Workflow Rules and Process Builder Retirement

Workflow Rules, Process Builder, and Flow – all tools available from Salesforce with the intended purpose of automating those repeatable manual tasks. These three tools have overlapping capabilities which creates issues in having to switch between and continually enhance automations built with each of these three tools separately. Due to these issues, Salesforce has decided to phase out Workflow Rules and Process Builder to consolidate all automation processes and future system enhancements into the most powerful & feature-rich of these tools; Flows.

What Does This Mean For You and Your Organization?

This consolidation to a single tool for building your automations in Salesforce means that new automations will need to be built in Flow Builder and that your organization’s existing Workflow Rules and Process Builders will need to be converted over to Flows. Salesforce has supplied a tool at your disposal that will help migrate your existing Workflow Rules to Flows. Similarly, there is also a tool available to help migrate your Process Builders to Flows.

While these are useful straight conversion tools, they are not necessarily going to follow best practices to convert what all has previously been built. This is a great opportunity for you to look at your existing processes and see where efficiencies can be made while simultaneously reducing technical debt.

Cloud Haven’s Recommendations:

Ask Yourself 3 Questions About Your Org’s Utilization of Automation

1. Are each of my automations still needed?
   • Often there are old processes that are getting triggered, but the business case no longer exists to keep them necessary or valid.
2. Are there duplicate processes?
   • This often happens in larger organizations, where you may have two different automations that are attempting to accomplish the same (or very similar) tasks.
3. Are there opportunities to combine like automations?
   • For example, you may have 10 Workflow Rules and 5 Process Builders on just the Lead object that could easily be combined into one (or a couple) Lead Flows. This helps to simplify automations, avoid governor limits, and control the order of operations.

Be Proactive and Assess Current Automations!

Converting these existing processes over to Flow is important and should be something considered and completed in a proactive manner. Already, we’ve had many of our customers request our help in migrating their Workflow Rules and Process Builders to Flows. In every one of these cases, we’ve found old automations that are no longer used, or ones that don’t make sense for their business process anymore. Converting ineffective or unnecessary processes is a waste of your time and resources. Our experts recommend that you use this as an opportunity to reassess your business processes and look at the automations being used to determine if they need updated or revised (or even archived!).

Use a Standard Naming Convention

Another thing to consider as you move your existing automations to Flows, is utilizing a standardized naming convention for your Flows. This includes clues about the flow, like including the Object that triggers the flow, or the trigger for the flow (i.e. Record Trigger, or Event Trigger). We recommend reviewing this article from Automation Champions that gives excellent recommendations for establishing naming conventions for both the title and the elements of your Flows: https://automationchampion.com/2021/11/09/naming-conventions-for-salesforce-flow/

Don’t Forget to Test!

Lastly, be sure to test, test, test! Whether the migration tools are utilized, or you reevaluate the business processes and choose to combine automations, thorough testing is recommended and absolutely needed.

Our team has found these other resources/blogs about Flows and all the wonderful things they can do with this tool:

• https://admin.salesforce.com/blog/2021/go-with-the-flow-whats-happening-with-workflow-rules-and-process-builder
• https://www.salesforceben.com/salesforce-to-retire-workflow-rules-and-process-builder/

Get Support If You Need It!

We understand your time is valuable, if your team needs to focus on internal processes and/or needs assistance with this shift from Process Builder and Workflow Rules to Flow, we are here to help. As a Salesforce Implementation Partner, our team has the knowledge and skills required to move over current automations and assist with future automations in Flow. Interested in learning more about our Salesforce expertise? Use the link below to book time with one of our experts.