Workflow Rules in the CRM, are a set of actions (email notifications, tasks and field updates) that are executed when certain specified conditions are met. These rules automate the process of sending email notifications, assigning tasks and updating certain fields of a record when a rule is triggered. 

A workflow rule consists of the following elements: 

• Basic Details  - Specify details on the record type for which the rule applies, rule name, description. 
  
• Rule Trigger - Specify when the rule should be triggered for a record and based on what. There are three options: 
  
  • Execute based on a record's action  - Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created/edited, deleted or specific fields are updated. 
    
  • Execute based on a date field's value  - For all the records matching the rule criteria, rule will be triggered either monthly or yearly based on the value of the date field that is selected. 
    
  • Execute based on a the record's score  - Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased or updated. 
    
• Workflow Condition  - You can create multiple conditions in a workflow rule. Each condition consists of two elements. One is specifying which records should be triggered i.e. all records or the records that match the criteria. Another is adding the criteria based on which it should be triggered. When there are multiple conditions, records will be validated against the criteria mentioned in each condition and when it meets a criteria, the other conditions that follow will be ignored for validation. The following options help you define the records that are to be triggered. 
  
  • All records that match the criteria  - Rule will be triggered for the records that meet the criteria. 
    
  • All records  - Rule will be triggered for all the records. 
    
  • Records that do not meet any of the above conditions  - Instead of  All   Records , this option will be available from the second condition onwards 
    
• Actions  - Specify the action to be automated for records that meet the set criteria. 
  
  • Instant Actions  - Add email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions that will be triggered immediately when the rule is executed. On Edit or Field Update actions, you can also convert Leads, Quotes or Sales Orders. 
    
  • Scheduled Actions  - Add email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions that will be scheduled and triggered based on a specified time. 
    

Create Workflow Rules in the CRM

The steps to create a workflow rule are divided into 4 parts. 

Part 1 - Enter the basic details of the rule

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules . 
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click  Create Rule . 
   
3. In the  Create New Rule  pop-up, do the following: 
   
   • Select the  Module  to which the rule applies from the drop-down list. 
     
   • Enter the  Rule Name  and  Description . 
     
4. Click  Next.
     
   

Part 2 - Specify the rule trigger

There are three options based on which the rule will be triggered for a record that matched the rule criteria. One of these options need to be selected when you create a workflow rule and you cannot change it later by editing the rule. They are: 

• A Record Action  - Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created/edited, deleted or a specific fields are updated. 
  
• A Date Field's Value  -For all the records matching the rule criteria, rule will be triggered either monthly or yearly based on the value of the date field that is selected. This option is available only in the Enterprise Edition. 
  
• A Score Value  - Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased or updated. 
  

Execute Based on Record Action 

When new leads are created in the CRM you may want to automatically send an email or a series of emails at set intervals. You may also want to create tasks for these new leads. Also, sometimes when specific fields are updated, you may want to trigger a workflow. This execution option lets you specify an action (Create, Edit, Delete, etc.) based on which workflow rules will be triggered. 

For  Edit ,  Create or Edit  and  FieldUpdate  actions, an option to recur the workflow is provided. You can check  Repeat this workflow every time a record is edited , if you want the rule to recur. 

Let's consider some examples to understand this: 

If the option is unchecked -  When, Budgeted Cost of Campaign is greater than 1000 $ > Send email notification to the Manager. The notification has to be sent only when a  Campaign is edited  and value for 'Budgeted Cost of Campaign' is set more than 1000$. Once the value is set and the user edits the record or modifies some field, this notification need not be sent (Though the current value for Budgeted Cost is greater than 1000$). 

If the option is checked - When Deal stage is 'In evaluation' > Send email notification to the Manager. For every edit irrespective of whether change is made to 'Deal stage' or not, email notification has to be sent to the Manager. 

1. Select one of the following: 
   
   • Create : Executes the rule when records are created. 
     
   • Edit : Executes the rule when existing record are modified. 
     
   • Create or Edit : Executes the rule when records are created or existing records are modified. 
     
   • Field Update : Executes the rule when the values of the specified fields are modified in a record. 
     
   • Choose the field name from the drop-down lists. 
     
   • Click the  All / Any  link to toggle the options. 
     
   • Delete : Executes the rule when certain records are deleted. Only Email Notifications and Webhooks can be associated for such a rule. The action includes:  
     
   • Deleting a record from the Details Page. 
     
   • Deleting from the List View (One by one or in bulk). 
     
   • Using the Mass Delete feature. 
     
   • Deleting from a record's Related List. For example, deleting a contact under an Account. 
     
   • Click Next . 
     

You may want to get an email reminder a week before a deal's expected closing date, or may want to send an email to the customers reminding them of the monthly rentals or subscription renewals. In these cases, it is not necessary that the records should be created or edited for the rule to get triggered. It is plainly based on the value in the date fields. This execution option lets you pick a date field from a record and allows you to define the day for the rule to be triggered. 

Please note, with this option, a maximum of  3000 records  will be triggered every hour. If there are more than 3000 records, the remaining records will be executed in the next hour. This option is available only in the Enterprise Edition. 

1. Enter the following to specify when you want the rule to be triggered. 
   
   • Specify the  Days ,  Hours  or  Minutes  when it should be executed. 
     
     The rule can be set to trigger a maximum of 180 days  Before  or  After  the Date field specified.
     
   • Choose  On ,  Before  or  After  from the drop-down list 
     
   • Choose a  Date  or  DateTime  field from the drop-down list. 
     
     All the date and date & time fields in the module for which the rule is being created will be listed.
     
2. Click the  Specify Time of Execution  link and choose the time.  
   
3. Select the  Once ,  Every Month  or  Every Year  from the  Recur  drop-down list. 
   
4. Click  Next . 
   

Execute Based on Record's Score 

Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased or updated. For example, leads from the service industry are your prime prospects and you want to prioritise them based on the scores. You may want to closely follow-up with the leads that have a score of 10 or more. In such cases, you can create a workflow rule based on scores. When the score of a lead is updated and if the score is 10 or more, a task can be created to prioritise and follow-up on the lead immediately.  

1. Choose either  Increase ,  Decrease  or  Updated  to specify when you want the rule to be triggered. 
   

   
   

2. Click  Next . 
   
3. Specify the  Condition  when the rule should be executed. 
   
4. Click  Next . 
   

   
   

Note 

• The automation will be applied in the following order: Scoring Rules > Workflow Rule > Approval Process > Blueprint > Scoring Rules . This is to ensure that the trigger loop gets completed. 
  
• Workflow execution based on scores is available in all the Paid editions. 
  
• Workflow rule will not be triggered when records are imported into the CRM account. 
  

Part 3 - Create a workflow condition 

Multiple conditions in a workflow rule help you address cases where you have clearly defined action items for the records that met the specified criteria and the ones that do not. For each rule, you can add a maximum of 10 conditions in the Enterprise Edition and 5 conditions each in the Standard and Professional Editions. 

Example : In a deal follow-up scenario, you may have the following requirements which can be best configured with Workflow conditions. 

Workflow Conditions	Records that match the criteria:  Deal Amount is >= USD 6000, Campaign Source is Trade Show	Records that match the criteria:  Deal Amount is >= USD 2000, Campaign Source is Trade Show	Records that do not match any of the criteria:
Action 1	Send an email to the Sales Manager about the big deal.	Assign a task to the record owner to close the deal in a week's time.	Assign a task to the record owner to close the deal in a week's time and also to provide a 15-day trial.
Action 2	Assign a task to the record owner to cross check the discount guidelines and the final discount value.	-	Update the field value as Eligible , for the field -  15 Day Trial .

1. Choose one of the following: 
   
   • Records Matching the Conditions  - Rule will be triggered only for those records that match the given criteria. 
     
   • All Records  - Rule will be triggered for all the records. 
     
   • Records that do not meet any of the above conditions  - Instead of  AllRecords , this option will be available from the second condition onwards. 
     
2. Specify the criteria. You can click the  Add  icon to add multiple criteria. 
   
   You can specify  Tags  as part of workflow criteria.  
   
   When you add more than one criterion, you will get an option to edit the criteria pattern. 
   
   
   
3. Click  Next  and add instant actions or scheduled actions. 
   
4. Click the  Add another condition  link  to add another workflow condition and repeat the steps mentioned above. 
   
   Please note that this option will be available only when at least one action (instant or scheduled) is added to the condition.
   

Edit Criteria Patterns

Criteria Pattern Editor in the custom list view helps you to develop the advanced filters using simple logical operators like  and / or . 

Note 

• You can specify a maximum of  25 criteria  for a list view. 
  
• If you are associating a convert action (an instant action) to the rule, specifying the criteria is mandatory. 
  
• Maximum of 5 lookup fields can be added in the criteria.

To edit criteria patterns 

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  Workflow Rules . 
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click on a workflow rule. 
   
3. In the  Edit Rule  page, review your existing criteria and click the  Change Pattern  link. 
   
4. In  Pattern Editor  box, modify filters and click the  Save  link. 
   

Example : 
You would like to trigger a workflow rule for all the potentials whose Type is New Business, Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification, and Amount is above $50000. 

Type is New Business; Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification; and Amount > $50000 .

You can create this criteria easily using the Criteria option given below: 
 
The criteria pattern will be automatically set as: 
 
Since the criteria pattern does not match the requirement, you can edit it as:
   

You can use the following characters in the Criteria Pattern Editor: 

• Round brackets: ( ) 
  
• and / or  operators 
  
• Criteria Row Number 
  

Part 4 - Associate instant and scheduled actions

A workflow rule is meaningful only if an action is associated to it. These actions include email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, and custom functions. They are grouped under  Actions that can either be  Instant  or  Scheduled . These actions once created, can be associated with many rules.

1. In the  Actions  section, do the following: 
   
   • Instant Actions - Click to associate instant actions that are triggered instantly when the workflow rule is triggered. You can also create one and associate it to the rule. 
     
   • Scheduled Actions   - Click to associate scheduled actions that will be triggered at a specified time once the rule is triggered. A maximum of 5 scheduled actions can be created. 
     
2. Click  Save . 
   
   Note that you cannot save a rule without creating either an instant or a scheduled action.
   

Associate Actions to Rules

Add Instant Actions

Instant action includes email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions that are triggered immediately when the rule is executed. There are two options to associate these actions. 

• Create  email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks or custom functions and associate them to the rule. You can also create an action to convert leads, quotes or sales orders. 
  
• Select existing  email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks or custom functions to associate to the rule. 
  

To associate an instant action 

If you are creating a workflow rule, directly go to  step 4 

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  WorkflowRules. 
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click on the rule for which you want to create an action. 
   
3. Click  Edit  to modify the rule settings. 
   
4. Under a  Condition , click  InstantAction/Action  link and select the action from the drop-down list. 
   
5. In the pop-up, select the actions that are listed or click  New [Action]  to create one and then associate. 
   
6. Click  Associate . 
   

Note 

• For a workflow rule, all the actions (email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks and functions) will not be listed. If the rule is for Leads, only the actions created for Leads will be available for association. 
  
• Only one set of instant action can be created with email notifications, tasks, etc. associated to it. 
  
• You can associate a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, 3 field updates, 1 custom function and 1 webhook to the instant action. 
  

Add Scheduled Actions 

Scheduled actions include email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks, and functions that are triggered on a specified time after the rule is executed. You can schedule the actions to be triggered based on the  Rule Trigger Time . You can see the list of scheduled actions in a record's details page under  Timeline  >  Upcoming Actions . 

There are two options to associate these actions: 

• Create  email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks or functions and associate them to the rule. 
  
• Select existing  email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks or functions to associate to the rule. 
  

To add scheduled actions 

If you are creating a workflow rule, directly go to  step 4 

1. Go to  Setup  >  Automation  >  WorkflowRules. 
   
2. In the  Workflow Rules  page, click on the rule for which you want to create an action. 
   
3. Click  Edit  to modify the rule settings. 
   
4. Under a  Condition , click  ScheduledAction/Action  link. 
   
5. In the pop-up, select  Hours ,  Days , or  Minutes  and specify the value. 
   
   
   
6. Click  Next . 
   
7. Click  Action  link and select the action from the drop-down list. 
   
8. In the pop-up, select the actions that are listed or click  New [Action]  to create one and then associate. 
   
9. Click  Associate . 
   

Add Custom Actions

Custom actions let you create tailored actions and associate them with the desired workflow rules. Sometimes you may need to create actions other than the default one's available in the CRM, in such cases you can use the  Developer Space.  and create your own actions. 

Let's consider a few scenarios where custom actions can be helpful: 

• Say a user does not want to receive further promotional emails of a particular product, so you check the Email opt out option in CRM. You can write a custom action that will mark an unsubscribe option in MailChimp automatically so you don't have to update in both places. 
  
• Say a deal has been under negotiation for a long time and recently it was rejected as the client was not satisfied with the final amount. So, you change the deal status in CRM to closed lost. Now, instead of updating the status in Zendesk again you can simply write a custom that will update the account information in Zendesk. 
  
• Imagine you have to send the shipping details of products to your customers, who have booked the products online. You can use custom action and associate it with the workflow to send out SMS notifications automatically. 
  

Note 

• For a workflow rule, all the actions (email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions) will not be listed. If the rule is for Leads, only the actions created for Leads will be available for association. 
  
• You can create a maximum of 5 scheduled actions for a workflow rule. 
  
• Each Scheduled Action can have a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, 3 field updates, 5 custom functions and 5 webhooks. 
  
• If the  Email Opt Out  option is enabled, emails will not be sent to the customers. 
  
• For the Workflow Management feature, the Organisation's Time Zone will be considered for calculating a day. In the absence of the time zone being defined, the Super Administrator's Time Zone will be considered. 
  
• There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered. 
  
• When email notifications reach the limit for the day, any remaining emails to be sent the same day will not be sent. 
  
• If the Execution Time that is calculated is a time in the past, then the action will be triggered immediately. There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered. 
  
• The scheduled actions for a records will be listed under  Upcoming Actions  in the Records Details Page. 
• For each action, you can associate a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, and 3 field updates. 
  
• You can associate up to 6 (1 Instant Action and 5 Scheduled Actions) custom functions per workflow rule. Similarly, you can associate up to 6 (1 Instant Action and 5 Scheduled Actions) webhooks per workflow rule. 
  
• A maximum of 5 Scheduled Actions (that includes email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions) can be created for a rule. 
  

Notes on Per Day Limits 

• Free and Starter Editions - (No. of Users * 50) or 5000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications. 
  
• Standard Edition onwards - (No. of Users * 100) or 5000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications. 
  
• The Super Administrator of your CRM account will be notified if the email notifications limit is exceeded for the day.  
  
• The per day limits (for e.g.: email limit) is calculated based on PST. 
  
• Limits for Custom Functions: 
  
  • Calls per Day - 20000 calls/day or 200 calls per user license for the organisation (whichever is lower) 
    
  • Integration Tasks - 25000 API calls/day using deluge. 
    
  • Get Data - 25000 calls/day 
    
  • Post Data - 25000 calls/day 
    
  • Send Email - 1000 emails/day 
    
• Limits for Webhooks: 
  
  • Professional Edition - 10000 calls/day or 100 calls/user license (whichever is lower). 
    
  • Enterprise Edition - 20000 calls/day or 500 calls/user license (whichever is lower).