Salesforce offers various tools to automate business processes, for example, Flow, Workflow Rule, and Process Builder. So, it is required to understand the difference between these tools and when to use which. The following table describes the difference between these tools:
|
Workflow |
Flow |
Process Builder | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Visual designer |
Not available |
Available |
Available |
|
Starts when |
A record is created or edited |
|
A record is created or edited |
|
Supports time-based actions? |
Yes |
Yes |
Supported, but only one scheduled-actions per criteria. This means that in the same Process, you can't send an e-mail after 5 days, 10 days, or 20 days, and so on. |
|
Call Apex code? |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Create records |
Only task |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Update records? |
Yes, but only fields from the same record or parent |
Yes, any record |
Yes, any related record |
|
Delete records? |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Launch a Flow? |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Post To Chatter? |
No |
Yes |
Yes, but only textpost |
|
Send an e-mail? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Submit for approval? |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send Outbound Messages? |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Supports user interaction? |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Version control? |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Supports user input at runtime? |
No |
Yes (through screen elements) |
No |
|
Supports unauthenticated access? |
No |
Yes (through Force.com Sites) |
No |
|
Can pause on runtime? |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Allows modification |
After deactivation, you can modify the Workflow Rule |
Once Flow is activated, you can't modify it. The same applies after deactivation. |
Once Process is activated, you can't modify it. The same applies after deactivation. |
|
Delete |
Once Flow is deactivated, you have to wait 12 hours to delete it |
Once Process is deactivated, you have to wait 12 hours to delete it |