Getting started with Salesforce Visual Flow Designer

Salesforce Visual Flow Editor was Beta released in Spring 2011 as a simpler method for developing work flows in Salesforce.  The tool is intuitive and easy to use if you have a fundamental knowledge of programming concepts.  Visual Flow Designer requires connection to your Salesforce.com Sandbox Org, Developer Edition Org or Production Org.  The designer tool is free but using the Flows in production requires a subscription.  Your salesforce.com sales rep can give you subscription rates.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Easy to learn Simpler to learn than Apex Quick Prototyping tool making it easy to evaluate business processes before committing to custom coding Self Documenting. The flow details can be saved as a word document Create Wizards to break data entry and sales processes into smaller chunks	Subscription rates can be expensive if there are more than a handful of users. For larger teams total customization may be less expensive Inexperienced Programmers may have some difficulty

The Visual Flow Editor is available as a desktop application or in the cloud.  The cloud based version doesn't have all the features of the desktop version but To decide which version is appropriate for you can look at the comparison table at:

https://na3.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/vpm_designer_migration.htm. 


To get started with the desktop version download the Flow Designer manual at: http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/firefly/salesforce_flow_designer.pdf.   The instructions on how to download the desktop version is in the "Download the Flow Designer" section.

The cloud based Visual Flow Designer Implementation Guide is available at: https://na3.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/salesforce_vpm_implementation_guide.pdf
There you will find a brief section on "Creating a Flow" which is how to start developing the first flow.


In this sample Order Entry Flow the user is prompted for the account name and if the account exists then the user is prompted has the option of updating the account or creating a new Opportunity and adding products.  If the Account doesn't already exist in Salesforce then the user will be prompted for the new account information.  The user will not have to remember the process because they are stepped through it.

Order Entry Flow Diagram from Desktop Visual Flow Editor

If you would like training or information on using the Visual Form Designer and Flows in Salesforce or any other part of Salesforce go to our web-site at http://www.quickezlearning.com/Salesforce.html