7 Inspiring Salesforce Flow Examples for Business Automation Success

Automation is increasingly becoming a critical component of business strategy, with over 90% of companies experiencing a growing demand for automation across multiple departments to boost efficiency and productivity, according to a study by Salesforce and Vanson Bourne.

Similarly, the Slack State of Work Report highlights that 77% of employees believe automating routine tasks, such as expense report approvals, would greatly enhance their productivity—saving them an estimated one month of work per year.

Salesforce Flow, a powerful low-code automation tool, is at the forefront of this transformation. It empowers users to automate complex business processes without requiring extensive programming knowledge. In our blog post, we’ll cover:

• How Flow Builder relates to Salesforce Flow,
• When you should and shouldn’t use Flows,
• Common Salesforce Flow types, main concepts, and components,
• Flow critical limits and considerations,
• 7 inspiring Salesforce Flow examples,
• Best practices for creating Flows.

What is Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is a robust automation tool within the Salesforce platform designed to streamline and automate intricate business processes using clicks instead of code. It empowers users to create and execute automated workflows, incorporating branching logic and data manipulation.

Salesforce Flows can be initiated by specific actions within Salesforce or scheduled to run at predetermined times, making it a versatile solution for optimizing various business operations.

As a Salesforce admin, Flows will become your best friend, enabling you to handle the majority of complex requirements.

They are easy to access and maintain because anyone familiar with Flows can follow along with what you built.

What is Flow Builder?

Flow Builder is a declarative interface in Salesforce that allows users to create individual flows with ease.

It features a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface, enabling users to visually design and construct flows.

With Flow Builder, users can develop a wide range of automated processes, from simple tasks such as sending email notifications to complex workflows involving data updates and integrations—all without the need for coding.

Why Should You Use Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow, with its declarative nature, offers a multitude of benefits for various business verticals. Here are compelling reasons to adopt Salesforce Flow in your processes:

Key Benefits of Salesforce Flows | Ascendix

1. Replacement for Legacy Tools: Legacy tools like Process Builder and Workflow Rules are being phased out, with support ending in December 2025. Therefore, new automation should be built using Flow. While short-term modifications to existing processes in Process Builder or Workflow Rules might make sense, migrating to Flow should be a priority
2. Reduction in Admin Time and Increased Productivity: Salesforce Flows can handle both common, repetitive tasks and intricate processes more efficiently, significantly decreasing the time spent on general administrative duties. This automation frees up employees to focus on other essential aspects of their roles, boosting overall productivity.
3. Cost Savings and Increased ROI: By automating tasks, your organization can save money on staff hours that would otherwise be spent on manual processes. In addition, as a no-code solution, Flows has comparatively low costs of ownership, reducing expenses related to maintaining the application. The combined savings in time and maintenance costs contribute to a higher return on investment for your organization.
4. User-Friendly and Code-Free: Flow Builder’s intuitive, drag-and-drop interface makes it accessible for users without coding skills. Salesforce admins and business users can create and manage flows easily, reducing the dependency on technical staff and lowering the barrier to implementing automation solutions.
5. Simplified Problem Solving and Maintenance: With Salesforce Flows, problems can be identified and resolved without delving into lines of code, simplifying the troubleshooting process. Ongoing maintenance is more straightforward, ensuring that processes remain efficient and up-to-date.
6. Flexible and Scalable: Salesforce Flow is versatile and can be adapted to a wide range of business needs, from simple tasks to complex workflows. It is also scalable, meaning it can grow and evolve with the business, accommodating changing requirements and increasing volumes of work.
7. Capability to Build Complex Systems: Flows can call Apex to handle complex logic, allowing you to connect Salesforce Flow to any external system required for your business processes. When Flows alone cannot provide a solution, compatibility with Apex ensures that you can build comprehensive systems by leveraging both tools.

When Should You NOT Use a Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is continuously improving and there are fewer situations where Apex code is specifically required. However, there are still certain situations where using Flow might not be the best choice:

• If you do not have a well-defined understanding of the business process you are automating, using Flow may lead to ineffective or incomplete automation.
• Salesforce Flow may not be recommended for highly complex or specialized processes that require extensive custom coding, intricate logic beyond the scope of declarative tools, or integration with external systems not natively supported by Salesforce.
• Some Salesforce editions, like Essentials and Professional, limit the number of flows and processes you can create. These editions allow up to five processes (per process type) and flows (per flow type) per organization.
• Salesforce Flows may not be suitable for scenarios demanding real-time processing with high performance and low latency, where Apex code would be more efficient.

5 Common Salesforce Flows Types

Salesforce Flows vary in their data usage and actions performed, employing different triggers to automate various tasks related to customer management. Here are the main types of Salesforce Flows:

5 Common Salesforce Flow Types | Ascendix

• Screen Flows: This type of Salesforce Flows allows users to input data through interactive screens, making it an effective tool for automating data collection and enhancing customer interactions. They can be launched as an action or embedded as an element on a Lightning page.
• Schedule-Triggered Flows: These auto launched flows initiate at a specified time and frequency for each record in a batch, running in the background. run based on a predefined schedule.
• Autolaunched Flows: They are triggered automatically without user interaction. Designed for running automated tasks, these flows can be invoked from other flows (subflows), Apex classes, set schedules, record changes, or platform events.
• Record-Triggered Flows: This type of Salesforce Flows is initiated by changes to records, such as creation, update, saving, or deletion. They operate in the background and can perform actions both before and after the record changes, and can be configured to execute every time changes occur or when specific criteria are met.
• Platform Event-Triggered Flows: Such Flows respond to specific platform events. These events can be actions performed by the platform, such as processing a user’s payment.

By leveraging these different types of flows, businesses can automate a wide range of processes, improving efficiency and consistency in their operations.

Salesforce Flow Main Concepts and Key Components

There are three main building blocks of any Salesforce Flow:

• Elements: They represent individual steps or actions within the flow, such as creating records, updating data, or making decisions based on specific criteria. These individual building blocks of the Flow perform logical actions such as assignments, decisions, or loops. Users can drag and drop these elements within the Flow Builder to construct the sequence and structure of the flow.
• Connectors: Determine which element leads to which. The Auto-Layout feature connects the elements automatically.
• Resources: They function as variables or containers that store data. They can hold values such as a customer’s name, date of birth, or any other specific information needed to execute the flow. Resources are crucial for dynamically handling data within the flow, allowing for customization and flexibility in the automation process.

On the Flow Canvas, you can see these components in action. For example, in a Screen Flow designed as a declarative replacement for a ‘before’ trigger, the ‘Start’ element triggers when a record is created or edited and runs before the record is saved.

Basic Flow Features:

• Toolbox: Located on the left-hand side of your Flow Canvas, the Toolbox contains different tools depending on the type of Flow (Screen Flow, Auto-Launched Flow, etc.).
• Manager Tab: Contains existing elements and resources of the Flow, such as Variables, Collections, Constants, Formulas, and Choices.

Elements in Salesforce Flows:

• Interaction Elements: Include Screen, Action, or Subflow. The Screen element presents a screen to the user to display or collect information; the Action element passes data through standard or custom actions like sending an email or a custom Apex action; the Subflow Element calls another Flow within your current Flow.
• Logic Elements: Include Decisions, Assignments, and Loops. Decisions split your Flow based on data; Assignments assign values to variables; Loops handle multiple variables at once using collections.
• Data Elements: Include Create, Update, Get, or Delete records and are used to edit records in the Salesforce database.

Salesforce Flow Limits and Considerations

General Salesforce Flow Limits

Versions per flow: 50

Active flows per flow type:

• Professional Editions: 5
• All other editions: 2,000

Total flows per flow type:

• Professional Editions: 5
• All other editions: 4,000

Limits Per Flow Interview

Executed Elements at Runtime Per Flow: 2,000

A Salesforce Flow Interview is a running instance of a flow, representing one complete execution of that flow. Each time a flow is executed, it creates a new flow interview. This can include data retrieval, user interactions, and the execution of business logic.

For each flow interview, you can execute up to 2,000 elements. In loops, the elements within the loop (including the loop element) are multiplied by the number of iterations.

For example, if 100 records enter a loop with two elements, the total executed elements will be 200.

*Note: In API version 57.0, the limit of 2,000 flow elements was removed. For API version 56.0 and earlier, the maximum was 2,000. Ensure your flows are on the most recent API version to benefit from this update.

Limits Per Transaction

A transaction is a set of operations executed as a single unit. These operations must all succeed or fail together to maintain data integrity. Transactions can include various operations such as flow interviews, triggers, escalation rules, and other automated processes.

• Total Number of SOQL Queries Issued: 100.  You can use a maximum of 100 data elements to retrieve data.
• Total Number of DML Statements Issued: 150. You can use a maximum of 150 data elements to modify data. Elements within loops will also be multiplied by the number of iterations, emphasizing the best practice of avoiding “No Pink in Loop.”
• Total Number of Records Retrieved by SOQL Queries: 50,000 You can retrieve a maximum of 50,000 records in total.
• Total Number of Records Processed as a Result of DML Statements: 10,000. You can modify a maximum of 10,000 records.
• Maximum CPU Time on the Salesforce Servers: 10,000 Milliseconds (10 Seconds). The maximum CPU time is 10,000 milliseconds (10 seconds) for the servers to process your solution.
• Total Number of Duplicate Updates Allowed in One Batch: 12. You can update the same record a maximum of 12 times within one batch.

By understanding and adhering to these limits, you can ensure that your flows run efficiently and effectively within the Salesforce environment.

How to Create a Flow in Salesforce

Creating a flow in Salesforce involves several steps to automate complex business processes. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step #1: Open Flow Builder

1. Enter “Flows” in the Quick Find box in Salesforce,
2. Select Flows,
3. Click “New Flow”,
4. Select the type of flow you need (e.g., Record-Triggered, Scheduled, Autolaunched, etc.).
5. Click Create.

Step #2: Understand the Flow Context

Different flow types offer different features. For example, Record-Triggered and Scheduled Flows provide access to the $Record global variable, which contains fields of the triggering record and its parents.

For Autolaunched Flows manually you need to create any required input variables if your flow is autolaunched.

Step #3: Set Up Inputs

Ensure your inputs are correctly set up before adding elements. This step is crucial for the flow to operate effectively.

Step #4: Add Elements to the Flow

1. After the start element, click the ‘+’ button to add new elements.
2. Select from a range of elements that represent different actions (e.g., read/write data, display information, execute logic, manipulate data).

Step #5: Save Your Flow
Save your progress as you build your flow to avoid losing any configurations.

Step #6: Test Your Flow
Ensure your flow works as intended by running comprehensive tests and utilize debugging tools to resolve any issues that arise.

Step #7: Activate and Distribute

1. Once testing is complete and the flow is working correctly, activate the Flow.
2. Make the flow available to the intended users, whether they are internal, external, or part of another organization.

Further, you also can complete the Build Flows with Flow Builder trail on Trailhead for an interactive learning experience.

7 Effective Salesforce Flow Examples to Enhance Your Workflows

1. Post Specific Record Updates on Chatter

Implementing Feed Tracking in Chatter allows you to efficiently monitor changes in fields and enables people within your organization to follow these updates.

However, sometimes you may be required to deal with more complex scenarios beyond simple field updates, which calls for advanced notification mechanisms.

For instance, consider a situation where you need to notify the Opportunity owner’s manager if a specific Deal switches status from ‘Open‘ to ‘Closed‘ within a span of just one week.

There are different ways you can accomplish this in a flow. Here is an example.

An Example of How to Post Specific Record Updates on Chatter with Record-Triggered Flow | Ascendix

How the final result looks like:

The Result of the Record Triggered Salesforce Flow | Ascendix

2. Screen Flow to Get Information from Other Objects

With Screen Flows, you can multitask by searching for a record while working on another, without leaving the current page. This allows for swift access to, for instance, a client’s purchase history.

Consider you need to verify all the prices applied to a product for a client while on a call with them. Here’s how you can accomplish that fast using screen flows:

An Example of How to Get Information from Other Objects in Salesforce with Screen Flow in Salesforce Ascendix

Here is the final result:

The Final Result of the Salesforce Screen Flow | Ascendix

3. Use Matching Records in a Flow to Deal with Duplicates

Another effective approach to managing data duplication with Flows is to utilize the ‘Matching Records‘ feature when creating records. This feature is particularly useful because it allows users to update an existing record identified as a duplicate, thereby preventing the creation of a new record.

Check this simple example of a Screen Flow to be used as a “New Contact” button. Inside the “Create Record” element, you can add the criteria you would like to match the contacts and the behavior if a duplicate is found: one or multiple records and Skip or update the duplicated records.

Here is an example of this Screen Flow:

An Example of How to Use Matching Records in a Flow to Deal with Duplicates | Ascendix

4. Send Password Expiration Notice to the Users

Regularly updating your Salesforce password is crucial for maintaining security. To help users remember when their password is nearing expiration can be achieved leveraging automation. A scheduled-triggered flow can send an email notification, alerting users one week before their password expires.

This proactive approach ensures users are always informed and encourages timely updates. Check this flow example on how you can do that:

An Example of Record Triggered Flow of How to Send Password Expiration Notice to the Users | Ascendix

With the help of an email template, you can quickly create a clean notification body like that.

The Final Result of Record-Triggered Flow in Salesforce | Ascendix

5. Auto Freeze Users: Managing Departing Users in Salesforce Flow

When users leave the company, it’s essential to limit their access to maintain security and compliance. Certain users, such as Customer Portal Administrator users and Workflow email alert recipients, cannot be deactivated immediately and may need to be frozen instead.

Freezing the user prevents unauthorized access, protects sensitive data by ensuring former employees cannot log in, and minimizes security risks by ensuring that only active, trusted users have access to company data and systems.

You can automate this process using Salesforce Flow, safeguarding that you don’t forget to remove their access on a specific date. This scheduled triggered flow can be built like the example below:

An Example of Daily Scheduled Triggered Flow End of the Day | Ascendix

This Scheduled Flow is triggered from the User record based on the fields “Last working date” and a formula called “Freeze User”, both custom fields created on the “User” object.

The User Record with the Last Working Date Field | Ascendix

Then, the field “IsFrozen” in the ‘User Login’ associated record is updated.

Custom Field Definition Detail in Salesforce | Ascendix

6. Assign Campaigns During Lead Creation or Update

When you need to apply specific campaign rules to your leads in Salesforce, using Flows can make this process much faster. Flow automates the task of assigning leads to campaigns and creating campaign members, so you can spend more time engaging with your leads rather than getting focused on manual data entry.

There are different ways how you can do that. Imagine that you need to assign a “Texas Clients 2024” campaign to all the new leads that live in Texas. Here you can find an easy way to build it.

An Example of How to Assign a Campaign to All the New Leads that Live in Texas | Ascendix

7. Automate a Custom Object Round Robin Assignment

When assigning work to users, you might encounter challenges finding balance in workload and round robin is a good way to distribute it equally. For a simple scenario and some standard objects, Salesforce’s Assignment Rules can help you work with queues and users.

But what happens when you have a more complex request, or you want to automatically assign users to a custom object? In our example, we use the Inquiry Object, from AscendixRE CRM (a Salesforce-based CRM for commercial real estate brokers) to assign users from a Public Group.

Here is how you can achieve that using flows:

An Example of How to Automate a Custom Object Round Robin Assignment with Record Triggered Flow | Ascendix

Note:

1. You must create an Auto Number field “Round Robin” in your Object, here we used “Inquiry”.
2. In step “A)”, as it’s before the Flow, you still don’t have the Auto Number defined for your current record, so we are looking for the last Inquiry created “Round Robin” field to define the next assignment through the formula:
   a. “MOD( VALUE ( {!Get_Last_Inquiry.Round_Robin__c} ) + 1 , {!Var_MembersCount} ) +1”
3. In step “B)” you need to compare the formula you’ve mentioned in item 2 with the current member count number. When they match, the Flow will assign the owner.

13 Best Practices for Creating Salesforce Flows

Salesforce Flow is the future of automation, combining the power of declarative development for both developers and admins. Here are best practices and design tips to ensure your flows scale with your organization.

1. Plan the Flow: Understand the business process that needs to be automated. Outline the step-by-step details required, which helps in determining the necessary elements and actions for the flow. It also clarifies how and when the flow should be initiated.
2. Document Your Flows: It will help future users or your future self understand the flow’s objective. Outline what your flow does, the objects it touches, and where it’s invoked from, use naming conventions like CompanyCase and include descriptions for variables and elements, and explain each step’s purpose, especially for workarounds or advanced functions.
3. Choose the Right Field and Variable: Ensure you are selecting the correct fields or variables for your flow to avoid errors and unintended outcomes.
4. Create and Test the Flow: Develop and test the flow in a Sandbox or developer environment before deploying it to production. This minimizes the risk of accidentally modifying or deleting data in the production environment.
5. Perform Data Manipulation Efficiently: Since flows run under Apex governor limits, it is advisable to combine all data manipulations (create, modify, or delete) and perform them at the end of the flow to optimize performance and resource usage.
6. Utilize Subflows for Scalability: A subflow is an optimal solution if you’re performing the same actions multiple times and need to manage branching logic and subprocesses or elevated permissions for data access. Among its other obvious benefits is that you need to update subflows once instead of in multiple places but you should avoid excessive subflows to maintain usability. Also, they require more coordination within the team to stay on the same ground.
7. Avoid Hardcoding IDs and Complex Formulas: IDs are organization-specific and will cause errors when the flow is deployed to other environments. Use dynamic references and variables instead of hard-coding IDs. Also, it’s better not to use overly complex formulas within flows.
8. Use Granular Flow Permissions: Make sure the objects and fields referenced in your flow are accessible to the end users who will be using the flow to prevent permission-related errors. Also, be cautious when using system context in Screen Flows for external users and ensure they have access to objects in the flow.
9. Null/Empty Checks: Always check for null or empty values to prevent your flow from failing when encountering empty or undefined data in decision elements.
10. Save the Flow Regularly: Flows are not saved automatically. Regularly save your progress to prevent data loss due to session timeouts or internet issues.
11. Always Build an Error Handler: Include a fault path in the flow design to gracefully handle errors and display custom error messages, ensuring a better user experience.
12. Test All Possible Paths: For complex flows with multiple paths based on data and decisions, test as many paths as possible to ensure all scenarios are handled correctly. Test flows using the same permissions and profiles as the end users to ensure they work correctly in the intended environment.
13. Avoid Backward Navigation: Avoid giving users the ability to navigate backward in the flow, as this can cause duplicate data changes in the database if not handled carefully.

How Ascendix Can Make Salesforce Flows Seamless and Powerful

A Salesforce Flow is a powerful automation tool that enables users to create and execute complex business processes.

Ascendix is your trusted Salesforce Crest Consulting partner in the creation, management, and customization of Salesforce Flows. Our seasoned administrators and consultants excel at crafting tailored flows that precisely meet your unique business needs.

By meticulously configuring decision points, loops, and user interaction screens, we ensure that your flows are not only user-friendly but also perfectly aligned with your organization’s processes.

Our commitment doesn’t end with implementation. We provide ongoing reviews and updates to keep your flows efficient and relevant as your business evolves.

In addition, our experts continuously refine and optimize your flows to enhance performance and adapt to new challenges.

For scenarios that demand complex business logic or involve large data volumes, our developers are equipped to write and integrate custom code, ensuring your flows are both powerful and scalable.

If you want to make your Salesforce Flows drive efficiency, adaptability, and long-term success, book a free CRM consulting call and we’ll troubleshoot and refine your Salesforce flows to improve their performance.