Last Updated on February 10, 2022 by Rakesh Gupta

Big Idea or Enduring Question:

How your users can automatically follow records when the records meet specific criteria?

Within Salesforce, users can Follow and Unfollow records by clicking on the Follow icon on the record’s Detail page. If you want to automate the Follow/Unfollow process based on some criteria, then you have to use an AppExchange App or build your own app by using Apex code.

In this article, I will show how you can build this type of functionality without using any code. This is the first article in this series where I will discuss how to automatically follow records. In the next article, I will discuss how to automatically unfollow records.

Objectives:

This blog post will help us to understand the following:

• Learn about Entity Subscription and how to use it
• Create a Record-Triggered Flow to automatically follow records based on criteria
• Learn how to use a Decision element to find whether a Record variable or a Record collection variable contains a record
• Find out how to use the Loop element to extract records from a record collect
• And, last but not least, discover how to use the Create Records element to create multiple records (add followers to record) at once (Bulk Safe)

Business Use Case

Brenda David is working as a System administrator at Universal Containers (UC). As a part of the Salesforce adoption process, management wants to provide a tool to their employees so that they can define the criteria to auto-follow the opportunity record.  

Automation Champion Approach (I-do):

There are a few possible solutions for the above business scenario, but I’ll use After-save Record-Triggered Flow to solve the business requirement.

Check out this article to understand why we are using after-save record-triggered flow for this scenario. 

Field Name	Details
ParentId	The Id of the record or user which the user is following.
SubscriberId	The Id of the user who is following the record or user.

Before discussing the solution, let me show you a diagram of a Process Flow at a high level. Please spend a few minutes going through the following Flow diagram and understand it. Let’s begin building this automation process.

Guided Practice (We-do):

There are 3 steps to solve Brenda’s business requirement using After-save Record-Triggered Flow. We must:

1. Create a custom object to store the user’s preference to follow the Opportunity record 
2. Salesforce Flow
   1. Define flow properties for record-triggered flow
   2. Add a decision element to check if amount change and Opportunity is still open
   3. Add a get records element to find all preference records 
   4. Add a decision element to check if a preference record exists 
   5. Loop element to extract records from the record collection variable (step 2.2)
   6. Add an assignment element to construct (record variable) EntitySubscription record 
   7. Add an assignment element to add all comments into a record collection variable 
   8. Add a create records element to add followers to Opportunity (bulk safe)

Step 1: Creating a Custom Object to Store User’s Preference to Follow Opportunity Record 

Before we begin, we will need to create an object that will save users’ preferences to auto-follow the opportunity records. I will create an object called Opportunity Follow/Unfollow Preference. You can add or remove fields based on your requirements.

In this case, I want users to automatically follow records based on the Opportunity Amount. Create an object and the respective fields based on the following screenshot: 

Field Name	Data Type
Amount	Currency (11, 0)
Follower Name	Lookup (User)

1. Click Setup.
2. In the Object Manager, type User.
3. Select Fields & Relationships, then click New.
4. Select Date as Data Type, then click Next.
5. Enter Field Label and click the tab key, the API Name will populate. 
6. As a best practice, always input a description. 
7. Set the Field-level Security for the profiles, make sure to set this field as read-write. 
8. Add this field to Page Layout.
9. Click Save.

Step 2.1: Salesforce Flow – Define Flow Properties 

As we have a requirement of creating records in (EntitySubscription) when an opportunity post is created or updated. This is why we have to use the After-save flow on Opportunity.

1. Click Setup.
2. In the Quick Find box, type Flows.
3. Select Flows then click on the New Flow.
4. Select the Record-Triggered Flow option and click on Next and configure the flow as follows: 
   1. How do you want to start building: Freeform
   2. Trigger the Flow When: A record is created or updated 
   3. Run Flow: After the record is saved
   4. Object: Opportunity
5. Select None for Condition Requirement. 
6. Click Done.

Step 2.2: Salesforce Flow – Using Decision Element to Check if Opportunity is Still Open and Amount Change

Now add the Decision element to check, if opportunity amount is change and it is still open. You can take help from the screenshot below:

1. Under Toolbox, select Element.
2. Drag-and-drop Decision element onto the Flow designer.
3. Enter a name in the Label field; the API Name will auto-populate.
4. Under Outcome Details, enter the Label the API Name will auto-populate.
5. Condition Requirements to Execute Outcome: All Conditions Are Met (AND)
   1. Row 1:
      1. Resource: {!$Record.IsClosed}
         
      2. Operator: Equals
      3. Value: {!$GlobalConstant.False}
   2. Click Add Assignment 
   3. Row 2:
      
      1. Resource: {!$Record.Amount}
         
      2. Operator: Is Changed
         
      3. Value: {!$GlobalConstant.True}
6. Click Done.

Step 2.3: Salesforce Flow – Adding a Get Record Element to Find all Opportunity Follow/Unfollow Preference Records 

The next step is to get all Opportunity Follow/Unfollow Preference (Opportunity_FollowUnfollow_Preference__c) records that fall under user-defined values with current record. We will use the Get Records element. To do this drag-and-drop Get Records element onto the canvas and map the fields according to the details below:

1. Under Toolbox, select Element. 
2. Drag-and-drop Get Records element onto the Flow designer. 
3. Enter a name in the Label field; the API Name will auto-populate.
4. Select the Opportunity_FollowUnfollow_Preference__c object from the drop-down list.
5. Select All Conditions Are Met (AND). 
6. Set Filter Conditions
   1. Row 1:
      1. Field: Opportunity_FollowUnfollow_Preference__c | Amount__c
      2. Operator: Greater Than
      3. Value: {!$Record.Amount}
7. How Many Records to Store:
   1. select All record
8. How to Store Record Data:
   1. Choose the option to Automatically store all fields. 
9. Click Done.

Step 2.4: Salesforce Flow – Using Decision Element – Does Opportunity Follow/Unfollow Preferences Records Found?

Now add the Decision element to decide whether or not we found the opportunity follow/unfollow preference records. If the Resource (record collection variable) is null, then it means there was found. You can take help from the screenshot below:

1. Under Toolbox, select Element. 
2. Drag-and-drop Decision element onto the Flow designer. 
3. Enter a name in the Label field; the API Name will auto-populate.
4. Under Outcome Details, enter the Label the API Name will auto-populate.
5. Condition Requirements to Execute Outcome: All Conditions Are Met (AND)
   1. Row 1:
      1. Resource: {!Get_Follow_Unfollow_Preferences}
      2. Operator: Is Null 
      3. Value: {!$GlobalConstant.False}
6. Click Done.

Step 2.5: Salesforce Flow – Loop to Retrieve Records from Collection Variable 

1. Drag-and-drop the Loop element onto the Flow designer. 
2. Enter a name in the Label (Loop through Preferences) field – the API Name will auto-populate.
3. For Collection Variable select {!Get_Follow_Unfollow_Preferences}.
4. For Specify Direction for Iterating Over Collection select the option First item to last item.
5. Click Done. 

Step 2.6: Salesforce Flow – Add an assignment element to construct (record variable) EntitySubscription

1. Create a Record Variable varREntitySubscription of type Entity Subscription to add a follower to the opportunity record.
2. Drag-and-drop the Assignment element onto the Flow designer. 
3. Enter a name in the Label (Construct EntitySubscription field – the API Name will auto-populate.
4. Set Variable Values
   1. Row 1:
      1. Field: {!varREntitySubscription.ParentId}
      2. Operator: Equals
      3. Value: {!$Record.Id}
   2. Click Add Assignment 
   3. Row 2:
      1. Field: {!varREntitySubscription.SubscriberId}
      2. Operator: Equals
      3. Value: {!Loop_through_Preferences.Follower_Name__c}
5. Click Done.

Step 2.7: Salesforce Flow – Adding Values to a Record Collection Variable

1. Create a Record Collection Variable varREntitySubscriptions of type Entity Subscription to store record variable (created in step 2.6) for the bulk process.
2. Drag-and-drop the Assignment element onto the Flow designer. 
3. Enter a name in the Label (Add Records into a Collection) field – the API Name will auto-populate.
4. Set Variable Values
   1. Row 1:
      1. Field: {!varREntitySubscriptions}
      2. Operator: Add
      3. Value: {!varREntitySubscription}
5. Click Done.

Step 2.8: Salesforce Flow – Add a Create Records Element to Add Followers to Opportunity 

1. Drag-and-drop the Create Records element onto the Flow designer. 
2. Enter a name in the Label (Create Records from Collection) field- the API Name will auto-populate.
3. For How Many Records to Create select Multiple.
4. Map Record Collection: {!varREntitySubscriptions}
5. Click Done.

In the end, Brenda’s Flow will look like the following screenshot:

Once everything looks good, perform the steps below: 

1. Click Save.
2. Enter Flow Label the API Name will auto-populate.
3. Click Show Advanced.
4. API Version for Running the Flow: 52
5. Interview Label: Record-Triggered After Save: Opportunity Follow {!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}
6. Click Save. 

Almost there! Once everything looks good, click the Activate button.

Proof of Concept

1. Now create a few records in the object Opportunity Follow/Unfollow Preference to save criteria to Auto Follow records, it will look similar to the screenshot below:
2. Update an opportunity record with the amount of $800.

Formative Assessment:

I want to hear from you!  

What did you learn from this post, is it relevant to you, and how will you modify the concepts taught in the post for your own business processes? 

Make a post and tag me on Twitter @automationchamp, using #AutomationChampion.