Category: flow

Was it worth my time to automate that?

UPDATE 9/9: Now on the AppExchange! Click here to see the listing.

UPDATE 6/13: Thank you everyone for your interest in this solution! I am working on adding it to the AppExchange through Salesforce labs!

At TrailheaDX I ran around like a bird for a video with Einstein and Astro. I also facilitated a lively Circle of Success (small group conversation) on Process Automation. Everyone shared their best practices, asked questions and learned from each other. The admins’ orgs ranged from a 10-free-licenses nonprofit to a giant health insurance company, and years of experience from 0 to 10 (not me! I’m at 8, I think).

One guy (and I’m so sorry I don’t have his name) asked:

“Is there any way to track how often your automation fires?”

That got us thinking. What if you could find out:

  • How much time am I saving with this automation?
  • How many times has this process ever fired?
  • Was the time I spent building this thing worth the investment?

Continue reading Was it worth my time to automate that?

When to Include an Unsubscribe Link

The benefits of sending email directly from Salesforce are that you can automate when they go out, you can send up to 5,000 emails per day, and email templates are really simple to set up.

woman using white smartphone on front of table
Dear Asses and Donkeys Trust, I no longer want to receive your email. XOXO, Belinda

But any time you’re emailing groups of people, you should be mindful of the requirements of the CAN-SPAM law (which I just learned isn’t called the “Canned Spam” law). CAN-SPAM requires that emails, in certain scenarios, provide an option for the recipient to unsubscribe.

I am writing to you on my personal blog as a puzzle-solving Salesforce admin, not a Salesforce employee. Your decisions around unsubscribe options can have legal implications for your organization so please do not take anything from this post as legal guidance or means to make your communications legally compliant.  That decision is between you and your lawyers.

Continue reading When to Include an Unsubscribe Link

Flow Loops for Nincompoops

Maya, Zach, Thomas and I traveled down to Portland for Forcelandia earlier this month for the amazing admineloper conference. I was so excited to share my love of Flow loops in my first regional conference presentation!

me presenting
Forcelandia is held at The Kennedy School, an old elementary school turned into a hotel by McMenamin’s.

Flow Loops unlock incredible power previously held only by devs. Without using any code, Admins can create an automated process to loop through all related records and take actions based on what is found there!

Demo scenario 1: Hollywood for the Holidays’ will connect you with a celebrity to spend the holidays with! Folks fill out the lead form with an interest and a holiday. Our Flow will loop through all confirmed celebrities and create an opportunity for each celebrity. Continue reading Flow Loops for Nincompoops

Salesforce Automation: Phenomenal Cosmic Power (itty bitty query space)

If you’re a Developer, you’re probably fairly familiar with your org’s Governor Limits (CPU Time, SOQL queries, DML operations). But if you’re an Admineloper or Business Analyst, excited to design automation with new tools like process builder and visual flow, you might not be taking these limits into account, and subsequently hitting errors.

This last week I had the immense pleasure of presenting on this topic at Forcelandia. My session provided an overview of Governor Limits, how they pertain to Process Builder and Flow, and tips for avoiding hitting these limits with your clicks-not-code automation.

Continue reading Salesforce Automation: Phenomenal Cosmic Power (itty bitty query space)

Why I’m excited to attend Forcelandia 2018 and you should be too!

As a more advanced Salesforce admin/configurator/”admineloper”/consultant (i.e. all the hats but dev), it’s often hard for me to find content at conferences that hits that sweet spot right before one ventures into code. I’m talking Custom Settings, advanced formula logic, Custom Metadata Types, integrations and external objects, cool deployment tools, and of course, flows and all they have to offer, etc! When I look for content I don’t want to watch another training on how to set up Sales Path or how to use process builder, I’ve got that covered, and when I do have questions I can usually find the answer using searchtheforce.com. That is why this year I’m super excited for all the advanced admin content offered at Forcelandia.

Continue reading Why I’m excited to attend Forcelandia 2018 and you should be too!

Salesforce Flow: What is going on in there!?

Salesforce’s Visual Workflow and Process Builder are incredibly powerful tools but can be very difficult to troubleshoot. I struggled to make these tools effective until I was able to get a glimpse of what was happening inside. Salesforce has some suggestions for how to troubleshoot failing flows but often these tools provide incomplete answers. Particularly for auto launched flows, these techniques are often insufficient.

Flow error
Answering why this failed doesn’t have to be a rabbit hole.

Debug log to the rescue!

Continue reading Salesforce Flow: What is going on in there!?

Simple Parent/Child Flow with Decision

Here’s an example of a “simple” flow that uses a Decision element. You don’t need to use flow to achieve the results – you could entirely stick to Process Builder. This flow is for educational purposes only.

Here’s the sitch: I want an automatic email to my customer when we quote a specific product.  For example, “Dear Darnell McCustomer, for a limited time only, you can purchase the EDGE widget for $150!”

Caveat: I want this to be in an HTML template, not a Visualforce email, based on the Quote object. I can’t reach the price on the Quote Line Item from Quote in this format.

Continue reading Simple Parent/Child Flow with Decision

How Flow Saved My Job

Flow took me from a “hmm…let me Google that” Salesforce admin to a confident “no record is too far out of reach” admin-eloper (admin/developer). Leadership changed at my company and I had to quickly differentiate myself from my new boss, a Salesforce administrator with way more experience than me. In our initial conversations, he made it clear he would prefer to have a developer working for him. Okay…. one developer, coming up!

i can be a developer Continue reading How Flow Saved My Job