Last Updated on April 15, 2019 by Rakesh Gupta
Process Builder is one of the most powerful tools provided by Salesforce to implement business requirements declaratively. By using it, one can minimize usage of codes in their Salesforce org. The best part is, you do not have to write test classes for your Processes or Flows. Implementation of Process Builder is very easy – you create a Process; tests it; and then, use Change Set to deploy it to Production. To achieve mastery of Process Builder, you have to understand its capabilities – such as, calling an Apex class, or a Flow, etc. Today we will discuss one of Process Builder’s important features – Schedule multiple group of actions.
Let us take an Example – say your company just acquired a new customer. And, your business wants to schedule few follow-up actions to smoothen the customer onboarding process. To achieve this, your business wants to use an out-of-the box feature so that it can send reminders to Account Owner after 5, 10 and 15 days once an Account is created.
With multiple schedules, it is easier to – (1) optimize sales responsiveness; (2) automate follow-up actions on important Cases and Opportunities; and (3) support your business needs – all within a single process!
Business Use Case
Let us start with a business use case. Pamela Kline is working as System administrator at GurukulOnCloud. At GurukulOnCloud they are using Process Builder to streamline Sales Processes. Today, Pamela received a requirement – as soon as a Case is closed, do the following tasks
- Send a follow-up email to customer 2 days after the Case Closed Date is populated (1)
- Send a satisfaction survey to customer 15 days after the Case Closed Date (2)
Solution for the Above Business Requirement
It is quite easy to create two processes to solve the above requirement; however, in this case, we will use one process to incorporate both the requirements!
- First create an Email Alert on Case object for follow-ups, as shown in the following screenshot
- Create a second Email Alert, on the Case object, to send a Satisfaction Survey, as shown in the following screenshot:
Our next task is to create a Process Builder on the Case object to send Email Alerts.
- Click on Name | Setup | App Setup | Create | Workflows & Approvals | Process Builder
- To create a new process from scratch, click on the New Button available on Process Management page. A popup will appear where you have to enter the Name (Use Case Close Notifications as a name), API Name and Description as shown in the below screenshot:
- Once you are done, click on the Save button.
- Click on the Object node to add object and then select the Case object. For the entry criteria, Select when a record is created or edited, as shown in the below screenshot:
- Once you are done, click on the Save button.
- The next task is to add Process Criteria. To do this click on Add Criteria, enter Name, Type of action and set filter conditions as shown in the following screenshot:
- Once you are done, click on the Save button.
- The next step is to set the time for scheduled actions. Click on Set Schedule available under Scheduled actions. Set time for scheduled actions as shown in the following screenshot:
- Once you are done, click on the Save button.
- Now we have to add a Time-based action into the Process to send a follow-up email. Click on Add Action (Under Scheduled actions), Select the type of action (In our case Email Alert), and then fill the values into fields to define the action – as shown in the following screenshot:
- Once you are done, click on the Save button.
- Repeat the steps 10, 11 and 12 to add one one more scheduled action to send the Satisfaction Survey to the customer, 15 days after the Case’s Closing Date.
- In the end, your Process will look like the following screenshot:
- Don’t forget to active the Process by clicking on the Activate button.
It’s time to test this feature
Next time, when a support agent closes a case the processes will fire and schedule two actions, as shown in the following screenshot:
Note: – I am grateful to Resco.net and Smartcloud.io for sponsoring my blog.
Technical Editor and Proofreader: - Munira Majmundar
I don’t see a way to have multiple criteria that contain scheduled actions. For example, I want to one schedule action for a criteria and if that I was to move on to the next criteria and schedule a different action for this criteria. Am I right?
As an alternative, even if I call a different process in the second criteria, I can’ schedule an action in a ‘called’ process. Can I?
I think in such scenario leverage Flow with Process Builder to make life easier.
P.S.:- Read this article to get some understanding with Flow and Time-based action https://automationchampion.com/2018/06/27/getting-started-with-process-builder-part-89-time-based-action-for-anytime-record-is-created-or-edited/
HI Rakesh,
i have small doubt. is it possible Creating recurring time-based actions in workflow or process builder. i want fire the my workflow rule every day. is it possible or not?
Thanks,
Venkat.
Yes it is possible to create a recurring process that fire everyday. To implement it you have to use Workflow Rule and Process Builder both, please refer this article https://automationchampion.com/2014/07/18/auto-follow-and-auto-unfollow-records-based-on-criteria-part1/
Hi Rakesh,
Thanks for your quick reply.
My requirement is i have one object on that one filed is picklist it contains the yes or no values and also another field that is end date. when ever end-date is cross automatically my picklist value change into no. I tried with work-flows but some times it is failed updating picklist value is no.
can you please help me on this, if it is possible.
Thanks,
Venkat
You do not need a recurring process. Here is my suggestion for you
– Create a process that will fire when end-date is greater than today, while updating a record Update pick-list value.