Introduction

Why is Salesforce one of the top CRMs in the world? One of the reasons for this rise can be attributed to the various automation tools available on the platform.

The Automation tools in the platform eliminate monotonous tasks, enabling Admins to focus on more profound things.

The automation tools in the platform include:

• Workflow Rules
• Process Builder
• Flow
• Apex

Workflow Rules

Workflow Rules is the most well-known and widely used tool as they’re reliable, quick, and straightforward. They help us automate standard internal procedures and processes to save time.

Workflow Rules can be broken into two components:

• Criteria: What must be true for the workflow rule to execute associated actions?
• Action: What to do when the record meets the criteria.

The major disadvantage of using workflows is that workflow rules only evaluate one outcome. If the criteria are false, it ends there, and no action can be performed. It’s best to use other automation tools for advanced automation.

Process Builder

Process Builder is a point-and-click tool that helps us automate repetitive business processes such as record creation, record updation, sending emails, chatter group notifications, and more within the platform. Unlike Workflow Rules, Process Builders can have multiple actions in a single process.

Process Builder should be a no-go if you’re working on something big. It has limitations on the number of SOQL queries that can run simultaneously. The flow would be your best bet in those scenarios.

Flow

When it comes to automation, Flow is the clear winner! It enables us to implement powerful Automation tasks that the Process Builder and Workflow Rules cannot. And it’s a point-and-click tool with no coding required!

It can perform various tasks, such as:

• Sending an email
• Posting a chatter
• Sending custom notifications
• It can also be a trigger for:
  • Record insert
  • Record update
  • Record deletion

Although Flow has a lot to offer, keep in mind that a significant learning curve is involved.

Apex

This is the only automation tool on this list that requires coding. Apex is Salesforce’s object-oriented programming language based on Java. When the automation tools mentioned above can’t help you, it’s time to call the help of Apex.

Apex enables you to work at the granular level, which means we can build more complex and large-scale automation.

As Apex involves coding, an Admin with no experience in coding tends to face a steep learning curve.