This document provides an overview of Salesforce Flow Builder and Lightning Flows. It discusses key Flow concepts like elements, resources, variables, and scenarios for using Flows to automatically update opportunity names, sync account and contact addresses, send case notifications, and create accounts and contacts with a single screen. Resources for learning more about Flows are also provided.

1. GETTING TO FLOW YOU
A First Look at Flow Builder

2. Michelle Hansen
Principal, Slalom
-Co-Leader, Cedar Rapids, IA User Group
-Co-Host, Automation Hour
-Trailhead Mentor
-Midwest Dreamin’ Planning Committee
-Three Star Trailhead Ranger
-Presenter: Dreamforce, TrailheaDX/TrailblazerDX, Northeast
Dreamin, Cactusforce, Midwest Dreamin’, Florida Dreamin’,
Automate This! & more
Social Media
Twitter: @mehansen82
Trailhead: https://trailblazer.me/id/michellehansen
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleelizabethhansen/

3. GETTING TO FLOW YOU – VITAL STATISTICS
• Works with Lightning and Classic* *some components require Lightning runtime
• Includes many different types: Screen, autolaunched, record/scheduled triggered, etc.
• Can retrieve, display, create, update and delete records
• Can send emails, notifications, and access quick & local actions
• Can access other flows (not all types have this capability)
• Fun Fact: Processes are really Flows under the hood!

4. GETTING TO FLOW YOU – VOCABULARY
• Flow/Lightning Flow – An automation tool in Salesforce
• Flow Builder – The User Interface in Salesforce used to build a flow
• Flow Interview – A single instance of a flow being run
• Element – An item from the toolbox that is placed on the canvas which does some
sort of action
• Resource – An item from the toolbox that holds data and is used by one or more
elements on the canvas
• Iteration – One “trip” through a loop within a flow
• Outcome – A branched path based on criteria within a Decision Element
• Fault – An error within a flow

5. GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – FLOW TYPES

6. GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – BUILDER UI

7. • Screen – A screen where the user interacts with your flow by viewing,
adding, or editing information.
• Input fields – Text, number, date, checkbox, radio button, picklist, etc
• Display text
• Other components
• Action – Access a quick or standard action in your org
• Send an email
• Log a call
• Custom Actions
• Subflow – Call another flow from within this flow
• Autolaunched from Autolaunched Flow
• Screen or Autolaunched from Screen Flow
GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – TOOLBAR ELEMENTS

8. This is simply manipulating data within your flow—Consider this a sandbox
within your org – you can’t hurt the org using these
• Assignment – How you set the value of a variable
• Set a record field value to the value of a field from a flow screen
• Set the record count in a collection vs. looping & incrementing a counter
• Decision – Ability to branch your flow down different paths based on
criteria
• Can have multiple outcomes for a decision & multiple decisions in a flow
• Good for doing a null check on records before you proceed
• Decisions are OKAY in loops
• Loop – Used to go through a group of records (a collection variable)
• Loop through all Contact records for an account and update the address
• NEVER put a Data (pink) element inside of a loop!
GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – TOOLBAR ELEMENTS

9. GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – TOOLBAR ELEMENTS
Data Elements interact with your Salesforce Database – THIS IS REAL
• Create – Creates a new record or group of records in the database
• Update – Updates a record or group of existing records in the database
• Get – Retrieves a record or group of records from the database for use within
your flow
• Delete – Deletes a record or group of records from the database

10. • Variable – a container to hold information that can change
• Constant – a container to hold information that doesn’t change
• Formula – a way to manipulate information
• Text Template – stores text information that can be manipulated in the
flow
GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – RESOURCES

11. GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – RESOURCES
• Choice – a defined option for a user to select on a screen
• Record Choice Set – a set of records that a user can pick from on a screen
• Picklist Choice Set – uses an existing picklist field’s values for the user to
pick from on a screen
• Stage –sets stages within your flow, similar to Oppty stage

12. GETTING TO FLOW YOU – NAMING CONVENTIONS
• Decide on naming conventions for your resources (API names)
• camelCase is the standard for naming variables/resources in code
• lowercase first letter, Capitalize first letter of every new word
• Include a type of resource abbreviation for easy reference
• Examples:
• Variable: var_AccountName
• Formula: fml_totalCostPerMonth
• Choice: c_Yes / c_product_Training
• Collection Variable: cvar_Accts_in_Iowa
• Picklist Choice Set: pcs_Account_TypeField

13. GETTING AROUND FLOW BUILDER – RESERVED VARIABLES
recordId
• This variable is reserved by Salesforce for a specific purpose
• This passes the Id of the record from which the flow was launched into the flow to give
the flow interview context
• sYNtaX MATTerS – lowercase ‘r’ and uppercase ‘I’ are required
$Record
• This is a global variable that is used to hold each record that a scheduled flow will
interact with
• Scheduled flows will ALWAYS run a separate ‘interview’ of a flow for each record that
meets the entry criteria. This is the only time where bulkification on record updates is
not needed*

14. TIME TO GET HANDS ON!
*Note: These scenarios are designed to showcase concepts. They are NOT best practices and often
not legitimate real-world scenarios that should be solved exactly as shown

15. TIME TO GET HANDS ON! FLOW SCENARIO #1
• Our Sales Managers routinely use the same Opportunity name across
different companies, causing confusion when searching for them later.
• We want to use a Before Save flow to automatically append the Account
Number to the Opportunity name entered by the user

16. TIME TO GET HANDS ON! FLOW SCENARIO #2
• When the address for an Account is updated, every Contact’s
address should be updated to match
• This should happen automatically when the Account record is
saved

17. TIME TO GET HANDS ON! FLOW SCENARIO #3
• When a new Case is created, we want to notify the Owner so they can begin
working on it ASAP.
• We’ll create a record-triggered flow that allows us to send both an email
alert as well as a custom notification on Salesforce desktop (through the
notification bell).

18. TIME TO GET HANDS ON! FLOW SCENARIO #4
• User adoption has been problematic. The primary complaint is that it’s too
many steps to create an Account and Contact.
• We’ll create a screen flow that allows us to capture basic Account and
Contact data on a single screen.

19. RESOURCES
• Trailhead – Get Started with Flows
• https://admin.salesforce.com/blog/2019/getting-started-with-the-new-flow-builder
• AppExchange – Flow Templates & Screen components
• UnofficialSF.com Blogs, Components, Local actions – www.unofficialsf.com
• Automation Hour - www.automationhour.com
• Jen Lee’s blog - www.jenwlee.com
• Rakesh Gupta’s blog - www.automationchampion.com
• David Litton’s blog - www.salesforcesidekick.com
• The Wizard News podcast/blog (Brian Kwong) - https://thewizardnews.com/
• Metillium Consulting blog (Luke Freeland) - https://metillium.com/blog/
• https://captechconsulting.com/blogs/9-tips-for-using-salesforces-lightning-flow-the-right-
way
• Terry’s Tidbits Let’s Get Flowing Series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPXY38WvYAn6LX6Bl91ey_eLwY-_OYhPO

20. Feel Free to Contact Me!
MichelleDoesSalesforce@gmail.com
Twitter: @mehansen82
Trailhead: https://trailblazer.me/id/michellehansen
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleelizabethhansen/
I promise—I really mean it!