Introduction

Multi-path workflows allow you to create multiple actions on a single field, which is called the Anchor Field. 

Unlike in Standard workflows, you need not create a separate workflow to execute an action for each field's value. 

For example, if you want to send an email to a sales rep when Invoice status is Accepted, and create a task when Invoice status is Rejected, you must create separate Standard workflows. However, by creating a multi-path workflow, you can include different actions for different statuses of an invoice in the same workflow. Hence, the name ‘multi-path’.

To learn more about Standard workflows, click here.

Feature Availability and Limits

Note: 

• The maximum number of Multi-path workflows you can create in Help Desk Starter and Help Desk Professional are 2 and 5, respectively.
• The maximum number of workflow actions that you can set up per workflow in  Help Desk Starter and Help Desk Professional are 6 and 8, respectively.

Four Components of Multi-Path Workflows

Similar to Standard workflows, Multi-path workflows also have four components. 

1. Basic information
2. Workflow trigger
3. Entry criteria
4. Actions

 Follow these steps to create Multi-path workflows:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click the Settings button. You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the Automation section.
5. Select Workflows.
6. Click the +New Workflow button.
7. Select Multi-path. 
8. Enter the basic information, trigger, entry criteria, and actions.

Let us take an example of the Sales Stage field to get clarity on the usage of Multi-path workflows. In the example, we will create a workflow that executes different actions when a deal’s sales stage takes different values such as Value Proposition, Negotiation, Closed Won, etc.

Basic information

You must fill out the following details, which provide basic information about the workflow:

• Workflow Name - Specify the name of the workflow.
• Target Module - Specify the module on which the workflow must execute, such as Deals, Contacts, Products, etc.
• Status - Specify the status of the workflow - Active or Inactive. The workflow does not execute when the status is set to Inactive.
• Description - Provide a brief description of what the workflow is used for, the actions it performs, etc.

Under Basic Information, we will name the workflow as Workflow Standard Pipeline, and choose Deals as the target module. Next, we will mark the workflow’s status as Active and provide a short description of it.
 

Workflow trigger

Specify when the workflow must trigger by choosing an option from the following two fields:

• Trigger Workflow On:
  • Record creation - Choose this option if you want the workflow to trigger when a record is created in the Target Module (mentioned in the previous section).
  • Record updation (includes creation) - Choose this option if you want the workflow to trigger when a record is updated or created in the Target Module (mentioned in the previous section).
  • Time Interval - Choose this option if you want the workflow to trigger at a frequent time interval.
    • Frequency - Specify the frequency at which the workflow must trigger. To learn more about this option, click here.
• Recurrence:
  • Only first-time conditions are met - Triggers the workflow if the specified conditions are true. Once executed, the workflow will not trigger on the same record again. However, it will trigger on other records in the selected module.
  • Every time conditions met - Triggers the workflow on a record every time the specified conditions are true.

For the trigger, we will choose a customized time interval by selecting the Time Interval radio button. Then we will choose a frequency at which the workflow must get triggered - daily at 5.00 AM.
 

Entry criteria

Workflows are executed on records in the Target Module under Basic Information. More often than not, you might only need to perform actions on select records in the module. And that is when you will need to apply conditions and filter out records. 

A workflow executes only on records that satisfy the condition that you specify.

You can specify multiple conditions using the +Add condition button. There are two types of conditions.

• All conditions: It is based on the logical AND operation. Workflow executes when all the conditions are met.

• Any condition: It is based on the logical OR operation. Workflow executes when at least one condition is met.

To learn more about conditions, click here.

Let us apply a condition on the pipeline such that the workflow executes only when a deal is associated with the Standard pipeline. So, the workflow executes its actions only when Pipeline = Standard.

To learn more about pipelines, click here.

Actions

The Actions part defines what the workflow must execute after getting triggered and meeting the entry criteria. You can set up different types of actions around a Picklist or Assigned To field, which is called the Anchor Field.

You can add the following type of actions for different values of the Anchor Field: 

 Now, we select the Sales Stage as the Anchor Field. 

1. Choose an action from the Add Action drop-down.
2. Choose a value for the Sales Stage field in the rule. For example, If the Sales Stage is New, If the Sales Stage is Value Proposition, etc.
3. Click the Add Rule button to add an action for another value of the Sales Stage field. If Sales Stage is New - Send Mail, If Sales Stage is Value Proposition - Create Task, etc.
4. Click Save. 

So, when the sales stage changes, the action associated with it is executed.

Deactivating a Multi-path Workflow

Follow these steps to deactivate a multi-path workflow:

1. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
2. Click the Settings button.
3. Look for the Automation section.
4. Click Workflows.
5. Click the Multi-path tab on the top left side of the workflow list.
6. Select a module from the drop-down on the top to view its related workflows.
7. Select a workflow.
8. Disable the toggle button on the left side of the workflow to deactivate it.

Deleting a Multi-path Workflow

Follow these steps to delete a multi-path workflow:

1. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
2. Click the Settings button.
3. Look for the Automation section.
4. Click Workflows.
5. Click the Multi-path tab on the top left side of the workflow list.
6. Select a module from the drop-down on the top to view its related workflows.
7. Select a workflow.
8. Hover over a workflow and click the Delete icon to delete it. 

Generate Invoice from Sales Order or Quotes
An action in the workflow is added to generate invoice from quotes and sales order based on the filter condition.