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Using the New Salesforce Flow Builder

Using the New Salesforce Flow Builder

Quality workflows are one of the things that makes Salesforce so useful. A good admin should be able to take just about any routine process and streamline it via a workflow. As we reviewed in this previous post, the flow builder is an intuitive and visual way of automating processes, saving time and money, all while requiring absolutely no coding! What’s more, because you build it directly in Salesforce, you will essentially be setting up a web of flows that send, receive and send back all sorts of values and records.

The New Salesforce Flow Builder began rolling out to users starting at the beginning of this year, and it is flush with useful upgrades, including a simper toolbox, more standardized designs and overall faster performance.

Demoing the Flow Builder

So what does all of this look like exactly, and are there any specific ways the changes can be used? Well, I’m glad you asked. First of all, the flow builder recently got a facelift to mimic the Lightning Design System. The workspace is clean and simple, with many familiar element shapes for each action. As for the second question, the flow building can be used for just about everything, from the simplest of tasks, to very complex, multi-step processes.

But why describe it when I can show you instead? On their blog, Salesforce has recently released a series of demo videos that will show any interested admin or user the Flow Builder, starting with the absolute basics and building from there!

 

And for anyone who wants to briefly know what the demos cover, without actually sitting down to watch them, well here you go:

  1. Send an Email

    • This video covers how to create flows, how to send an email from a flow, and the different types of flows that you can create.
  2. Get a Record and Use It

    • This video covers how to create flows, how to send an email from a flow, and the different types of flows that you can create.
  3. Get Multiple Records and Loop Through Them

    • This video covers how to use the Get Records element to retrieve multiple records from Salesforce, how to use collection variables, and how to use the Loop element to repeat an action on all of the retrieved records.
  4. Decisions, Related Records and Buttons

    • This video covers how to use the Decision element to choose which path your flow should take based on a picklist value on a record. It also covers how to add a screen to your flow to show information to a user, and how to create an object-specific Flow quick action to launch your screen flow from a button on record detail page in Lightning.
  5. Screen Elements

    • This video covers how to configure different types of screen components such as choices, picklists, radio button groups, and checkboxes, so you can get the right kinds of data from your users in an interactive screen flow.
  6. Roundup of Other Flow Features

    • This video covers how to create more advanced logic in flows using formulas. It also shows how flows can be extended using flow actions, AppExchange, and more.

 Watch the Tutorial Videos

This is only the beginning! Advanced Admins can do all of this and more. Of course, you can also be sure that Salesforce will continue improving and tweaking their system at regular intervals.

 

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 

A Better Salesforce Cloud Flow Builder is Coming Soon

A Better Salesforce Cloud Flow Builder is Coming Soon

 

Salesforce Cloud Flow Builder, as any admin knows, is one of the most versatile and functional features of Salesforce, and it’s about to get even better. The easy to use process builder is getting a few upgrades that will help admins better automate and guide users through their flows.

What is the Cloud Flow Builder?

For anyone who doesn’t know, here’s the skinny: The Cloud Flow Builder is a tool that allows any Salesforce admin or developer to automate business processes — without code — at enterprise speed and scale. This takes a lot of pressure off IT and puts the business process creation in the hands of admins who know it better than anyone. Admins are guided by simple, visual interfaces, allowing IT to focus on more complex projects.

Almost any kind of business process can be automated, helping just about anyone, from Sales to Support, to have better, faster and more intuitive processes. What’s more, the Flow builder’s intuitive design allows admins to automate processes quickly, and smartly, saving them time and money as well. Streamlined and efficient business process help employees focus on their jobs, rather than the time-consuming busy work. The Cloud Flow Builder empowers admins, eases the IT workload, boosts efficiency and increased productivity.

chart, map, planning, server, system, network, CRM

The New Flow Builder

So if the Cloud Builder is so good, what is changing? Well, first of all, Salesforce has revamped with a new design style, using the four design principles of clarity, efficiency, consistency, and beauty.

What’s more, the Flow Builder needed a new foundation. The Cloud Flow Designer was originally built upon Adobe Flash. However, Adobe is retiring their Flash player by 2020, and so Salesforce is getting ahead of the game, and switching off Flash early.

The new Flow Builder includes:

  • More familiar and intuitive shapes to make flows easier to read.
  • Faster performance, built off newer technology
  • Standardized, efficient controls, taken from the Lightning Design System
  • A simpler toolbox to make building flows easier

Salesforce is hoping that the new Flow Builder will be easier to use, easier to learn, and easy to transition to. As of now, the New Flow Builder is scheduled for release in Spring of 2019. The other good news is that the change will happen automatically for all users. That’s right, the New Flow Builder will be available for both Lightning and Salesforce Classic, and you don’t have to do anything to get access.

All previously created flows will continue working like normal, but any new changes or modifications will be translated into the new flow version and saved separately.

So stay tuned, and before you know it, your Cloud Flow Builder will get a fantastic new facelift and improved performance!

Click Here to Learn More About Using the Cloud Flow Builder!

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team