Process Builder is one of the most used declarative tools to automate business processes in Salesforce. To address multiple requirements, we create a process with multiple criteria nodes. For example – (1) if an opportunity is successfully closed by Sales representative then send an email to the customer with survey link; however, (2), in case of Lost Opportunity, post a message to Chatter Group UC Sales Reps.

Criteria and actions are evaluated in the order shown on the process canvas. When a criteria is true, the process executes the associated action group and stops evaluating additional criteria unless you select EVALUATE THE NEXT CRITERIA option. When a criteria is false, the process skips the action group and evaluates the criteria for the next action group – as shown in the following screenshot. For instance, when a record meets criteria defined in nodes (1) or (2), the process executes the associated action group and then stops at either (3) or (4). It means, processes are designed to execute only one criteria node at a time – either (1) or (2) – in a single execution.

In the preceding screenshot, criteria node (1) will always execute in all cases. For example, suppose a Sales Representative updates Opportunity Stage to Closed Lost. In this scenario, the above process will fire and it will execute criteria node (1). Since the Stage update did not meet the criteria of node (1) – Closed Won – the process will jump to criteria node (2) – Closed Lost – and execute the associated action group – Immediate Actions (4). 

Business Use Case

Till date, we have created many processes to fulfill business requirements. I have created 100+ processes just for my blog posts! Process Builder is a very powerful tool to declaratively implement business requirements. It helps businesses to save time, as well as money, by implementing solutions quickly. The best part is, you do not have to write test classes for your Processes or Flows. So far so good, but these processes may create problems in future if you start creating a new process for each requirement. That not only is not a best practice but, in the long run, it is highly unproductive and unsustainable approach to managing process development. 

Prior to Summer’16 release, processes executed actions that were tied to only one criteria node. Previously, when a record met your defined criteria node (1) or (3), the process executed the associated action group and then stopped at (2) or (4). It means, processes are designed to execute only one criteria node either (1) or (3) in one execution.

After Summer’16 release, it is possible to choose what happens after your process executes a specific criteria node. Should the process stop? Should it continue evaluating the next criteria in the process? It depends on you! By using this new feature, you can execute multiple action groups in a single process – making it easy to manage all of your processes, for a given object, like an Account, in one place!

Business Use Case

Pamela Kline is working as System administrator at Universal Containers. She has developed a process for a requirement to update Account custom field, Out of Business, to True if an Opportunity Stage is updated to Closed Lost – refer to (For Lost Opportunities) – (Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 71 (Set Your Productivity on Steroids by Creating Reusable Processes!)

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