Workflows can be powerful tools in any CRM implementation, but I have found they are not fully understood. On several occasions I have seen customers view workflows as a virtual panacea to solve all their business process problems. I was able to pull them back from that view, but I realized a brief overview of what workflows can (and can’t) do would be helpful.
Workflows fire upon any of these triggers:
- When a record is created
- When the record status changes
- When a record is assigned
- When record fields change
- When a record is deleted
- When manually fired (on-demand)
- When called from another workflow
Once fired the workflow can do any or all of the following:
- Check to see if a condition(s) is met before doing anything
- Timeout for x hours/days before doing anything
- Create a record(s)
- Update a record
- Assign a record
- Send email
- Change a record status
- Call another workflow
- Stop
These are the general capabilities of workflows, but what exactly can they do? Some examples of workflows I have implemented include:
- Email a record owner when a record is created or assigned (this can be internal or external emails)
- Assigning a new Lead to a sales rep based on the Lead’s location
- Create follow up tasks when an Opportunity is opened
- Update the sales pipeline stage when the close percentage changes
- Escalate a case to a manager if it hasn’t been touched in X hours
- Create the Primary Contact when a prospect Account is created
- Create a Unique ID for a record by concatenating several fields
- Push notifications to users (such as daily goal progress)
- Migrate data from an old field to a new one
A good rule of thumb for when to use a workflow is when a business process can be automated—basically, if X happens then Y must happen. If there is clear business logic then you can probably automate that process via a workflow, which will save you time and help streamline your business.
For example, creating a new Lead could trigger an email notification to the new owner of the lead, a follow up phone call due that day for the new owner, a follow up phone call due in two days, and an email to the Lead from that new owner to expect a call. This will save the user from having to create these follow up activities manually. If there are certain steps that help your sales process push a sale forward, look at workflows to automate wherever possible. Here is what the above workflow would look like:
These are some of the capabilities of what workflows can do, so what are their limitations?
- They can only do what their logic says
- They can’t define your process
- They can’t enforce your sales process
- They can’t sell
How do they work?
- Workflows only fire when a trigger event occurs.
- Automatic trigger events only occur when a record is saved.
- On-demand workflows must be started manually.
- Workflows are not instantaneous—it will take a little time for the workflow to fire and finish.
Workflows are a great tool to automate defined processes and reduce data entry. To discover how workflows can help your CRM system contact Cargas Systems, a certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner, offering software, services, and support that help improve your business processes.
By Dave Packard with Cargas Systems