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By Stacy O’Leary

I confess: I love Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules almost as much as I love the Approval Process . A good set of Lead Assignment Rules will buy you endless friends in both sales and marketing, and will make your incoming data sparkle and look perfect (even if it is not!) In this guide, I’ll be talking about the initial Lead sort, upon creation.

Salesforce Lead Assignment Rule Example

Criteria #1: If State = California, assign to Stacy
Criteria #2: If Country = United Kingdom, assign to Ben
Criteria #3: If Country = France, assign to Lucy
Criteria #4: If Annual Revenue is greater than $500,000,000 USD, assign to “High Roller Queue”

Planning Lead Assignment Rules

Discovery: questions to ask.

Where are the new Leads coming from? Marketo? HubSpot? Other integrated systems? Web forms? Are there any examples you look at? Make friends with the people who run these systems, you need to have a good relationship because you’re going to need their help.
What fields are populated on these newly created Leads? What fields are required? If it’s minimal, can you get more information? Generally, the more information you have, the easier it is to sort.
What if a Lead comes in from one of your Partners? What if a Lead comes in from one of your competitors? From one of your employees? Are there any kinds of Leads that should never be distributed out to your team, like students or media inquiries? (Remember – ANYONE with access to the internet can fill out your form! They do not have to be a legitimate prospect!)
Who is covering what territories? Do you have any territories that don’t have a sales rep yet? Do all new Leads have enough data to determine territories?
What about the Leads that don’t meet any criteria at all? Where will they go? Who will work them?

Refining the requirements

Our new Leads, almost always, come from Marketo . They could come from a Marketo form, or a list imported from a trade show, but Marketo is the system that pushes them to Salesforce. If a person creates their own Lead, we do not want to take it away from them.
We always have: first name, last name, lead source, email, company, state and country. We sometimes have # of Employees, but that’s pretty much all we know about them at the moment of creation.
Any Lead that comes in from a Partner should be directed to our channel team. We don’t want to market to competitors, employees, or students.
We have a territory plan defined by Sales, and we’d also like to separate prospects for the UK and France, though we do not have a sales rep for those areas yet.
If something comes in that we cannot otherwise sort, let’s put it in a holding place and let marketing send out generic nurture emails. If a person in this holding place takes interest, we can always give it to the sales team later.

	Western US	Eastern US + Canada	UK + France
# of Employees	Maeve Easton	To Be Determined
# of Employees >=5,000	Jessica Harris	Dylan Wolfe	To Be Determined

Partners (any Lead that comes in from a Partner company)
Disqualified (any Lead that comes in from a competitor, is an employee, or is a student)
UK + France (any Lead where Country = United Kingdom, or France)
Unsorted (any Lead that does not meet any criteria)

Creating Lead Assignment Criteria

Leads that shouldn’t be distributed, next criteria.

The Final Empty Criteria

Activate the Lead Assignment Rules

Leads can only be sorted by a field value at the moment it was sorted.
The Lead Router does not auto-convert Leads to Contacts
You cannot deactivate a User license if that person is part of the Lead Assignment Rules (even if the Lead Assignment Rules have been deactivated.)
Create a report for yourself, for that last criteria – Leads that are unsorted. This way you can review them periodically and see if there’s enough volume to justify sorting them in a certain way.

Stacy O'Leary

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Salesforce Assignment Rules Deep Dive

July 7, 2022

What Are Salesforce Assignment Rules

Assignment rules are a standard feature in Salesforce used to automate the assignment of leads and cases. They can be a great alternative to manually assigning records. However, there are more than a few limitations you’ll want to be aware of. In this article we’ll discuss the benefits and limitations of Salesforce assignment rules so you can decide if they make sense for your organization. We’ll also share advice and guidance on how to effectively configure assignment rules.

The Benefits of Assignment Rules

Salesforce assignment rules are a powerful tool designed to streamline the distribution and management of leads and cases within an organization. By automating the assignment process, these rules ensure that leads and cases are instantly assigned to the most appropriate team members based on specific criteria such as product interest, priority, and geographic location. This target approach helps to accelerate response times, balance workload, improve team performance, and increase customer satisfaction. The use of assignment rules in Salesforce, therefore, represents a strategic advantage for businesses looking to optimize their sales and support workflows, ultimately driving growth and customer loyalty.

Limitations of Assignment Rules

While Salesforce assignment rules offer significant advantages, they also have limitations that organizations should be aware of:

Limited to leads and cases : One of the most significant limitations of Salesforce assignment rules is the inability to assign standard or custom objects beyond leads and cases. This restriction often prompts organizations to look for an alternative solution that can assign any object .
Lack of round robin assignment : They do not support round robin assignment, which is essential for most modern sales and support teams. Instead, each rule assigns records to a specific user or queue you designate.
Lack of workload-based assignment : They don’t consider the existing workload of team members, potentially leading to an uneven distribution of leads and cases. This can result in slow response times and employee burnout.
Lack of availability-based assignment : They don’t consider the availability of team members, resulting in leads and cases being assigned to team members that are away from work or otherwise unavailable.
Difficult to maintain : Assignment rules can quickly become difficult to manage—even for small teams with simple assignment logic. Here’s an example of what a small portion of a typical assignment rule looks like:

Assignment rules can still be very useful despite these limitations. Continue reading to learn how assignment rules can be used to optimize your lead and case routing process.

How Assignment Rules Work

An assignment rule is a collection of conditional statements known as assignment rule entries. Each assignment rule entry contains one or more conditions and a user or queue to whom matching records will be assigned.

The Sort Order field can be used to change the order in which assignment rules are executed. Leads and cases will be evaluated against assignment rule entries in order and assigned by the first assignment rule entry that matches.

In the example above, we’ve prioritized our rules for Canada provinces (e.g. Ontario) higher than our country-wide Canada rule entry to ensure that leads from specific provinces don’t get assigned to the wrong person.

Next we’ll step you through how to actually create an assignment rule.

How to Create Assignment Rules

You’ll need the “Customize Application” permission in order to manage assignment rules. If you don’t have this permission, contact your Salesforce administrator.

Ready to create your first assignment rule? Follow these steps:

Login to Salesforce.
Navigate to Setup .
Search for “assignment rules” in Quick Find and click either Lead Assignment Rules or Case Assignment Rules .
Click New to create a new rule.
Name your rule and then click Save . We recommend leaving the Active box unchecked for now.

Now you’re ready to specify how leads or cases will be assigned.

Click on the rule you created.
Click New to create a rule entry.
Sort Order : this controls the order in which rules are executed.
Criteria : you can enter one or more filters to define which records should be assigned by this rule.
Owner : choose a user or queue to which records should be assigned. Alternatively you can check the Do Not Reassign Owner checkbox if this rule should not assign records.
(Optional) Select an email template for notifying users of assignments.
Click “ Save. ”
Repeat the above steps for any additional rule entries.

Activate Your Assignment Rule

You can follow these steps to activate your assignment rule:

Navigate to your assignment rule.
Click the Edit
Check the Active
Click Save .

Keep in mind that only one assignment rule can be active at a time. We’ll discuss how your active assignment rule can be used to assign records in the next section.

What Triggers Assignment Rules in Salesforce

There is often some confusion about how and when assignment rules run. There are a few different ways these rules can be triggered:

Creating a New Record : When a new lead or case is created, either manually or through an automated process, assignment rules can be triggered to assign the record to the appropriate user or queue.
Updating a Record : If a record is updated and meets certain criteria set in the assignment rules, this can also trigger the reassignment of the lead or case.
Web-to-Lead or Web-to-Case Submission : When leads or cases are generated through Salesforce’s web-to-lead or web-to-case features, assignment rules can automatically assign these incoming records.
Data Import : When importing data into Salesforce, you can opt to apply assignment rules to the imported records, ensuring they are assigned according to the established criteria.
API Creation or Update : Records created or updated via Salesforce’s API can also trigger assignment rules, depending on the configuration.
Manual Triggering : Users with the appropriate permissions can manually apply assignment rules to leads or cases, either individually or in bulk.

Understanding these triggers is essential to effectively utilizing assignment rules in Salesforce, ensuring that leads and cases are assigned to the right team members promptly and efficiently.

Tips and Tricks

It’s always a good idea to include a final rule entry with no conditions. This will be used to catch anything that didn’t match your rule criteria and assign it to a user or queue for review.
It’s also a good idea to include a rule entry that assigns junk (e.g. spam, test records, etc.) to a queue for review and deletion.
We recommend you test assignment rules in a sandbox before you add to your production org. However, keep in mind that assignment rules cannot be deployed from a sandbox to a production org.
Custom formula fields can help to simplify complex assignment rules. For example, rather than entering lengthy criteria (e.g. lists of states by region) you could create a formula field instead. This would reduce your criteria from “STATE/PROVINCE EQUALS IL,IN,IA,KS,MI,MN,MO,NE,ND,OH,SD,WI” to “REGION EQUALS Midwest”.
You can enable field history tracking on the owner field to track assignments made by your assignment rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to records that don’t meet salesforce assignment rule criteria.

These records will be assigned to whomever is designated as the default lead owner or case owner.

What are the different types of assignment rules in Salesforce?

Salesforce currently support lead and case assignment rules. Additionally, account assignment rules can be created as part of enterprise territory management.

What is the order of execution for assignment rules?

It’s important to understand exactly when assignment rules are run in relation to other events. For example, assignment rules are run after apex triggers and before workflow rules. See Salesforce’s Triggers and Order of Execution article for a comprehensive list of events and the order in which they’re executed.

How do you run assignment rules when creating or editing records using the REST API?

You can use the Sforce-Auto-Assign header when making REST API calls to control whether or not assignment rules run.

Salesforce assignment rules can be a valuables tool for many organizations. However, it’s important to understand the limitations. If you’re struggling with assignment rules it may be time to look at alternative solutions. Kubaru is a powerful automated assignment application for Salesforce. Check us out on the Salesforce AppExchange or contact us to schedule a demo.

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Monday, november 12, 2012, salesforce: assign using active assignment rule.

Assignment Rules
'Assign using active assignment rules' checkbox always checked by default
Why Salesforce assignment rule is not working?
Case Assignment Rules not working
Idea Exchange: Assignment rules don't work with Inline Edits

2 comments:

NOTE: Unlike the Case object, the Lead object requires the 'Show on edit page' checkbox to be enabled when the "Default" checkbox is enabled.

Thanks, because Default will be uncheck when 'Show on edit page' disable in Lead.

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Configuring the “Assign using active assignment rules” checkbox

There are certain behaviors in Salesforce that I classify as particularly pesky. Like the mosquito buzzing your ear while you sleep, kind of pesky. Invariably with these types of problems it becomes worth turning on the proverbial lights, hunting down the offending pest and… well you know, “dealing” with it. It won’t change the world but sure feels better to have done it.

That being said, one of my favorite pesky Salesforce.com problems to have dealt with is controlling the default setting on the “Assign using active assignment rules” checkbox on Lead and Case records.

Description: This checkbox field allows users who have manually created a new Lead or Case record to use the system’s pre-defined assignment rules to route the record to the correct owner/queue. The field appears on the Edit page layout and seems defaulted to the wrong setting for the situation more often than not.

Problem: Unlike normal checkbox fields in Salesforce.com, setting the default behavior for this field is not done in the field edit list on the object and it is not readily apparent where the behavior is set.

Here is the checkbox on the bottom of the Lead layout in edit mode: (Default set to False in both examples)

Here is the checkbox on the bottom of the (open) Case layout in edit mode:

The Solution: For both the Cases and Leads object the default behavior is set in their respective page layouts and if that is not elusive enough, it is buried in the page layout properties option dialog box.

Once you know where to look it is simple to make the needed changes.

Steps to find the behavior options and set defaults to either True or False: (Using Cases object as the example)

Your Name: Setup:
In the left-hand menu list select: Cases: Page Layouts: Choose a Page layout
In the newly presented dialog box, find the Case Assignment section: Check or Un-check the checkbox labeled “Select by default”
Save: the Layout

Screenshot of the edit page for a Case Page layout and the default behavior setting:

Commentary: As frustrating as it is to need to manage the default settings for these checkboxes differently than for other checkboxes, there is merit to the method.

Consider now the value of this more granular control of this field that Salesforce has given you. On normal fields you may only default a checkbox field to True or False and that setting applies across all situations. To create anything more dynamic requires custom engineering. (e.g. triggers, VF pages).

So, here is an example of it in action: Imagine you have enabled Lead assignment rules in your organization. Imagine also that you have both Sales Administrators sales reps that manually enter Leads into the system from time to time.

Sales reps create Leads for themselves so they would prefer to have the Active Assignment default to False whereas the Sales Admin that never owns Leads would prefer to have the Active Assignment default to True. If these checkboxes behaved like ordinary checkboxes you could only satisfy the needs of one group. However, by assigning different page layouts and setting the default behaviors on each layout you can meet the needs of both groups–a novel concept I know.

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Running Lead Assignment Rules From Salesforce Flow

Last Updated on February 14, 2022 by Rakesh Gupta

To understand how to solve the same business use case using Process Builder . Check out this article Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 49 (Running Lead Assignment Rules From Process Builder) .

Big Idea or Enduring Question:

How do you run the lead assignment rule from the Salesforce flow? Lead assignment rules allow us to automatically assign Leads to the appropriate queue or user. A Lead assignment rule consists of multiple rule entries that define the conditions and order for assigning cases. From a Salesforce User interface, a user can trigger assignment rules by simply checking the Assign using the active assignment rules checkbox under the optional section.

The problem arises when you need to insert or update the Leads from Salesforce Flow and wants to trigger assignment rules. Using the Salesforce Flow a Lead will be inserted or updated but the assignment rule will not be triggered as there is no check box to use the organization’s assignment rule or a prompt to assign using the active assignment rule.

Let’s start with a business use case.

Objectives:

After reading this blog post, the reader will be able to:

Running the lead assignment rules from Salesforce Flow
Understand @InvocableMethod Annotation
How to call an Apex method using Salesforce Flow

Business Use Case

Pamela Kline is working as a System administrator at Universal Containers (UC) . She has received a requirement from the management to update the following Lead fields when Lead Source changed to Partner Referra l .

Status = Working – Contacted
Rating = Hot

As data changed by the process, she wants to fire the assignment rule as soon as the process updates the lead record.

Automation Champion Approach (I-do):

Guided Practice (We-do):

There are 4 steps to solve Pamela’s business requirement using Salesforce Flow and Apex. We must:

Setup a lead assignment rule
Create Apex class & Test class
Define flow properties for record-triggered flow
Add a decision element to check the lead source
Add an assignment element to update status & rating
Add a scheduled path
Add a decision element to check if lead source changed
Add action – call an Apex class to invoke lead assignment rule

Step 1: Setting Up Lead assignment Rule

Click Setup .
In the Quick Find box, type Lead Assignment Rules .
Click on the Lead Assignment Rules | New button .
Now create an assignment rule, as shown in the following screenshot:

Step 2: Create an Apex class and Test class

Now, we have to understand a new Apex annotation i.e . @InvocableMethod . This annotation lets us use an Apex method as being something that can be called from somewhere other than Apex . The AssignLeadsUsingAssignmentRules class contains a single method that is passing the ids of the Leads whose Lead Source changed to Partner Referral . Create the following class in your organization.

In the Quick Find box, type Apex Classes .
Click on the New button .
Copy code from GitHub and paste it into your Apex Class.
Click Save.

Step 3.1: Salesforce Flow – Define Flow Properties for Before-Save Flow

In the Quick Find box, type Flows .
Select Flows then click on the New Flow .
How do you want to start building : Freeform
Object : Lead
Trigger the Flow When : A record is created or updated
Condition Requirements: None
Optimize the Flow For : Fast Field Updates
Click Done .

Step 3.2: Salesforce Flow – Using Decision Element to Check the Lead Source

Now we will use the Decision element to check the lead source to ensure that it is equal to Partner Referral.

Under Toolbox , select Element .
Drag-and-drop Decision element onto the Flow designer.
Enter a name in the Label field; the API Name will auto-populate.
Under Outcome Details , enter the Label the API Name will auto-populate.
Resource: {!$Record.LeadSource}
Operator: Equals
Value: Partner Referral
When to Execute Outcome : Only if the record that triggered the flow to run is updated to meet the condition requirements

Step 3.3: Salesforce Flow – Adding an Assignment Element to Update Rating and Status

Drag-and-drop the Assignment Element element onto the Flow designer.
Enter a name in the Label field- the API Name will auto-populate.
Field: {!$Record.Rating}
Add Condition
Field: {!$Record.Status}
Value: Working – Contacted

Click Save .
Enter Flow Label the API Name will auto-populate.
Click Show Advanced .
API Version for Running the Flow : 53
Interview Label : Record-Trigger: Lead Before Save {!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}

Step 4.1: Salesforce Flow – Define Flow Properties for After-Save Flow

Field : Lead Source
Operator: Euqals
Optimize the Flow For : Action and Related Records

Step 4.2: Salesforce Flow – Add Scheduled Paths

Under SCHEDULED PATHS , click on the New Scheduled Path .
Under Scheduled Path Details , enter the Label the API Name will auto-populate.
Time Source : Lead: Last Modified Date
Offset Number : 1
Offset Options : Minutes After

Step 4.3: Salesforce Flow – Adding an Action to Call Apex class to Trigger Lead Assignment Rule

Drag-and-drop the Actions element onto the Flow designer.
Select the AssignLeadsUsingAssignmentRules Apex class.
Field: LeadIds
Value: {!$Record.Id}

Interview Label : Record-Trigger: Lead After Save {!$Flow.CurrentDateTime}

Proof of Concept

Now onward, if a business user updates the Lead Source to Partner Referral , Process Builder will automatically update Status , Type , and Assign it to the right user or queue based on the lead assignment rule.

Monitor Your Schedule Flow

To monitor Flows that are scheduled, navigate to the following path:

Navigate to Setup (Gear Icon) | Environments | Monitoring | Time-Based Workflow .

Use the Delete button to delete the time-based Flow job from the queue.

Formative Assessment:

I want to hear from you! What is one thing you learned from this post? How do you envision applying this new knowledge in the real world? Let me know by Tweeting me at @automationchamp , or find me on LinkedIn.

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9 thoughts on “ running lead assignment rules from salesforce flow ”.

It ran repeatedly, every minute, over and over again. I was getting notification email every minute when testing. I did the same steps as you mentionned, with a record triggered flow containing the apex action.

I found that this ran repeatedly, every minute, over and over again. Was easy to spot because I modified the Apex to include sending the user notification email as well – so I was getting notification email every minute when testing.

When I updated the ‘Time Source’ in the flow scheduled path from ‘Time Source: Lead: Last Modified Date’ to ‘Time Source: When Lead is Created or Updated’ that seems to have solved the problem.

Was curious if you had the same experience or if there was some other nuance happening.

It also looks like you had originally intended to use a decision element in step 4.3 but changed that to flow entry requirements, likely because the scheduled path can’t assess the prior and current values the same way the starting node can.

Thank you for sharing your valuable feedback. I have a quick question for you: When executing the Apex class, do you utilize a Record-triggered Flow or a Scheduled-triggered Flow?

after the apex class fires, noticed the lead owner is assigned to default lead owner, instead of using lead assignment rule. Any clue?

Thank you for an excellent tutorial 🙂 you solved my problem! Very much appreciated

Anyone getting issues with an error on mass updates “Apex error occurred: System.QueryException: List has more than 1 row for assignment to SObject “? if each one is called individually, I don’t understand how there is more than 1 row for assignment. Sometimes I get an email with this error only to see that the trigger actually worked for the specified record so a bit odd. Thanks!

Thank you for the great tutorial. Why add the 1 minute wait? Is that just to take avoid too much synchronous automation? Or is it required for another reason?

You’re right Kevin (to make the process asynchronous).

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Guide to lead assignment rules in Salesforce

Use SFDC lead assignment rules to get more done, create a better experience, and close deals faster.

Rachel Burns Jul 24, 2023

15 min read

Guide to lead assignment rules in Salesforce

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What are Salesforce lead assignment rules?

What if your sales team could spend their valuable time connecting with prospects and closing deals — instead of losing time doing admin work like assigning and organizing leads?

When you automate lead assignment and routing, your sales team can:

Boost sales team productivity and efficiency

Prevent high-quality leads from slipping through the cracks

Create a better experience for potential customers

Speed up your entire sales pipeline to close more deals, faster

In this blog post, we'll discuss the ins and outs of Salesforce lead assignment. We'll cover the benefits, how to plan your lead assignment strategy, and a step-by-step walkthrough of adding lead assignment rules in Salesforce. We'll also explore the power of scheduling automation to simplify and speed up lead assignment, routing, and qualification.

Key takeaways:

Lead assignment rules help sales teams boost productivity, respond to leads faster, and make better data-driven decisions.

Matching leads with the right sales reps and teams creates a better customer experience by responding to leads faster and giving them personalized attention.

Before you set up your lead assignment rules, work with your sales, marketing, and RevOps teams to understand your lead generation processes and sales team structure.

Within Salesforce lead management settings, rule entries are the individual criteria and actions. A “lead assignment rule” refers to a set of rule entries.

Automating lead routing , qualification, and booking with Calendly helps your team be more efficient and organized while creating a better experience for prospective customers.

6 benefits of creating lead assignment rules in Salesforce

Why should your team take the time to set up lead assignment rules in Salesforce? Here are six great reasons:

Ensure leads are assigned to the right reps and teams: Lead assignment rules mean each incoming lead is directed to the salesperson or team who has the relevant expertise and skills to engage and convert that lead. Automated lead assignment also prevents leads from falling through the cracks by making sure each lead is assigned to a rep or team, rather than relying on manual assignment.

Respond to leads faster: With lead assignment rules, leads are automatically assigned to the right salesperson, reducing response time and increasing the chances of converting leads into customers .

Boost sales team productivity: Automating lead assignment reduces manual work for RevOps teams and sales managers. Lead assignment rules also help identify and prioritize leads more likely to convert, saving time and resources that would otherwise be wasted on pursuing poor-fit leads. These time savings let sales teams focus on nurturing leads and closing deals.

Create a better customer experience: Leads can be assigned to sales reps who have relevant industry or product expertise, understand their unique needs, and can provide personalized solutions. This tailored approach creates a better experience for leads, which results in more conversions and higher customer satisfaction.

Improve sales forecasting: With well-defined lead assignment rules, you can gather more accurate data on lead distribution and conversion rates. This data can be used for sales forecasting, data driven decision-making, and resource allocation.

How to create lead assignment rules in Salesforce

Step 1: build your lead assignment strategy.

Before you go into your Salesforce instance and set up lead assignment rules, you need to figure out what exactly those rules will be. The options are limitless — where should you start?

It’s time to bring RevOps, sales, and marketing together to answer some questions:

Lead sources: Where do leads come from? Do we use marketing forms through Salesforce web-to-lead forms or a third-party integration? Are we importing leads via the data import wizard?

Sales team structure: How is the sales team structured? Are different teams or individuals specialized in specific products, industries, use cases, or regions?

Lead data: What info do we request from new leads? Which standard and custom fields do we require?

Sales territories: How are sales territories defined? Are there specific regions, countries, or territories we should take into account for lead assignment?

Integrations : Do we have any third-party integrations with lead assignment or distribution features? Are we using those features?

Special circumstances: Are there any priority levels or tiers for leads that require special attention? For example, do we have a designated rep or queue for leads with complex needs and use cases?

Poor fits: What should we do with leads who don’t meet any of our criteria?

It’s a lot of information to gather and organize, but it’s important to learn as much as possible up front to cover every scenario and equip your sales team with accurate data. Putting this time and effort in now will pay off tenfold in productivity once your lead rules are in place!

Step 2: Set up lead assignment rules in Salesforce

You’re almost ready to enter your lead assignment rules in SFDC . First, let’s go over some terminology. We’ve been talking about lead assignment rules as individual directives: “If the lead matches X, then do Y.” Within Salesforce lead management settings, a “lead assignment rule” refers to a set of rule entries. Rule entries are the individual criteria and actions (“If X, then do Y”). An assignment rule can consist of up to 3,000 rule entries, and you can only have one active assignment rule at a time.

For example, a rule entry can assign all leads interested in a particular product to a queue of reps who are experts on that product. In Salesforce, a lead queue is essentially a bucket for unassigned leads, and you can choose which sales reps can pull leads from each queue.

Another rule entry can assign all leads from companies with over 5,000 employees to your top enterprise sales rep.

To create a lead assignment rule in Salesforce:

From Setup, enter “Assignment Rules” in the Quick Find box, then select Lead Assignment Rules.

Enter the rule name. (Example: 2023 Standard Lead Rules)

Select “Set this as the active lead assignment rule” to activate the rule immediately.

Click Save.

Click the name of the rule you just created.

Click New in the Rule Entries section.

Enter an order number that tells Salesforce when to run this rule entry in relation to other rule entries. For example, if you want this to be the first criteria Salesforce looks at when assigning a lead, enter number one.

Select the rule criteria. What attributes must the lead have before Salesforce applies the rule entry? You can use any standard or custom field in the lead record for your criteria. For example, you want to assign leads to your U.S.-based enterprise sales team, so the company size field must be equal to or greater than 5,000 and the country field must equal the United States. You can include up to 25 filter criteria.

Choose the user or queue to be the assignee if the lead meets the criteria. For example, assign to the U.S.-based enterprise sales team queue.

Optional: Choose an email template to use when notifying the new lead owner. After you set up your lead rules, you can also use Salesforce Flow automations to notify lead owners via other channels. For example, at Calendly, we integrate Salesforce with Slack, and a workflow automatically notifies sales reps via Slack when a lead is assigned to them.

Screenshot of the Rule Entry Edit screen in Salesforce. The criteria fields include Lead: Created By equals and Lead: Country equals United Kingdom, France. The selected queue is UK + France Leads.

Salesforce goes through the rule entries in order until it finds one that matches the lead's info, then routes the lead accordingly.

Let's say you have small business, mid-market, and enterprise sales team queues. Your first three rule entries would match company size to each of those three queues. If they don't have a company size listed, or the company size doesn't match any of the values in your rule entries, Salesforce will move on to the industry rule entries.

To make sure no leads fall through the cracks, you also need to set a default lead owner. If the assignment rules fail to locate an owner, or you don’t set up assignment rules, web-generated leads are assigned to the default lead owner.

To select a default lead owner:

From Setup, enter “Lead Settings” in the Quick Find box, then select Lead Settings and click Edit.

Define the Default Lead Owner. The Default Lead Owner can be a specific user or a queue.

Save your settings.

Salesforce lead assignment rule examples

As we mentioned earlier, your rule entries can include up to 25 filter criteria.

Simple rules include just one filter criteria:

By country or state/province: Route leads from specific states or countries to sales representatives who understand the regional market. You need this rule if your team uses sales territories to divide leads. For example, if the state/province equals Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, or Washington, assign the lead to the West Coast queue.

By language: Assign leads to sales reps who speak the same language.

By industry: Assign leads from different industries to salespeople who have experience working with those industries.

By company size: Assign leads based on the size of the company, assigning larger companies to a dedicated enterprise sales team.

Complex rules use two or more filter criteria. For example, you could route leads from specific states or provinces to salespeople based on their sales territory and the company size. If you have a particular rep (Bob) working enterprise leads on the West Coast, your filter criteria could say: If the state/province equals Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, or Washington, and the company size equals greater than 5,000, assign the lead to Bob.

These are just a few examples. Lead assignment rules can be customized to fit your team’s and customers’ needs. Review your strategy to choose the right combination of criteria for your sales processes, products, and customers.

What does the built-in Salesforce lead process look like in action?

A website visitor named Nora fills out a contact form to learn more about your product. She shares her name, email address, company name (Acme Inc.), and company size. You use Salesforce’s built-in web-to-lead forms , so Nora’s form submission automatically creates a lead record.

Your team has set up lead assignment rules that assign leads to sales queues based on their company size. Acme Inc. has 5,000 employees, so Nora is automatically assigned to the enterprise sales team queue.

Enterprise sales team queue members receive an email notification that a new lead has been added to the queue. Taylor, an enterprise sales rep in Acme Inc.’s territory, assigns Nora’s lead record to themself.

Taylor emails Nora to set up a qualification call.

Nora, who has been waiting to hear back from your team, agrees to meet with Taylor. After some email back-and-forth, they find a time that works.

What are the limitations of Salesforce’s built-in lead assignment rules?

Salesforce’s built-in lead assignment rules are a great place to start, but there are a few critical limitations, especially for enterprise sales teams:

Single level of evaluation: Salesforce assignment rules operate based on a single level of evaluation, meaning that once a rule matches the criteria and assigns a lead, the evaluation process stops. Your team might miss out on important info, like a complex use case or unique industry, when matching the lead with a rep.

No built-in round robin distribution: Round robin lead distribution is the process of assigning leads to reps based on factors like team member availability or equal distribution for a balanced workload. Salesforce lead assignment rules don't include an easy way to set up round robin distribution — you need an additional tool like Pardot, one of the round robin apps on AppExchange , complex Apex code , or a third-party lead routing platform .

No lead escalation settings: Lead escalation is the process of flagging a lead to higher levels of management or specialized teams for further assistance or action. This process comes into play when a lead requires additional attention or intervention beyond the assigned salesperson or team's capabilities. Unfortunately, Salesforce doesn’t have built-in settings for lead escalation rules. If your customer success team uses Service Cloud, you can set up escalation rules for customer support case escalations, but this feature isn’t included in Sales Cloud.

High maintenance for large organizations: Managing and maintaining a comprehensive set of assignment rules can become challenging and time-consuming in large organizations with complex sales structures and multiple teams or regions. Sure, you can include up to 3,000 rule entries in a single lead assignment rule, but that’s a lot to set up and keep up to date — especially if you’re trying to save your team time, not add to their workload.

Built-in Salesforce lead assignment rules and automations are a solid starting point, but what about automating lead qualification and booking? If you use Salesforce on its own, your reps might still spend a ton of time on lead reassignment to balance their workload, manual lead qualification, and email back-and-forths to schedule sales calls.

That’s where Calendly comes in.

How to automate lead assignment, qualification, and booking with Calendly

Your scheduling automation platform can be an excellent lead generation, qualification, and routing tool — especially when it integrates with Salesforce. Calendly’s Salesforce integration helps your team be more efficient and organized while creating a better experience for prospective customers.

When a lead books a meeting via a sales rep or team’s Calendly booking page, Salesforce automatically creates a new lead, contact, or opportunity. If the lead already exists in your Salesforce instance, the event is added to the lead’s existing record, so you don’t end up with duplicate lead records or time-consuming manual reassignment.

What if you don’t want to let just anyone book a meeting with your team? When you add Calendly Routing to your marketing forms, you can show scheduling pages only to leads who meet your qualifications, like prospects from specific industries or companies of a certain size. That way, your busy team can spend time on the most valuable deals.

Calendly Routing works with HubSpot , Marketo , Pardot , and Calendly forms and is built for your Salesforce CRM. You can use any form field (email, domain, company name) in any Salesforce standard object to match visitors with their account owner. Account lookups let you send known leads or customers from your website form directly to their account owner’s booking page, without needing to manually reassign leads to the right rep.

Screenshot showing Calendly integrates with Salesforce lookup to match and schedule leads and customers based on real-time CRM account ownership.

Remember the lead assignment example we walked through earlier featuring Nora from Acme Inc.? Here's what that process looks like when you add Calendly:

Nora fills out your “contact sales” form, which is already built in HubSpot, connected to Calendly Routing , and enriched with Clearbit .

She enters her email address in the form, and Clearbit fills in the company name, size, and industry. This shortens the form, so Nora only has to input her name and job title.

Calendly checks to see if Acme Inc. has an account in your Salesforce instance. They don’t, so the next step is lead qualification .

Based on Nora’s information — company size, industry, job title — she’s a highly qualified lead, so she’s automatically routed to the booking page for your enterprise sales team.

Nora is happy about that, and immediately books a meeting time that works for her, with the exact team she needs to talk to.

On the backend, Calendly’s Round Robin meeting distribution is set to optimize for availability, so it assigns the meeting to the first available sales rep — in this case, Taylor. This automation helps your team respond to meeting requests faster, hold initial sales calls sooner, and balance the workload across reps.

Calendly creates a lead record in Salesforce with the info Nora entered into your website form (including the data from Clearbit) and an activity log of any meetings she books with your team via Calendly. Salesforce automatically makes Taylor the lead owner.

If you were relying on Salesforce’s built-in lead assignment rules, Nora’s lead record would have gone to an enterprise sales queue, and she would have had to wait for a rep to pick up the lead and reach out to her to book a meeting.

“ A good tool is one that’s so simple, sales reps can basically forget about it and let the meetings roll in. That’s essentially what happened when we implemented Calendly. ”

Sales Enablement Manager at SignPost

What happens if a lead doesn’t qualify for a meeting? Instead of sending them to a booking page, you can display a custom message with next steps, ask them for more information, or redirect them to a specific URL, like a piece of gated content or a webinar signup page.

Screenshot showing Calendly’s built-in routing logic feature.

Automating lead assignment with Calendly Routing has been a game changer for RCReports , a compensation analysis solution for accountants and business valuators. Before connecting Calendly Routing with their Salesforce instance, RCReports’ AEs spent at least five hours a month reassigning leads booked on the wrong calendar. This created a disjointed customer experience and frustration for the sales and marketing teams.

“ Now that we’ve implemented Calendly’s routing feature with Salesforce integration, demos are always booked with the correct AE, reducing friction for both our team and the customer. ”

Abbie Deaver

Director of Marketing at RCReports

Users on Calendly’s Teams plan and above can connect Calendly to Salesforce. The full suite of Salesforce routing features , including routing by Salesforce ownership, is available on Calendly’s Enterprise plan.

To learn more about Calendly Routing, get in touch with our sales team .

Spend less time on manual lead assignment and more time closing deals

When you automate Salesforce lead assignment and routing, high-value leads stop slipping through the cracks, the workload is balanced across the team, leads are matched with the sales reps best equipped to help them, and team members have more time to focus on connecting with prospects and closing deals.

The results? A more productive team, faster sales cycle, higher conversion rates, and better customer experience.

Webinar: How Calendly Uses Calendly to Close More Deals

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Rachel is a Content Marketing Manager at Calendly. When she’s not writing, you can find her rescuing dogs, baking something, or extolling the virtue of the Oxford comma.

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How to Create Salesforce Assignment Rules: a Step-by-Step Guide

Salesforce is a strong and even irreplaceable tool when it comes to modern customer relationship management, customer service, and sales. Since it has an array of functionalities, one might feel overwhelmed by them. No worries!

Today we’d like to highlight one of the most important features for your marketing and service activities: Salesforce Case Assignment Rules and Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules. What is the difference between them? Keep reading.

Assignment Rules in Salesforce Explained

First things first, assignment rules are a great instrument to better organize your sales and support teams’ work. It’s also a perfect tool for improving your lead generation. As you already know, there are two types of assignment rules in Salesforce: Lead Assignment Rules and Case Assignment Rules. By using them, you can automate the process of assigning appropriate users or queues to Leads and Cases.

To better understand the Salesforce terminology, we’ll give you a short definition of what is a Lead and what is a Case in Salesforce:

Lead – this is a prospect, meaning that this is someone who is interested in your product or service, but not yet ready to buy.
Case – this is literally a customer’s question, complaint, or suggestion about your product or service.

How to locate Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules and Case Assignment Rules? Easy. First, go to the Setup tab in your organization. Start typing Assignment rules in the Quick Find box and there you are: you can view assignment rules under Marketing (Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules) and Service (Case Assignment Rules) tabs.

lead assignment rules and case assignment rules in Setup

With assignment rules, you can automatically deliver specific Cases to the right people in the team or departments who are specialized in a certain area (aka subject-matter experts), so that the customers receive timely and qualified responses. A Case Assignment Rule can assign cases without the connection to the case creation source. The thing is that a case can be submitted through a customer portal, a self-service portal, or by email, to name just a few options.

Plus, assignment rules in Salesforce also enable you to sort cases by priority according to the customer’s support package (Platinum, Silver, etc.).

The same thing applies to Lead Assignment Rules in Salesforce. By leveraging lead assignment criteria, you can specify how leads will be assigned to users or queues. They can do that regardless of whether leads are created manually or imported with the Data Import Wizard.

Salesforce Classic vs Lightning Experience: Establishing the Key Differences

Assignment Rules Limitation

You can’t build as many assignment rules as you see fit. There are certain limitations in Salesforce. For instance, there are limits for the number of rules, entries, and actions allowed by the rule.

Thus, there can be up to 2,000 total rules across objects (applies to any combination of workflow, assignment, auto-response, and escalation rules, active or inactive), 50 actives rules per object (applies to any combination of active workflow, assignment, auto-response, and escalation rules, as well as record change processes), 3,000 entries per rule, and 300 formula criteria entries per rule.

Besides, there is a limitation on actions when creating assignment rules in Salesforce – up to 200 actions allowed per rule. As for filter criteria, you can specify up to 25 per rule entry.

Creating Assignment Rules in Salesforce

Now that you know what assignment rules are for, we’ll show you how to set them up. After reading this paragraph, you’ll understand how to create a Case Queue, Case Assignment Rules, and Lead Assignment Rules in Salesforce. Spoiler alert: this is no sweat!

1. Case Queue in Salesforce Creation

What is a queue? It allows groups of users to manage a shared workload more effectively. A queue is basically a location where records can be transferred for processing by a group member.

Now, let’s get the ball rolling.

Navigate Setup in your Salesforce organization. Type “Queue” in the Quick Find box and then enter its Name and Label.

Leave the Queue Email field empty if you want the support employees included in the queue to receive emails when new cases are created or type the email addresses of the people who will receive this kind of notification.
Choose Case and add it to the Selected Objects column.

Choose members and add them to the Selected Members column. After everything is done, click Save.

2. Case Assignment Rule Creation

To create one Case Assignment Rule, acess Setup in your Salesforce organization. Type Assignment Rules in the Quick Find box and choose Case Assignment Rules. After that, click the New button and enter the Rule Name. Once you’re done, hit Save. Make sure you tick the Activate field to make your new assignment rule legitimate. Remember that this action will deactivate any other current Case Assignment Rule.

Click on the rule you just created. In the Rule Entries section, click the New button.

This is when all the magic starts. The Sort Order section defines the order in which entries will be processed. If you enter “1”, it means that this entry will be processed first.
Select the criteria for this rule entry. Here, you have several options: to run this rule if the criteria are met or if formula evaluates to true. In our case, I selected the criteria. This pretty much a standard Case Assignment Rule with such criteria as Case Number, Case Origin, and Case Reason.

After that, you can choose the User or a queue this rule entry will be assigned to. I will select a User.
Choose the Email Template this user will receive when the new case will be assigned to him. After that, hit the Save button.

Do not omit the testing phase – you need to clearly understand if everything is working correctly or you need to change assignment rules.

3. Lead Assignment Rule Creation

With Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules, the process is pretty much the same. Navigate to Setup in your Salesforce organization. As previously done, start typing Assignment Rules in the Quick Find box and select Lead Assignment Rules. Click the New button.
Specify the lead assignment rule name and do not forget to check the Activate box.
In the Rule Entries section, choose New. Here, you specify the order in which the rule entry will appear and define the criteria for the given rule entry. For this lead assignment, I will specify such criteria as Lead:City equals New York, Lead:Email contains examplecompany, and Lead: Lead Status equals Open – Not Contacted.

Next, we need to select a User or a queue for this lead assignment. Let it be Olesia Melnichenko.
After that, we also choose an email template and click Save.

Tips and Tricks for Creating Assignment Rules in Salesforce

Test your assignment rule in a sandbox before running it on your production org. This way, you can prevent yourself from glitches and inaccurate data.
Leverage custom formula fields to simplify complex assignment rules. This might be the case if you need to enlist the states by regions.
Set up round robin assignment rules for avoiding bottlenecks in your work routine. It means that the system will allocate each new case or lead to a different user or a queue until everyone has been assigned the same amount and the process repeats.
Consider a final rule entry with no criteria. This way, you can gather everything that didn’t match the criteria you define and assign it to a user or a queue.

Bottom Line

Hopefully, we managed to unscramble the assignment rules in Salesforce for you. They are the best for streamlining your business operations. Just imagine how sleek and error-free your work can be! Newly created leads and cases are assigned to an appropriate team member or queue, no chaos.

That is why you shouldn’t miss the benefits you can get from using assignment rules. Give them a try on your organization! In case you have any troubles, ask the Advanced Communities team . We can help you with everything from the Salesforce integration and configuration or further technical maintenance.

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How to Create Case Assignment Rules in Salesforce

Our organization uses Salesforce as its CRM tool, and the support team assigns cases manually. As a Salesforce Administrator, I was assigned the task of automating the case assignment for new cases. In Salesforce, we can automate this process using a case assignment rule.

In this tutorial, I will explain the case assignment rules in Salesforce and their limitations, and we will also discuss how to create a case assignment rule in Salesforce.

Table of Contents

Case Assignment Rule in Salesforce

In Salesforce, the case assignment rules help automate your organization’s support processes. The rules can also determine how cases are assigned to users or queues based on criteria that we define.

The case assignment rule can assign the cases when a new case is created. Then, that case can be created manually or automatically from web-to-case , email-to-case , etc.

How to Create a Case Assignment Rule in Salesforce

For example, there is a support team with several users, and we want to automatically assign a specific user to a new case when it is created and the Case Priority is High.

We can create a case assignment rule in Salesforce using the following steps.

1. Go to Setup . In the Quick Find Box , search for Assignment Rules . Then click on the Case Assignment Rule .

2. Then click on the New button to create a new rule.

How to create case assignment rule in Salesforce

3. Enter a Rule Name . Then, activate the rule by clicking the Activate button.

We can create only one active case assignment rule at a time. So, if you have any activated case assignment rule, it will get deactivated as you activate the new rule.

Then, click on the Save button.

4. Open the rule by clicking the Rule Name .

5. Then click on the New button to add rule entry criteria.

6. As you click the new button, you need to enter the following details:

Sort Order: Here, you need to provide the number this entry should trigger.
Criteria: As per our scenario, we need to enter Case Priority = High .
Select User or Queue : Here, we need to assign high priority cases to specific user.
Email Template : We can select an email template so that when a case is assigned to a user, they will receive an email regarding the same.

Then click on the Save button.

Proof of Concept:

7. Now, to check how the case assignment rule works, navigate to the case tab. Then, create a new case record with case priority as high and save the record.

Case Assignment Rule in Salesforce Limitations

8. As you save the record, you will see that the case owner has automatically changed to another user. That means a new user has been assigned to this case.

This is how we can create case assignment rules in Salesforce.

Limitations in Case Assignment Rule in Salesforce

The following are some limitations of the case assignment rule in Salesforce:

The case assignment rule is only used when we want to assign records automatically to a user or queue. It cannot be used to update fields .
If we change the criteria for an existing rule, the rule will not reassign cases until we manually update the case owner.
In the rule entry criteria, we can only use case fields. It does not allow the use of the related fields of the case object.
We can create only one active case assignment rule at a time.

You can also read the Case Assignment Rule in Salesforce .

I hope you got an idea about case assignment rules in Salesforce. In this article, we have seen what a case assignment rule is and its limitations. We have also seen how to create case assignment rule in Salesforce with an example and step-by-step explanation.

What are assignment rules in salesforce ?

Assignment rules in salesforce are used to automatically assign lead or Case to owner( User Or Queue ). Assignment rule is used to automate owner assignment on Case and Lead based on conditions on Case or Lead. For example, there could on lead assignment rule for web-generated leads and one case assignment rule for the holiday use.

Types of assignment rules

There are two type of assignment rules

Lead Assignment Rules

Case assignment rules.

Specify how leads are assigned to users or queues as they are created manually, captured from the web, or imported via the Data Import Wizard.

Determine how cases are assigned to users or put into queues as they are created manually, using Web-to-Case, Email-to-Case, On-Demand Email-to-Case, the Self-Service portal, the Customer Portal, Outlook, or Lotus Notes.

Create or Setup assignment rules

From Setup, enter Assignment Rules in the Quick Find box, then select either Lead Assignment Rules or Case Assignment Rules .
Choose New , and then give the rule a name. Specify whether you want this to be the active rule for leads or cases created manually and via the web and email. Then click Save .
To create the rule entries, click New . For each entry, you can specify:
Order : Sets the order in which the entry will be processed in the rule, for example, 1, 2, 3. Salesforce evaluates each entry in order and tries to match the criteria of the entry. As soon as a match is found, Salesforce processes the item and stops evaluating the rule entries for that item. If no match is found, the item is reassigned to either the default Web-to-Lead owner, the administrator doing a lead import, or the default case owner.
Choose criteria are met and select the filter criteria that a record must meet to trigger the rule.For example, set a case filter to Priority equals High if you want case records with the Priority field marked High to trigger the rule. If your organization uses multiple languages, enter filter values in your organization’s default language. You can add up to 25 filter criteria, of up to 255 characters each. When you use picklists to specify filter criteria, the selected values are stored in the organization’s default language. If you edit or clone existing filter criteria, first set the Default Language on the Company Information page to the same language that was used to set the original filter criteria. Otherwise, the filter criteria may not be evaluated as expected.
Choose formula evaluates to true and enter a formula that returns a value of “True” or “False.” Salesforce triggers the rule if the formula returns “True.” For example, the formula AND(ISCHANGED( Priority ), ISPICKVAL (Priority, “High”) ) triggers a rule that changes the owner of a case when the Priority field is changed to High. If your condition uses a custom field, the rule entry will be deleted automatically if the custom field is deleted.
User : Specifies the user or queue to which the lead or case will be assigned if it matches the condition. Users specified here cannot be marked “inactive” and they must have “Read” permission on leads or cases.
Do Not Reassign Owner : Specifies that the current owner on a lead or case will not be reassigned to the lead or case when it is updated.
Email Template : We can specifies the template to use for the email that is automatically sent to the new owner. If no template is specified, no email will be sent. When assigning a lead or case to a queue, the notification goes to the Queue Email address specified for the queue and all queue members.
Predefined Case Teams : Specifies the predefined case team(s) to add to a case when it matches the condition. A case team is a group of people that work together to solve cases.
Replace any existing predefined case teams on the case : Specifies that any existing predefined case teams on the case are replaced with the predefined case teams on the condition, when a case matches the condition.

After creating the entry, click Save , or Save & New to save the entry and create more entries.

Assignment Rule Example

Following is sample Case assignment rule which assigns case to different queues based on Billing Country, Account SLA and customer type:

For more details about assignment rules please refer to assignment rules official link.

Assignment rules in Salesforce trailhead

Good luck for creating Assignment rules in Salesforce 🙂

Assignment rules , Assignment rules Salesforce , Case Assignment rules , Lead Assignment Rules , salesforce , sfdc

Ankush Dureja

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sfdcpoint.com/salesforce/assignment-rules-in-salesforce/

Skip to comment form

Stremove.com on August 2, 2020 at 9:10 am

Case Assignment Rules Determine how cases are assigned to users or put into queues as they are created manually, using Web-to-Case, Email-to-Case, On-Demand Email-to-Case, the Self-Service portal, the Customer Portal, Outlook, or Lotus Notes.

Dayene on August 25, 2020 at 7:01 pm

Hi! What about when I want my assignment to change when the Lead status is changed? I’ve created two criterias. First when the status is new and second when the status has other values. But when the Lead is updated and the status changes the assignment doesn´t follow this change and it does not assignment the Lead Owner correctly. Thanks.

Vrushabh LEngade on October 27, 2020 at 3:51 pm

Use Escalation Rules and escalate the case to another user or queue

subhasini on December 23, 2021 at 6:19 pm

Hi Ankush Dureja, there is a interview question on assignment and the question is : What will happen if the user becomes inactive(or user is deactivated) on whom the rule is assigned. Please reply me ASAP

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Privacy Overview

About 30 mins

Learning Objectives

Case management tools in salesforce, plan for case automation, share case lists or workloads with queues, add automatic case assignment with rules, add automatic case escalation with rules, add automatic responses to customers with rules, more case management tools in salesforce.

Challenge +500 points

Automate Case Management

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Route case ownership with queues.
Assign cases automatically.
Escalate cases when necessary.
Respond to customers automatically.

Accessibility

This unit requires some additional instructions for screen reader users. To access a detailed screen reader version of this unit, click the link below:

Open Trailhead screen reader instructions .

Case management means organizing customer cases into one place and making sure they go to the right person, for the right answer, by the right time. Service Cloud does all that behind the scenes with automation tools. Service is easier, faster, and better with a little automation.

Maria checks out a few of the main case automation tools. She notices automatically is the key word.

Queues	Automatically prioritize your support team’s workload by creating lists from which specific agents can jump in to solve certain types of cases.
Assignment Rules	Automatically assign incoming cases to specific agents so that the right people work on the right cases.
Escalation Rules	Automatically escalate cases to the right people when the cases aren’t solved by a certain time.
Auto-Response Rules	Automatically send personalized email responses to customers based on each case’s details.

Graphic of a robot automating case processes.

Based on what the tools can do, Maria jots down some questions to ask Ursa Major Solar’s service team. The answers determine which tools Maria uses to automate case management.

Question	Answer	Tool
Do support agents work as a team on specific issues?	Yes, some agents work off a list of emails as they arrive from customers.	Queues
How is the support team structured?	We have Gold and Platinum support teams. Platinum support shares a workload.	Queues or Assignment Rules
Do support agents work on specific products or have special skills?	Some agents work on solar panel installation while others work on solar panel performance.	Assignment Rules
Do cases need to escalate to someone if they’re not solved by a specific time?	Yes, we can’t have customers waiting more than 5 hours to get their issues solved.	Escalation Rules
Should customers receive automatic responses?	Yes, we want customers to know that we received their issue and that we care about them.	Auto-response Rules

Based on Maria’s case automation planning, she knows that the Platinum Support team shares a workload of incoming cases. These cases are from customers who pay extra for the best service. To help these agents find and work off this list of cases from high-priority customers, Maria creates a queue. Here’s how she does it.

Click the setup gear icon and select Service Setup .
From Service Setup, enter Queues in the Quick Find box, then select Queues .
Click New .
Type a Label and Name for the queue, such as Platinum Support .
If you want the support agents included in the queue to receive an email when a new case arrives, leave Queue Email blank. Otherwise, type an email address to notify a person or persons with the email address when each new case arrives.

A screenshot of the Queues page in Service Setup.

Add members, including yourself, to the queue and save your changes. Now that the queue is created, let’s check it out as if we were support agents. We can get there with a few clicks.
Select the Service Console app from the App Launcher. Then click the Cases tab.

A screenshot of the Cases tab with Platinum Support selected from the view dropdown.

While planning for case automation, Maria learns that she can assign incoming cases to one person, groups of people, or even queues. Since some support agents at Ursa Major Solar work on solar panel installation, she creates an assignment rule so that any case with a reason that includes “installation” is automatically assigned to them. This is what she does.

From Service Setup, enter Case Assignment Rules in the Quick Find box, then select Case Assignment Rules .
Type Solar Panel Installation and save your changes.

A screenshot of the Case Assignment Rules page in Service Setup.

In Sort Order , type 1 so that the entry we add is processed first. Typically, you’d create one assignment rule with many different entries, which are processed in chronological order. When a case matches an entry, it’s assigned without proceeding to other entries.
For entry criteria, select Case: Case Reason equals Installation . One of the many useful things about case assignment rules is that you can determine how cases are assigned based on fields from records other than cases. For example, you can choose case assignment based on fields from accounts, contacts, assets, or users.
Add yourself as the User assigned to the rule entry. We assume you’re a support agent who’s an expert at solar panel installation.

A screenshot of the Case Assignment Rules page with a user and email template selected.

Save your changes.
Click Edit to mark the rule as Active, then save your changes. When you activate an assignment rule, it disables any other assignment rules in your organization, so make sure that your active rule includes all of the assignment entries that your support team needs.

Now any cases about installation issues are automatically assigned.

When planning case management with the service team, Maria learns that certain cases must escalate to the right person within 5 hours. A lingering customer case can ruin a big deal or tarnish Ursa Major Solar’s brand. Just like assignment rules, Maria can use escalation rules to specify criteria that automatically trigger an action on a case. For case escalation, she uses her org’s default business hours, which simply means the service team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She can change Business Hours later from Company Settings in Service Setup. Here’s how Maria sets the rule.

From Service Setup, enter Escalation Rules in the Quick Find box, then select Escalation Rules .
Type Gold Support , then Click Active and save your changes. Activating a rule deactivates any existing active rules.

A screenshot of the Escalation Rules page in Service Setup.

In Sort Order , type 1 so that the entry we add is processed first. In the real world, you’d create one escalation rule with many different entries, which are processed in chronological order. When a customer issue comes in and is converted to a case, it’s assigned based on the first entry it matches.
For entry criteria, select Case: Status equals New . Similar to other rules, you can determine automatic case escalation based on fields from records other than cases.
Set business hours to your organization’s default 24/7 support.
Set that escalation times are based on when cases are created.
Save your changes, then New to add an escalation action.

A screenshot of the Escalation Rules page with an escalation action set for five hours.

Auto-assign cases to you, and from Notification Template , click the lookup icon to pick any template. At a real company, you’d assign cases to a support manager or team.
Select yourself as the user to notify, and from Notification Template , click the lookup icon to add a template to see how this works. Save your changes.

Now any cases that haven’t been closed in 5 hours are assigned to the right person.

Note : To keep the Assign using active assignment rule box checked by default on cases, update the Layout Properties on case page layouts.

From Maria’s case automation planning, she knows the service team wants customers to receive a confirmation when their case is received. With auto-response rules, she can make sure each Ursa Major Solar’s customer knows that their voice is heard. She sets up response rules so that customers are automatically sent a personalized email when they ask for help. Here’s how she does it.

From Service Setup, enter Case Auto-Response Rules in the Quick Find box, then select Case Auto-Response Rules .
Type Welcome to Support , then Click Active and save your changes. Activating a rule deactivates any existing active rules.

A screenshot of the Case Auto-Response Rules page in Service Setup.

In Sort Order , type 1 so that the entry we add is processed first. In the real world, you’d create one response rule with many different entries, which are processed in chronological order. When a customer issue comes in and is converted to a case, it’s assigned based on the first entry it matches.
For entry criteria, select Case: Case Origin equals email . Similar to escalation rules, you can determine the automatic response to send to a customer based on fields from records other than cases.
Add a name and email address to include in the From line of the email template to send to customers.

A screenshot of the Case Auto-Response Rules page with field criteria and email templates selected.

Save your changes and you’re done!

With basic case automation complete, the service team at Ursa Major Solar is looking forward to easier, faster service. But Sita and Roberto want to make the most of their Service Cloud investment. They wonder what other case management tools the team can use in the future.

Maria looks into more case management options. She jots down these discoveries to share.

Page Layout Editor	Customize a case page’s contents, like the fields and buttons that appear on the page, along with what is visible to whom. Additionally, customize the structure of the page, and the position of its components, with the Lightning App Builder.
Email Templates	Create email templates to save time and standardize communications sent to customers from cases. Automate information on emails with merge fields. Templates are automatically available to anyone in the org.
Entitlement Management	Provide the correct level of support for customers. Define, enforce, and track service agreements and service contracts as part of an overall support management process.
Omni-Channel	Manage support agents’ priorities and their capacity to take on work items so that they’re given only the number of assignments that they can handle. Route all assignments to the correct agents so that they no longer have to choose work assignments manually from a queue.
Macros	Help support agents automatically complete repetitive tasks on cases, such as selecting the right email templates, so that they can spend time doing more important things.
Quick Text	Create predefined messages for support agents, like greetings, answers to common questions, and short notes to insert in cases, emails, web chats, and more. Save time and standardize on messaging to customers.
Utilities	Give support agents quick access to productivity tools, like notes, history, softphones, and more in the footer of the console.

Sita and Roberto want to explore some of these tools when they return to the case management stage of their service journey. But for now, they’d like to jump ahead to the basics of digital engagement.

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Leandata showcases power of modern revenue orchestration at opsstars 2022, leandata announces winners of the 2022 opsstars awards, what are lead assignment rules in salesforce.

Lead assignment rules are a powerful feature within Salesforce to assist your team’s automation of its lead generation and customer support processes. Assignment rules in Salesforce are used to define to whom your Leads and Cases (customer questions, issues or feedback) are assigned based on any one of a number of specified criteria you determine.

Organizations typically develop lead assignment rules for their GTM processes or flows:

Rules for inbound Leads
Rules for website-generated Leads
Rules for importing Leads from an event

For case assignments, a company might establish one case assignment rule for weekdays and another assignment rule for weekends and holidays.

A lead or case assignment rule often consists of multiple rule entries to specify exactly how leads and cases are assigned throughout your go-to-market teams. For example, related to customer service inquiries, a standard case assignment rule might have multiple entries. Cases with “Type equals Gold” are assigned to the Gold Level service queue, cases with “Type equals Silver” are assigned to the Silver Level service” queue, and so on.

As organizations grow and scale, they operationalize multiple GTM motions: inbound, outbound, account-based, upsell/cross-sell, and hybrid. However, many are limited to having just one rule in Salesforce.

As a work-around, many organizations create one massive lead assignment ruleset. They then wedge all of their rule entries into that one big ruleset, regardless of how many different motions that represents. Over time, Salesforce lead assignment rules can quickly become unmanageable .

This post covers the best practices for Salesforce lead and case assignment rules. The ultimate goal is to fully engaging your hard-won leads and speed up your organization’s time-to-revenue.

How to Define Assignment Rules

Your Salesforce administrator can only have one rule in effect at any particular moment in your go-to-market motions, and that assignment rule is intended to both automate lead generation processes and other customer-facing processes routed through your CRM.

Lead assignment rules specify how leads are assigned to users or queues as they are created manually, captured from your website, or imported via SFDC’s Data Import Wizard.

Case assignment rules determine how cases are assigned to users or put into queues as they are created, either manually or through the use of Web-to-Case, Email-to-Case, On-Demand Email-to-Case, the Self-Service portal, the Customer Portal, Outlook, or other data generation applications.

Criteria for Lead Assignment Rules

Okay, so you’ve decided that lead assignment rules in Salesforce make sense for your revenue operations team – now what?

Well, first, you’ll need to determine the edition of your Salesforce instance. Lead assignment rules are available in the Group, Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions of SFDC. Case assignment rules, conversely, are available only in the Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions.

With regard to User Permissions, to view assignment rules, you’ll need View Setup and Configuration permissions. However, to create or change assignment rules, you’ll need Customize Application. If you are not your organization’s Salesforce administrator, you should check with them before attempting to head off on your own.

How to Create Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules

Creating lead and case assignment rules in Salesforce is a relatively straightforward process.

Login to Salesforce and select Setup in the upper right corner of the horizontal navigation bar.
In the Setup search box , type “assignment rules” and then select either Lead Assignment Rules or Case Assignment Rules.
Select New to create a new assignment rule.
In the Rule Name box, type a name and specify whether it should be active for leads or cases created manually and by those created automatically by web and email. When done, click Save .
Click open your newly created rule and select New in the Rule Entries to specify your rule criteria.
Step 1 in the “Enter the rule entry” window requires you to enter an Order for your new rule (the Order is the order in which the entry is processed, like a queue).
In Step 2, you determine whether your new rule is based on meeting a set of criteria or a formula. In the Run this rule if the dropdown box, select either “criteria are met” or “formula evaluates to true.”
Lastly, in Step 3, select the user or queue to whom your rule will assign your new lead or case (use the lookup feature to find specific users or a queue). After completing Step 3, select Save .

Why Are Your Salesforce Lead Assignment Rules Not Working?

If you discover your lead or case assignment rules are not working, here are a few tips to quickly troubleshoot the root cause.

First, check to ensure the assignment rule is active. Remember, only one case or lead assignment rule can be active at one time. Secondly, ensure the record is assigned to the correct user or queue.

Make certain to select the checkbox Assign using active assignment rule . In support of this step, enable field History tracking on case or lead owner, as well as add object History (case or lead) in your page layout.

One common problem is overlapping rule entries, or rule entries in the wrong order. With dozens of rule entries, many will overlap, causing records to get assigned unpredictably. For example, if entry #1 assigns California leads to John, and entry #2 assigns Demo Request leads to Jane, then John might wonder why he’s receiving Demo Requests leads who are supposed to go to Jane.

Assignment Rule Examples

The image, below, shows sample rule entries being entered into Salesforce for a variety of “what if” situations:

Junk leads containing “test” are sent to an unassigned queue
Demo requests are routed directly to SDR 3
Leads at accounts with over $100 million in annual revenue are routed to AE 1
Leads in certain states are sent to their respective representatives

How LeanData Simplifies Salesforce Lead Assignment

Creating lead and assignment rules in Salesforce is relatively straightforward. However, as your GTM motions become more and more complex, it becomes necessary to populate that one rule with multiple defining rule entries. As you grow and scale, your rule threatens to become unwieldy. Then these problems arise:

Difficulty in both comprehending and managing
Poor visibility, making it difficult to troubleshoot and validate
Restrictions allowing only the criteria on the routed record

salesforce-lead-assignment-rules-example

LeanData’s lead routing flow and assignment solution is a native Salesforce application that allows users to create flows in an easy-to-understand visual graph. Its visible representation of an organization’s desired lead flow affords many benefits to users, including:

Easier ability to visualize and understand complex flows
Real-time visibility of the routing of leads and the ability to quickly troubleshoot and make adjustments
At-a-glance ability to use information on matched records for routing decisions and actions

Assignment rules in Salesforce are a relatively easy-to-learn feature that can be very quickly implemented, delivering a flexible and powerful logic to your CRM processes. Automating your lead and customer processes will accelerate your GTM motions and deliver your organization a sustainable competitive advantage.

For more best practices, read the eBook, “ Best Practices for a Winning B2B Marketing Data Strategy .”

lead assignment rules
lead assignment rules salesforce

Ray Hartjen

Ray Hartjen is an experienced writer for the tech industry and published author. You can connect with Ray on both LinkedIn & Twitter .

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Salesforce Admin

Salesforce Lead Assignment rules

Dec 28, 2023

Salesforce Lead Assignment rules automate your org lead generation and support processes. Lead Assignment Rules are a powerful tool that enables the automatic assignment of leads to the right sales representatives based on specific criteria.

What is Salesforce Lead Assignment rules?

Lead assignment rules are used to specify how leads are assigned to users or queues. This is used to assign the owner of leads based on lead generation, like leads created from the web or imported from a data loader.

Type of Assignment Rule

There are two types of assignment rules we have in Salesforce.

Lead Assignment Rules
Case Assignment Rule

How to create lead Assignment Rules

Let’s see the step-by-step guide to set up the lead assignment rules.

Creating Lead Assignment Rule
Creating Lead Assignment Criteria
Specify the lead assignment method
Activate the lead assignment rules
Test the lead assignment rules

Consideration for Lead Assignment Rules

We can create as many assignment rules as possible, but only one can be active.

Lead Assignment Rules can help streamline your lead management process, improve lead conversion rates, and increase sales productivity by ensuring that the right leads are assigned to the right representatives.

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Creating Assignment rules via APEX Code

Is there any way possible that I can create a new assignment rule on lead via Apex code. If possible can someone help me with the code snippet for the same. Also is it possible to transfer assigment rule via Unmanaged Package from one org to another?

assignment-rules

2 Answers 2

@happy I want to make below points: 1) Assignment rules are used to update ownerid field. We can always have this solution with clicks instead of code. 2) Now coming to your requirement we can easily create this in apex class, trigger. Taking an example of case assignment below:

However, if you want to fire assignment rules from apex we have to use Dmloptions class and set assignment header.

However, from your question it looks like you want to create metadata and save in salesforce. For this go through metadata api guide. Now if you want to create a assignment rule via metadata api please check the below link:

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_meta.meta/api_meta/meta_assignmentrule.htm

Here you can find how to create metadata using apex:

http://andyinthecloud.com/2013/10/27/introduction-to-calling-the-metadata-api-from-apex/

This will help you all much more

http://developer.force.com/cookbook/recipe/running-case-assignment-rules-from-apex

Thanks, but my question was to create assignment rule via apex code/ metadata, not to run it via apex. – happy Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 6:45

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CRM Best Practices

Automation is increasingly becoming a critical component of business strategy, with over 90% of companies experiencing a growing demand for automation across multiple departments to boost efficiency and productivity, according to a study by Salesforce and Vanson Bourne .

Similarly, the Slack State of Work Report highlights that 77% of employees believe automating routine tasks, such as expense report approvals, would greatly enhance their productivity—saving them an estimated one month of work per year.

Salesforce Flow, a powerful low-code automation tool, is at the forefront of this transformation. It empowers users to automate complex business processes without requiring extensive programming knowledge. In our blog post, we’ll cover:

How Flow Builder relates to Salesforce Flow,
When you should and shouldn’t use Flows,
Common Salesforce Flow types, main concepts, and components,
Flow critical limits and considerations,
7 inspiring Salesforce Flow examples,
Best practices for creating Flows.

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However, we understand that there may be instances where tailored advice is required.

Should you need personalized consultation, the Ascendix Team offers complimentary Salesforce consulting calls.

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What is Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is a robust automation tool within the Salesforce platform designed to streamline and automate intricate business processes using clicks instead of code. It empowers users to create and execute automated workflows, incorporating branching logic and data manipulation.

Salesforce Flows can be initiated by specific actions within Salesforce or scheduled to run at predetermined times, making it a versatile solution for optimizing various business operations.

As a Salesforce admin, Flows will become your best friend, enabling you to handle the majority of complex requirements.

They are easy to access and maintain because anyone familiar with Flows can follow along with what you built.

What is Flow Builder?

Flow Builder is a declarative interface in Salesforce that allows users to create individual flows with ease.

It features a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface, enabling users to visually design and construct flows.

With Flow Builder, users can develop a wide range of automated processes, from simple tasks such as sending email notifications to complex workflows involving data updates and integrations—all without the need for coding.

Learn More: How to Use Cadences to Build Sales Engagement Sequence in Salesforce

Why Should You Use Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow, with its declarative nature, offers a multitude of benefits for various business verticals. Here are compelling reasons to adopt Salesforce Flow in your processes:

Key Benefits of Salesforce Flows | Ascendix

Replacement for Legacy Tools: Legacy tools like Process Builder and Workflow Rules are being phased out, with support ending in December 2025. Therefore, new automation should be built using Flow. While short-term modifications to existing processes in Process Builder or Workflow Rules might make sense, migrating to Flow should be a priority
Reduction in Admin Time and Increased Productivity : Salesforce Flows can handle both common, repetitive tasks and intricate processes more efficiently, significantly decreasing the time spent on general administrative duties. This automation frees up employees to focus on other essential aspects of their roles, boosting overall productivity.
Cost Savings and Increased ROI: By automating tasks, your organization can save money on staff hours that would otherwise be spent on manual processes. In addition, as a no-code solution, Flows has comparatively low costs of ownership, reducing expenses related to maintaining the application. The combined savings in time and maintenance costs contribute to a higher return on investment for your organization.
User-Friendly and Code-Free: Flow Builder’s intuitive, drag-and-drop interface makes it accessible for users without coding skills. Salesforce admins and business users can create and manage flows easily, reducing the dependency on technical staff and lowering the barrier to implementing automation solutions.
Simplified Problem Solving and Maintenance : With Salesforce Flows, problems can be identified and resolved without delving into lines of code, simplifying the troubleshooting process. Ongoing maintenance is more straightforward, ensuring that processes remain efficient and up-to-date.
Flexible and Scalable: Salesforce Flow is versatile and can be adapted to a wide range of business needs, from simple tasks to complex workflows. It is also scalable, meaning it can grow and evolve with the business, accommodating changing requirements and increasing volumes of work.
Capability to Build Complex Systems: Flows can call Apex to handle complex logic, allowing you to connect Salesforce Flow to any external system required for your business processes. When Flows alone cannot provide a solution, compatibility with Apex ensures that you can build comprehensive systems by leveraging both tools.

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When Should You NOT Use a Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is continuously improving and there are fewer situations where Apex code is specifically required. However, there are still certain situations where using Flow might not be the best choice:

If you do not have a well-defined understanding of the business process you are automating, using Flow may lead to ineffective or incomplete automation.
Salesforce Flow may not be recommended for highly complex or specialized processes that require extensive custom coding, intricate logic beyond the scope of declarative tools, or integration with external systems not natively supported by Salesforce.
Some Salesforce editions, like Essentials and Professional, limit the number of flows and processes you can create. These editions allow up to five processes (per process type) and flows (per flow type) per organization.
Salesforce Flows may not be suitable for scenarios demanding real-time processing with high performance and low latency, where Apex code would be more efficient.

Learn More: What are Salesforce Admin Responsibilities and Roles

5 Common Salesforce Flows Types

Salesforce Flows vary in their data usage and actions performed, employing different triggers to automate various tasks related to customer management. Here are the main types of Salesforce Flows:

5 Common Salesforce Flow Types | Ascendix

Screen Flows: This type of Salesforce Flows allows users to input data through interactive screens, making it an effective tool for automating data collection and enhancing customer interactions. They can be launched as an action or embedded as an element on a Lightning page.
Schedule-Triggered Flows: These auto launched flows initiate at a specified time and frequency for each record in a batch, running in the background. run based on a predefined schedule.
Autolaunched Flows: They are triggered automatically without user interaction. Designed for running automated tasks, these flows can be invoked from other flows (subflows), Apex classes, set schedules, record changes, or platform events.
Record-Triggered Flows: This type of Salesforce Flows is initiated by changes to records, such as creation, update, saving, or deletion. They operate in the background and can perform actions both before and after the record changes, and can be configured to execute every time changes occur or when specific criteria are met.
Platform Event-Triggered Flows : Such Flows respond to specific platform events. These events can be actions performed by the platform, such as processing a user’s payment.

By leveraging these different types of flows, businesses can automate a wide range of processes, improving efficiency and consistency in their operations.

Learn More: Salesforce Customization vs Configuration: Which Works Better for You

Salesforce Flow Main Concepts and Key Components

There are three main building blocks of any Salesforce Flow:

Elements: They represent individual steps or actions within the flow, such as creating records, updating data, or making decisions based on specific criteria. These individual building blocks of the Flow perform logical actions such as assignments, decisions, or loops. Users can drag and drop these elements within the Flow Builder to construct the sequence and structure of the flow.
Connectors: Determine which element leads to which. The Auto-Layout feature connects the elements automatically.
Resources: They function as variables or containers that store data. They can hold values such as a customer’s name, date of birth, or any other specific information needed to execute the flow. Resources are crucial for dynamically handling data within the flow, allowing for customization and flexibility in the automation process.

On the Flow Canvas, you can see these components in action. For example, in a Screen Flow designed as a declarative replacement for a ‘before’ trigger, the ‘Start’ element triggers when a record is created or edited and runs before the record is saved.

Basic Flow Features:

Toolbox: Located on the left-hand side of your Flow Canvas, the Toolbox contains different tools depending on the type of Flow (Screen Flow, Auto-Launched Flow, etc.).
Manager Tab: Contains existing elements and resources of the Flow, such as Variables, Collections, Constants, Formulas, and Choices.

Elements in Salesforce Flows:

Interaction Elements: Include Screen, Action, or Subflow. The Screen element presents a screen to the user to display or collect information; the Action element passes data through standard or custom actions like sending an email or a custom Apex action; the Subflow Element calls another Flow within your current Flow.
Logic Elements : Include Decisions, Assignments, and Loops. Decisions split your Flow based on data; Assignments assign values to variables; Loops handle multiple variables at once using collections.
Data Elements: Include Create, Update, Get, or Delete records and are used to edit records in the Salesforce database.

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Salesforce Flow Limits and Considerations

General salesforce flow limits.

Versions per flow: 50

Active flows per flow type:

Professional Editions: 5
All other editions: 2,000

Total flows per flow type:

All other editions: 4,000

Limits Per Flow Interview

Executed Elements at Runtime Per Flow: 2,000

A Salesforce Flow Interview is a running instance of a flow, representing one complete execution of that flow. Each time a flow is executed, it creates a new flow interview. This can include data retrieval, user interactions, and the execution of business logic.

For each flow interview, you can execute up to 2,000 elements . In loops, the elements within the loop (including the loop element) are multiplied by the number of iterations.

For example, if 100 records enter a loop with two elements, the total executed elements will be 200.

*Note: In API version 57.0, the limit of 2,000 flow elements was removed. For API version 56.0 and earlier, the maximum was 2,000. Ensure your flows are on the most recent API version to benefit from this update.

Limits Per Transaction

A transaction is a set of operations executed as a single unit. These operations must all succeed or fail together to maintain data integrity. Transactions can include various operations such as flow interviews, triggers, escalation rules, and other automated processes.

Total Number of SOQL Queries Issued: 100. You can use a maximum of 100 data elements to retrieve data.
Total Number of DML Statements Issued: 150. You can use a maximum of 150 data elements to modify data. Elements within loops will also be multiplied by the number of iterations, emphasizing the best practice of avoiding “No Pink in Loop.”
Total Number of Records Retrieved by SOQL Queries: 50,000 You can retrieve a maximum of 50,000 records in total.
Total Number of Records Processed as a Result of DML Statements: 10,000. You can modify a maximum of 10,000 records.
Maximum CPU Time on the Salesforce Servers: 10,000 Milliseconds (10 Seconds). The maximum CPU time is 10,000 milliseconds (10 seconds) for the servers to process your solution.
Total Number of Duplicate Updates Allowed in One Batch: 12. You can update the same record a maximum of 12 times within one batch.

By understanding and adhering to these limits, you can ensure that your flows run efficiently and effectively within the Salesforce environment.

Learn More: What Does a Salesforce Developer Do? Key Roles, Responsibilities, and Skills

How to Create a Flow in Salesforce

Creating a flow in Salesforce involves several steps to automate complex business processes. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step #1: Open Flow Builder

Enter “ Flows ” in the Quick Find box in Salesforce,
Select Flows,
Click “ New Flow ”,
Select the type of flow you need (e.g., Record-Triggered, Scheduled, Autolaunched, etc.).
Click Create .

Step #2: Understand the Flow Context

Different flow types offer different features. For example, Record-Triggered and Scheduled Flows provide access to the $Record global variable, which contains fields of the triggering record and its parents.

For Autolaunched Flows manually you need to create any required input variables if your flow is autolaunched.

Step #3: Set Up Inputs

Ensure your inputs are correctly set up before adding elements. This step is crucial for the flow to operate effectively.

Step #4: Add Elements to the Flow

After the start element, click the ‘+ ’ button to add new elements.
Select from a range of elements that represent different actions (e.g., read/write data, display information, execute logic, manipulate data).

Step #5: Save Your Flow Save your progress as you build your flow to avoid losing any configurations.

Step #6: Test Your Flow Ensure your flow works as intended by running comprehensive tests and utilize debugging tools to resolve any issues that arise.

Step #7: Activate and Distribute

Once testing is complete and the flow is working correctly, activate the Flow.
Make the flow available to the intended users, whether they are internal, external, or part of another organization.

Further, you also can complete the Build Flows with Flow Builder trail on Trailhead for an interactive learning experience.

7 Effective Salesforce Flow Examples to Enhance Your Workflows

1. post specific record updates on chatter.

Implementing Feed Tracking in Chatter allows you to efficiently monitor changes in fields and enables people within your organization to follow these updates.

However, sometimes you may be required to deal with more complex scenarios beyond simple field updates, which calls for advanced notification mechanisms.

For instance, consider a situation where you need to notify the Opportunity owner’s manager if a specific Deal switches status from ‘ Open ‘ to ‘ Closed ‘ within a span of just one week.

There are different ways you can accomplish this in a flow. Here is an example.

How to Post Specific Record Updates on Chatter with Record -Triggered Flows Ascendix

An Example of How to Post Specific Record Updates on Chatter with Record-Triggered Flow | Ascendix

How the final result looks like:

The Result of the Record Triggered Salesforce Flow | Ascendix

2. Screen Flow to Get Information from Other Objects

With Screen Flows, you can multitask by searching for a record while working on another, without leaving the current page. This allows for swift access to, for instance, a client’s purchase history.

Consider you need to verify all the prices applied to a product for a client while on a call with them. Here’s how you can accomplish that fast using screen flows:

An Example of How to Get Information from Other Objects in Salesforce with Screen Flow in Salesforce Ascendix

Here is the final result:

The Final Result of the Salesforce Screen Flow | Ascendix

3. Use Matching Records in a Flow to Deal with Duplicates

Another effective approach to managing data duplication with Flows is to utilize the ‘ Matching Records ‘ feature when creating records. This feature is particularly useful because it allows users to update an existing record identified as a duplicate, thereby preventing the creation of a new record.

Check this simple example of a Screen Flow to be used as a “ New Contact ” button. Inside the “ Create Record ” element, you can add the criteria you would like to match the contacts and the behavior if a duplicate is found: one or multiple records and Skip or update the duplicated records.

Here is an example of this Screen Flow:

An Example of How to Use Matching Records in a Flow to Deal with Duplicates | Ascendix

4. Send Password Expiration Notice to the Users

Regularly updating your Salesforce password is crucial for maintaining security. To help users remember when their password is nearing expiration can be achieved leveraging automation. A scheduled-triggered flow can send an email notification, alerting users one week before their password expires.

This proactive approach ensures users are always informed and encourages timely updates. Check this flow example on how you can do that:

An Example of Record Triggered Flow of How to Send Password Expiration Notice to the Users | Ascendix

With the help of an email template, you can quickly create a clean notification body like that.

The Final Result of Record-Triggered Flow in Salesforce | Ascendix

5. Auto Freeze Users: Managing Departing Users in Salesforce Flow

When users leave the company, it’s essential to limit their access to maintain security and compliance. Certain users, such as Customer Portal Administrator users and Workflow email alert recipients, cannot be deactivated immediately and may need to be frozen instead.

Freezing the user prevents unauthorized access, protects sensitive data by ensuring former employees cannot log in, and minimizes security risks by ensuring that only active, trusted users have access to company data and systems.

You can automate this process using Salesforce Flow, safeguarding that you don’t forget to remove their access on a specific date. This scheduled triggered flow can be built like the example below:

An Example of Daily Scheduled Triggered Flow End of the Day | Ascendix

This Scheduled Flow is triggered from the User record based on the fields “ Last working date ” and a formula called “ Freeze User” , both custom fields created on the “ User” object.

The User Record with the Last Working Date Field | Ascendix

Then, the field “ IsFrozen ” in the ‘ User Login’ associated record is updated.

Custom Field Definition Detail in Salesforce | Ascendix

6. Assign Campaigns During Lead Creation or Update

When you need to apply specific campaign rules to your leads in Salesforce, using Flows can make this process much faster. Flow automates the task of assigning leads to campaigns and creating campaign members, so you can spend more time engaging with your leads rather than getting focused on manual data entry.

There are different ways how you can do that. Imagine that you need to assign a “ Texas Clients 2024 ” campaign to all the new leads that live in Texas. Here you can find an easy way to build it.

An Example of How to Assign a Campaign to All the New Leads that Live in Texas | Ascendix

7. Automate a Custom Object Round Robin Assignment

When assigning work to users, you might encounter challenges finding balance in workload and round robin is a good way to distribute it equally. For a simple scenario and some standard objects, Salesforce’s Assignment Rules can help you work with queues and users.

But what happens when you have a more complex request, or you want to automatically assign users to a custom object? In our example, we use the Inquiry Object, from AscendixRE CRM (a Salesforce-based CRM for commercial real estate brokers) to assign users from a Public Group.

Here is how you can achieve that using flows:

An Example of How to Automate a Custom Object Round Robin Assignment with Record Triggered Flow | Ascendix

You must create an Auto Number field “ Round Robin ” in your Object, here we used “ Inquiry ”.
In step “ A) ”, as it’s before the Flow, you still don’t have the Auto Number defined for your current record, so we are looking for the last Inquiry created “ Round Robin ” field to define the next assignment through the formula: a. “MOD( VALUE ( {!Get_Last_Inquiry.Round_Robin__c} ) + 1 , {!Var_MembersCount} ) +1”
In step “ B) ” you need to compare the formula you’ve mentioned in item 2 with the current member count number. When they match, the Flow will assign the owner.

Automate Workflows with Expertly Managed Flows

We will teach you how to use the Salesforce solution to the fullest without overpaying for unnecessary functionality. Book a free call with Ascendix team.

13 Best Practices for Creating Salesforce Flows

Salesforce Flow is the future of automation, combining the power of declarative development for both developers and admins. Here are best practices and design tips to ensure your flows scale with your organization.

Plan the Flow: Understand the business process that needs to be automated. Outline the step-by-step details required, which helps in determining the necessary elements and actions for the flow. It also clarifies how and when the flow should be initiated.
Document Your Flows: It will help future users or your future self understand the flow’s objective. Outline what your flow does, the objects it touches, and where it’s invoked from, use naming conventions like CompanyCase and include descriptions for variables and elements, and explain each step’s purpose, especially for workarounds or advanced functions.
Choose the Right Field and Variable: Ensure you are selecting the correct fields or variables for your flow to avoid errors and unintended outcomes.
Create and Test the Flow: Develop and test the flow in a Sandbox or developer environment before deploying it to production. This minimizes the risk of accidentally modifying or deleting data in the production environment.
Perform Data Manipulation Efficiently: Since flows run under Apex governor limits, it is advisable to combine all data manipulations (create, modify, or delete) and perform them at the end of the flow to optimize performance and resource usage.
Utilize Subflows for Scalability: A subflow is an optimal solution if you’re performing the same actions multiple times and need to manage branching logic and subprocesses or elevated permissions for data access. Among its other obvious benefits is that you need to update subflows once instead of in multiple places but you should avoid excessive subflows to maintain usability. Also, they require more coordination within the team to stay on the same ground.
Avoid Hardcoding IDs and Complex Formulas: IDs are organization-specific and will cause errors when the flow is deployed to other environments. Use dynamic references and variables instead of hard-coding IDs. Also, it’s better not to use overly complex formulas within flows.
Use Granular Flow Permissions: Make sure the objects and fields referenced in your flow are accessible to the end users who will be using the flow to prevent permission-related errors. Also, be cautious when using system context in Screen Flows for external users and ensure they have access to objects in the flow.
Null/Empty Checks: Always check for null or empty values to prevent your flow from failing when encountering empty or undefined data in decision elements.
Save the Flow Regularly: Flows are not saved automatically. Regularly save your progress to prevent data loss due to session timeouts or internet issues.
Always Build an Error Handler: Include a fault path in the flow design to gracefully handle errors and display custom error messages, ensuring a better user experience.
Test All Possible Paths: For complex flows with multiple paths based on data and decisions, test as many paths as possible to ensure all scenarios are handled correctly. Test flows using the same permissions and profiles as the end users to ensure they work correctly in the intended environment.
Avoid Backward Navigation: Avoid giving users the ability to navigate backward in the flow, as this can cause duplicate data changes in the database if not handled carefully.

How Ascendix Can Make Salesforce Flows Seamless and Powerful

A Salesforce Flow is a powerful automation tool that enables users to create and execute complex business processes.

Ascendix is your trusted Salesforce Crest Consulting partner in the creation, management, and customization of Salesforce Flows . Our seasoned administrators and consultants excel at crafting tailored flows that precisely meet your unique business needs.

By meticulously configuring decision points, loops, and user interaction screens, we ensure that your flows are not only user-friendly but also perfectly aligned with your organization’s processes.

Our commitment doesn’t end with implementation . We provide ongoing reviews and updates to keep your flows efficient and relevant as your business evolves.

In addition, our experts continuously refine and optimize your flows to enhance performance and adapt to new challenges.

For scenarios that demand complex business logic or involve large data volumes, our developers are equipped to write and integrate custom code, ensuring your flows are both powerful and scalable.

If you want to make your Salesforce Flows drive efficiency, adaptability, and long-term success, book a free CRM consulting call and we’ll troubleshoot and refine your Salesforce flows to improve their performance.

Salesforce Flows FAQ

What is a salesforce flow.

A Salesforce Flow is a powerful automation tool that enables users to create and execute complex business processes using a visual, no-code interface. It allows for automating tasks, data manipulation, and guiding user interactions, all within the Salesforce platform.

What can I automate with Salesforce Flow?

With Salesforce Flow, you can automate data management, task assignments, approval processes, guided user interactions, integrations with external systems, and complex business logic. It enables scheduling regular tasks and responding to platform events, streamlining and enhancing efficiency across your organization.

What are 5 types of Flows in Salesforce?

In Salesforce, there are five types of flows: Screen Flows, Autolaunched Flows, Schedule-Triggered Flows, Record-Triggered Flows, and Platform Event-Triggered Flows. Each type is designed to serve distinct purposes and is triggered by different events, from user interactions to automated processes based on time or data changes.

How does Flow Builder relate to Salesforce Flow?

Flow Builder is the tool used to create and manage Salesforce Flows. It provides a visual, drag-and-drop interface that allows users to design and configure Flows without needing to write code. Essentially, Flow Builder is the environment where Salesforce Flows are built, customized, and maintained.

Joseane is a certified Administrator and Associate by Salesforce. With a career foundation in data analysis and management information, she transitioned to the behind the scenes on CRM and is now passionate about automation. Her 3 years of experience in declarative development on the platform and constant learning enables her to suggest and implement optimal solutions for clients across diverse sectors, including law, real estate, manufacturing, and education, having worked on dozens of projects.

During the call you will learn:

Pros and cons of available CRM systems and their comparison to custom CRM development
How to optimize your current CRM solution, upgrade it to the latest version, configure and integrate your CRM with other systems, migrate or transform your data, administer and support your CRM and train your team.
Benefits of using industry-specific CRM solutions based on Salesforce/MS Dynamics 365 platforms
How to enhance your business productivity with top commercial real estate technology tools.

If you have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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