admins and developers, offering powerful automation capabilities without requiring Apex. By carefully choosing between before-save and after-save flows, and following best practices, you can unlock their full potential to streamline processes, improve data quality, and create a better user experience. Start building your first record-triggered flow today by exploring the Trailhead modules listed below.
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