Big Idea or Enduring Question:

How to use Process Builder to automate business scenarios that involve cloning an existing record.

Objectives:

After reading this blog, you’ll be able to:

Understanding the Record Create Process in Process Builder
Understanding how to clone a record by using the create record option.
Using a custom field to restrict the process builder to fire only once when a condition is met.
Using the formula in filter condition in process

Business Use case

Steve Cartwright is working as a System Administrator at Universal Containers (UC). He received a requirement to auto-create a new Opportunity (Similar to an old record) whenever an Opportunity is successfully closed and set the Close date for new Opportunity to 120 days from the old opportunity’s close date.

Automation Champion Approach (I-do):

Usually, with Salesforce multiple approaches are available to solve a business requirement. Choose the ones that are simple, straight forward, and consume fewer resources.

Similarly in this scenario, either use Apex trigger, a combination of Flow and Process Builder, or a few more.

Let’s solve this scenario using Process Builder, as this business case involves only one level of cloning. To implement deep clone (Multilevel cloning), either Lightning Flow or Apex Programming can be used.

Before we dive into the solution to help Steve, though, we need to first understand what is Process Builder and its components.

The solutions involve two steps.

Create a checkbox field to ensure the process builder is fired only once after it meets a criteria. So, the checkbox field is used as a flag to hold a boolean value
Create a record change process and use the Create record action to clone a record whenever a specified criteria is met.

Let’s begin building this automation process.

Guided Practice (We-do):

There are 6 steps to solve Steve’s business requirement using Process Builder. We must:

creating a checkbox
define process properties
define evaluation criteria
define process criteria
add action – create a record
add action – update records

Step 1: Creating a Checkbox

Click Setup.
In the Object Manager, type Opportunity.
Select Fields & Relationships, then click New.
Select Checkbox as Data Type, then click Next.
Enter Field Label and click the Next button. The API Name will populate.
As a best practice, always input a description.
Set the Field-level Security for profile, make sure to set this field as read-only.
Don’t add this field to Page Layout.
Click Save

Step 2: Define Process Properties

Click Setup.
In the Quick Find box, type Process Builder.
Select Process Builder, then click New.
Name the Process and click the Tab button. The API Name will populate.
As a best practice, always input a description.
The process starts when A record changes.
Click Save.

Step 3: Define Evaluation Criteria

Click on the Add Object node to begin selecting the evaluation criteria.
Select the Opportunity object from the dropdown list.
Start the process when a record is created or edited.
Click Save.

Step 4: Define Process Criteria

Click the Add Criteria node to begin defining the process criteria.
Name the criteria.
The criteria should execute actions when the conditions are met.
Set Conditions
1. Row 1:
  1. Field: Opportunity | Stage
  2. Operator: Equals
  3. Type: Picklist
  4. Value: Closed Won
2. Row 2:
  1. Field: Opportunity | One Time Activity
  2. Operator: Equals
  3. Type: Boolean
  4. Value: False
Select All of the conditions are met (AND).
Click Save.

Step 5: Add Action – Create a Record

Below Immediate Actions, click Add Action.
For Action Type, select Create a Record.
Name the action.
Select the Opportunity record type.
Set Field Values:
1. Row 1:
  1. Field: Close Date
  2. Type: Formula
  3. Value: [Opportunity].CloseDate + 120
2. Click Add Row
3. Row 2:
  1. Field: Name
  2. Type: Formula
  3. Value: [Opportunity].Name +” + “
4. Click Add Row
5. Row 3:
  1. Field: Stage
  2. Type: Picklist
  3. Value: Prospecting
6. Click Add Row
7. Row 4:
  1. Field: Forecast Category
  2. Type: Picklist
  3. Value: Pipeline
Click Save.

Step 6: Add Action – Update Records

Below Immediate Actions, click Add Action.
For Action Type, select Update Records.
Name the action.
Select the option Select the Opportunity record that started your process record type.
Set Field Values:
1. Field: One Time Activity
2. Type: Boolean
3. Value: True
Click Save.

Almost there! Once everything looks good, click the Activate button. Moving forward, a new opportunity will be automatically created whenever (only once) an opportunity is updated as Closed Won.

Note:- Before you activate your process, you will want to make sure that you have assigned data in the correct format because Process Builder obeys validation rules. If some fields are required by using validation rules, then make sure you have added those fields. Conversely, if some fields are required on the page layout, you can ignore those fields.

Formative Assessment:

I want to hear from you!

What is one thing you learned from this post? How do you envision applying this new knowledge in the real world?

Let me know by Tweeting me at @automationchamp, or find me on LinkedIn.

Note: – I am grateful to Copado, Docomotion, FormAssembly, OwnBackup, and Conga for sponsoring my blog.

Author: - Rakesh Gupta
Technical Editor: - Mrudula Jarugula

Business Use Case

Higher Management in Universal container wants to expand new feature “Add records to Chatter Groups” for their users. Basically, they want a publisher action on Opportunity object that allows their users to add a record to multiple Chatter Groups (Only public Groups).

A solution for the above business requirement

Do you think we have to use Apex code to parse values selected for multi-select choice fields in flow? I think no, this article will help you to understand the way to assign multi-select choice picklist values to a collection variable in a flow or way to parse it.

Design: – when a user clicks on publisher action on Opportunity object it will pop-up a screen, then the user can select multiple Chatter groups, after clicking on Next button it will add Opportunity record to Selected Chatter Groups.

To solve this requirement we will use Visual Workflow, and then we will embed Flow to a Visualforce page to call it from Publisher action. Before proceeding you have to understand CollaborationGroup and CollaborationGroupRecord objects in Salesforce.

A. CollaborationGroup:- This object represents a Chatter group.
B. CollaborationGroupRecord:- This object represents the records associated with Chatter groups. CollaborationGroupId represents Id of Chatter Group and RecordId represents ID of the record associated with Chatter Group.

1. Click on Name | Setup | App Setup | Create | Workflows & Approvals | Flows
2. Click on New Flow, it will open flow canvas for you. Create two Text type variable VarTOpportunityID (To pass Opportunity ID from Publisher action) and VarTSelected_Chatter_GroupsID we will use it later on this flow.
3. Next step is allowing users to select multiple Chatter Groups. To do that drag-and-drop a Screen Element ( Give the name Select Chatter Groups) onto the window and add a Dynamic choice Multi-Select Picklist field with below detail

Name	Data Type	Required
Active Chatter Group (Public)	Multi-Select Picklist	Yes

It will look like the below screenshot

Dynamic choice Multi-select picklist

Note:- Don’t save the selected Chatter group IDs, because if you assign the results to a variable here, that variable will only store the first value selected.

4. Next step is to assign ID’s of Selected Chatter Group to Text variable {!VarTSelected_Chatter_GroupsID}, to do that Drag-and-drop Assignment Element ( Give the name Chatter Groups IDs to Variable) onto the window and map the field according to the following screenshot

Assign Selected Chatter Group IDs

5. Next task is to create few Formula fields to calculate the number of chatter groups the user has selected, it’s length, Individual Chatter group ID and for Id’s that remaining to Parse. First, we will create a formula to calculate Lengths of ID’s of Selected Chatter Groups (Length) and Number of Chatter group selected (Counter) as shown in the following screenshot

Formula Fields – Part 1

Now create two formula fields to calculate Parsed ID (Single_Chatter_Group_ID) and Chatter ID’s those are remaining to Parse (Remaining_Chatter_GroupID) as shown in the following screenshot

Formula Fields – Part 2

6. Drag-and-drop a Record Create ( Give the name Add Record to First Chatter Group) onto the window to add a record into chatter groups, if the user has selected only one Chatter group. Please refer to the following screenshot for more details

Add Record to First Chatter Group

7. Now drag-and-drop Decision element to check counter size. If Counter size < = 1 then leave it as it is, else we have to collect the remaining Chatter groups IDs and then add it to a SObject Collection Variable with recordID (To add records to Chatter Groups, in our case it’s variable {!VarTOpportunityID}. Please refer to the following screenshot for more details

To check the counter size

8. As we have already added the record to one Chatter Group then we have to TRIM original length (it means remove selected Chatter group ID from variable {!VarTOpportunityID}. Please refer to the following screenshot for more details

Assign remaining Chatter Groups IDs to Text Variable

9. Next step is to add data into a SObject Variable after parsing it. Drag and Drop Assignment Logic (Give the name Add data for single Chatter Group Record) on the window, to assign {!VarTOpportunityID} and formula {!Single_Chatter_Group_ID} into the SObject Variable (CollaborationGroupRecord Object Type) {!Single_Record_Deatils} as shown in the below screenshot

Add details into SObject Variable

10. Drag-and-drop Assignment Logic (Give the name All in one) on the window and assign a value from SObject variable {!Single_Record_Deatils} to SObject Collection variable {!All_Record_In_One} (CollaborationGroupRecord Object Type) so at the end of the flow will use it inside the Fast Create to add a record to remaining Chatter Groups. Please refer to the following screenshot for more details

Add SObject Variables into a SObject Collection

11. Next step is to check Counter size >= 1. If counter size is greater than 1 then repeat the process (8-10), else we will use Fast Create element add a record to remaining Chatter Groups. To do that drag-and-drop decision element and check the counter size, as shown in the following screenshot

Check Counter Size Greater than 1

12. Finally, drag-and-drop Fast Create (Give the name Add record to remaining Chatter Groups) on the window and map the field according to the below screenshot

Add record to remaining Chatter Groups

13. Finally, our Flow will look like the following screenshot

14. Save the flow with name Add Record to multiple Chatter Group and close the canvas.

It’s time to test this flow

In the next article Call a flow from publisher action I will show you how you can use this flow as Publisher action

1. For time being to test this flow, we will hard code the Opportunity Id into flow variable {!VarTOpportunityID}

Set Default Value to a Variable

2. Click on the Save, button and then click on Run button available on flow canvas. Select as many as Chatter Groups you want, as shown in the following screenshot I have selected 4 Chatter Groups

Selected Chatter Groups

Once done Click on Next button.

3. To see the result, open the Opportunity Detail page and navigate to Groups related list

Final Output

Note:- In the next article Call a flow from publisher action I will show you how you can use this flow as Publisher action. I will suggest you Implement this first on your developer org test it and then move it to Production.

Automation Champion

Tag: Opportunity

Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 3 (Automatically Clone a Record if it Meets Certain Criteria)

Posted at 7:28 PM by Rakesh Gupta, on February 16, 2015

Big Idea or Enduring Question:

Objectives:

Business Use case

Automation Champion Approach (I-do):

Guided Practice (We-do):

Step 1: Creating a Checkbox

Step 2: Define Process Properties

Step 3: Define Evaluation Criteria

Step 4: Define Process Criteria

Step 5: Add Action – Create a Record

Step 6: Add Action – Update Records

Formative Assessment:

Like this:

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Automation Champion

Tag: Opportunity

Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 3 (Automatically Clone a Record if it Meets Certain Criteria)

Posted at 7:28 PM by Rakesh Gupta, on February 16, 2015

Big Idea or Enduring Question:

Objectives:

Business Use case

Automation Champion Approach (I-do):

Guided Practice (We-do):

Step 1: Creating a Checkbox

Step 2: Define Process Properties

Step 3: Define Evaluation Criteria

Step 4: Define Process Criteria

Step 5: Add Action – Create a Record

Step 6: Add Action – Update Records

Formative Assessment:

Share this:

Like this:

Add Record to Multiple Chatter Groups – Parsing Multi-Select Picklist fields (Flow)

Posted at 10:15 PM by Rakesh Gupta, on February 3, 2015

Business Use Case

A solution for the above business requirement

It’s time to test this flow

Share this:

Like this:

Search

Upcoming Trainings

Sponsor #1

Sponsor #2

Sponsor #3

Sponsor #4

Order Now!

Buy My Book

Buy My Book

Recent Posts

Salesforce ID Converter Build on Lightning Flow

Blog Archives

Categories

Information

Top Posts

Social Media