The end of Workflow and Process Builder...Salesforce Flow is the future!!!

Introduction

Complex business process automation without having to write a single line of code is one of the fantastic features of Salesforce platform. It seems like a long ago when Salesforce gifted us the Workflow Rule. Me from Dot net background, was amazed to see the capability of Work flow rule engine works.

It was when In 2015 Process Builder got the shelves and needless to mention it was absolutely amazing. With this our capabilities were not limited to just updating parent records, but also create new records and update related records for both standard as well custom objects. It is obvious to understand that Process Builder provided system administrators with a new tool which could reasonably compete with Apex.

For quite some time I thought Salesforce Flow as just the extra-complicated version of Process Builder and Workflow Rules. I never used Flow if it could be done through Process Builder. I just felt like it is too heavy and I felt little reason to adopt it as my business automation tool.

Before the Spring 2019 release, flows were built in the Cloud Flow Designer tool. But In Spring 2019 release, Salesforce introduced Flow Builder, which provides much faster, more intuitive front-end interface for building flows.

What changed?

Soon, my point of view got changed for good about a year ago - for following reasons:

• I witnessed first-hand how quick the records are getting created or updated using Flow compared to Process Builder and Workflow Rules.
• Salesforce itself expanded the capabilities of the Flow tool to include both record-triggered and schedule-triggered Flow.
• In June 2020 Salesforce officially changed their recommendation to say that Process Builder and Workflow Rules would no longer receive product updates, and Salesforce Flow would be considered the new tool of choice for declarative process automation now onwards.

Now I definitively boarded the Flow-train, and decided not to look back.

What exactly did Salesforce say?

In June 2020 Salesforce published a blog post ( Click here to know more) that clearly mentioned Salesforce’s own views on what would henceforth be considered as best practice for any business process automation in Salesforce. The blog post mentioned 3 key takeaways:

• Takeaway #1: If you need to update a Salesforce record, use a “BeforeSave“ Flow, as this is faster than Process Builder (they could possibly outperform Process Builder by a factor of 10). End users will be able to save and update records a lot faster!
• Takeaway #2: If you need to create records or send emails, then use an “AfterSave“ Flow - this will also increase the performance for the end user when compared to using Process Builder
• Takeaway #3: If the logic of a Flow gets overly complex then it’s probably best to move it to Apex coding

In other words, my take away was not to increase my intend towards Workflow Rules and process Builder anymore and start leveraging the power of Flow instead. As Salesforce wont anymore enhance Workflow Rules and Process Builder and also, they are heavily enhancing Flow development.

Can Flows Be the only Tool for all?

I was one of many those kept on thinking this each time I read Salesforce release notes. Flows are evolving at an incredible pace, and specifically with Winter’21 release. ( Click here to know more). – they can be scheduled, triggered on record updates, called by platform events. Even they can be visible or invisible to the users.

With Flow, you can build incredible complex business logic and reuse across multiple Flows. (Reusability without rebuild). These can do most of the things what Workflow Rules, Process builder and Approval process can do.

I don’t think we are far off from a situation where Flows are the only tool that will be used by Administrators which will help to automate all business process in declarative way. Instead of using multiple tools for different purposes, a single tool will help in a bigger way.

Bye, Bye Process Builder and Workflow Rules?

So, now the obvious question must be in everybody’s mind that “Is this the end of Process Builder and Workflow Rules?”

Well, not yet.

Salesforce will continue to allow system administrators to maintain the existing as well create new Workflow Rules as well Process Builders.

It is similar way the Classic interface is still available. But it is not going to be enhanced any more for sure. (Salesforce has the plan doe the retirement of these two tools as announced in Dream Force 21- I am covering the same later)

Process Builder and Workflow Rules Retirement

Finally, Dreamforce 21 announced the retirement of Workflow and Process Builder.

The Product Manager responsible for the retirement, Patrick Stokes, delivered some peace of mind. There is going to be a formal roadmap, that is governed by an end-of-life council, he reassured. In the spirit of transparency, here are the stages they have planned:

• Spring ‘22 release: Launch migration tool for Workflow Rules
• Summer ‘22 release: Launch migration tool for Process Builder
• Winter ‘23 release: Will no longer be able to create new Process Builders or Workflow Rules

As it is clearly mentioned, it will be a gradual process over few years.

My Recommendation:

My high-level recommendation as below:

• Don’t create new Process Builders or Work Flow Rules in your Org any more and try to be comfortable with Flow.
• If an existing Process Builder or Workflow Rules are causing any problem, then convert into Flow instead. (Never forget to consider the complexities)
• If the existing Process Builder or Workflow are working fine, then just leave those as they are. (I have covered the Salesforce’s plan for this as well earlier in this article)

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Note: The information is my personal opinion only. For clarifications, please reach out to me at: [email protected]