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14-08-2015

Process Builder vs Triggers YOU DECIDE

Process Builder Overview

ü  Release as Beta in the Winter 15 Salesforce release

ü  Enables Admins to be less reliant on development resources

ü  And be utilized to automate all workflow actions (with the exception of outbound messages)

Process Builder Benefits (1) Here are a few of the bigger features of Process Builder that weren’t possible with configuration before: Workflow was limited to just field updates, creating tasks and email alerts. With Process Builder we can:

Create Records – in addition to updating a record you can create a record and set the field values within the record.

Process Builder Benefits (1) Here are a few of the bigger features of Process Builder that weren’t possible with configuration before: Workflow was limited to just field updates, creating tasks and email alerts. With Process Builder we can:

Create Chatter Posts – push a Chatter update into a Group or Feed.

Process Builder Benefits (1) Here are a few of the bigger features of Process Builder that weren’t possible with configuration before: Workflow was limited to just field updates, creating tasks and email alerts. With Process Builder we can:

Create an Approval – traditionally you needed a trigger to automatically push a record into an approval process. With Process Builder you can do this automatically based on the criteria of the Process.

Process Builder Benefits (1) Here are a few of the bigger features of Process Builder that weren’t possible with configuration before: Workflow was limited to just field updates, creating tasks and email alerts. With Process Builder we can:

Easily Consolidate Workflow – consolidate multiple workflow rules that into one process.

Process Builder Benefits (2) And more:

Launch a Flow – Right from a Process, you can launch an automated flow process.

Call an Apex Class – you can now call an Apex class. Be extremely careful when doing this!

Process Builder Benefits (2) And more:

Simple triggers like populating a lookup field based on certain criteria, can now be automated in process builder without any code required.

Complicated business processes, such as renewal automation, can be automated in conjunction with Flow.

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Populate a lookup field on record update

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Traditionally been something that requires a trigger, Process Builder allows administrator can do this without the use of code.

REASON

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Set an Account Owner based on Record Criteria

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Process builder can be used to assign ownership on records based on criteria in the object.

REASON

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Post a Chatter message based on record criteria

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Process builder can be used to post to Chatter based on record criteria.

REASON

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Submit a Quote for Approval when Opportunity Stage = Proposal

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Requires two Processes, One to update the Quote based on the Opportunity stage and another to Submit the Quote for approval when the criteria on the quote had been met.

REASON

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Launch a Flow via record criteria vs. a button or link

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Process Builder can be used to set record criteria and then launch a trigger ready flow. NB. Only ‘trigger-ready’ flows can be selected.

REASON

Round 1 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Populate a text field with object ID

SCENARIO

Process Builder Trigger Workflow

OPTIONS

If it is a cross object and can’t be done with workflow use process builder. If it is part of a complex trigger leave the field set within the trigger due to conflicts with the order of operations

REASON

Round 1

Process Builder Trigger

6                  0  

Round 2 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Assign Ownership to a Custom Object based on criteria

SCENARIO Process Builder Trigger Depends on complexity

OPTIONS

Round 2 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Process builder can assign ownership based on object criteria and set an order of actions. However, processes require a user to create a new process each time a change is needed. It can become a burden to administer these rules via Process Builder as the more rules you have, the more unwieldy it will become. Once you get too complex a custom option may be required.

REASON

Round 2 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Clone an opportunity and change field values

SCENARIO Process Builder Trigger

OPTIONS

Round 2 – Process Builder VS Trigger

Although Process Builder can create a new record it cannot reference any of the values from the cloned opportunity without the use of a Flow to capture the opportunity values (NB this can probably be done with Flow and Process Builder but the quickest approach right now is to use a trigger).

REASON

Round 2

Process Builder Trigger

0                  1  

The Champion is…

Process Builder x Trigger

Process Builder Limitations ü  Editing – Users cannot edit a process once it has been activated.

Therefore much like with flow a new process needs to be created by cloning the initial process and making modifications to that cloned record.

ü  Autosave – Won’t allow a user to cancel out of a process when they have made unwanted changes (Autosave + Undo = Perfection).

ü  Troubleshooting - UI does not allow an Admin to tell who created a Process, when it was created, or the ID for that Process. Also all trouble shooting must be done in the debug log.

Process Builder Limitations ü  Validation – Processes DO NOT trigger Validation rules and can therefore

invalidate data.  

ü  Deletion – Inactive Processes cannot be deleted for at least 12 hours after inactivation and do not appear in the Recycle Bin.

ü  Error messages – You cannot specify error messages when creating a process that doesn’t trigger like you can with flow or validation rules.

ü  Formula Help – When utilizing a formula in criteria there is no function help preview next to the Syntax.

Process Builder Limitations ü  Order – You can’t change the order of criteria nodes or actions, after you

add them the only way to reorder is to delete them and start over.

ü  Syntax – Picklist fields are evaluated as text fields in process builder so they won’t support any picklist formulas like ISCHANGED or ISNEW. Note – with Spring 15 the formula ISCHANGED is now a function vs. a formula and will work with picklists.

ü  Setting field values - You cannot populate a field with a formula in process builder. You can only manually enter a literal or select another variable (i.e. field). To populate a text field with a formula create a separate formula field and then reference that in your process

Process Builder Best Practices

Check– to see if there are any workflows on the object doing the same thing as the process. Also verify no active Apex triggers. Avoid– interweaving Apex, Workflow, and Processes together for the same process. As Workflows and Triggers don’t always place nice together so holds true for Processes.

Even if you do get them to work, it’s a bad practice to spread logic over multiple methods. Keep it all together in one place so you can see what’s happening down the entire flow.

Process Builder Best Practices

Document – Use the description field to populate information such as when it was created by who and what the process does. In addition, if processes work in conjunction with each other, reference the other(s) process names in the description field.

Test – And then test some more. Especially when you’re first starting to use this please practice in a sandbox first and really test out what you’re trying to do. There’s a lot of ability to impact users and data here if you do something wrong.

Process Builder Screenshots

Questions?

Process Builder vs Trigger By Chris Franklin and Egor Cole

THANKS!