Chances are you have some automations built into your Salesforce environment and they are built with Workflow Rules or the Process Builder tool. If this is the case (or you are not sure) – read on about how the retirement of these features will impact your Salesforce org.
Salesforce announced in late 2021 that they intend to retire both Workflow Rules and Process Builder and encourage customers to move to Salesforce Flow.
“We plan to begin blocking the ability to create new processes and workflows in Winter ’23, pending successful migrations and community input.”
* These future dates are all forward-looking statements and are subject to change.
Source: https://admin.salesforce.com/blog/2021/go-with-the-flow-whats-happening-with-workflow-rules-and-process-builder
The Retirement Timeline
What does this mean to me?
There are several stages to this timeline.
Stage 1: You can’t create any new Workflow Rules: Salesforce Winter ‘23 Release – Oct 2022.
Stage 2: You can’t create any new Process Builders: Salesforce Spring ‘23 Release – Feb 2023.
Stage 3: End of Support for both Workflow Rules and Process Builder – estimated 2025
In stage 1 and 2, your existing Workflow Rules and Process Builders will still work, you just can’t create any new ones. In stage 3, there will be no support from Salesforce if you need help with an existing Workflow Rule or Process Builder.
Beyond Stage 3 at some future time both Workflow Rules and Process Builder automations will stop completely. Given that the Salesforce Classic Interface is still around more than 5 years after the release of the Lightning User Interface, this date is still some time away.
While the dates maybe subject to change, the intent is clear. There is no new investment or development in these older automation tools and they are scheduled for retirement. The future of Salesforce automation is in Flow and all resources are being directed into this new generation automation tool.
Any feature gaps between Flow and the older generation tools have been rapidly closed over the past 12-24 months and now there is no justification for Flow not being your first choice for Salesforce Automation.
What do I need to do?
Firstly, don’t panic! There is time to plan an orderly transition to flow. This is why Salesforce has provided plenty of advance notice of their intentions as this will have a big impact on many customers.
There are tools that can convert Workflow Rules and Process Builder to Flow. They may not do a perfect job on all automations but in some circumstances they can help.
Train your team on Flow or contact KeyNode Solutions, a dedicated, experienced Salesforce Consulting Partner. Flow has become a highly desirable skill for all Salesforce Administrators and developers. Make sure you team has the skills required to utilize it to the maximum benefit. It can be a steep learning curve for administrators to come to grips with Flow but it is point-and-click or low-code tool designed for admins to perform many complex tasks. Starting with Record Triggered flows to replace Workflow rules is highly recommended.
Best Practice recommendation:
- Make an inventory of all Workflow Rules and Process Builder automations.
- Identify which automations are still relevant and which ones can be retired.
- Of those automations that are to remain, see if several smaller ones that operate on the same object can be combined into one Flow.
- Don’t just convert all the existing automations with the available tools but carefully analyse them to see if you can utilize some of the new Flow features to improve performance.
- Train your team on Flow and make sure they keep up to date with new features.
Transition from Workflow Rules and Process Builder to Flow brings an awesome opportunity to clean up automation from both technical debt and business side of things:
- Review existing automation making sure it accommodates your current business logic
- Remove automations no longer needed
- Consolidate multiple automations on same object into one clean easily maintainable flow
- Improve automation by utilizing new flow features
Our Salesforce-certified consultants can certainly access your current Workflow Rules and Process Builder and help converting those into Flows. For assistance to identify and analyze your existing automations drop us a line at hello@keynodesolutions.com or call us at 1-858-215-5371
For a more in-depth article on the transition to flow, read the 5-part series here:
https://blog.certifycrm.com/make-the-transition-to-salesforce-flow-part-1/
For training on Flow, this very affordable course covers the basics and will get your Salesforce Administrators comfortable with building their own flow automations: