Automate This! — Sales Processes Between CRM and ERP with Flow and Composer

The business case

For years, my company e-Builder (a division of Trimble) had an integration between our CRM and ERP systems that automated the sales process from deals closing to invoicing. The integration had its issues here and there, but one day it broke. We quickly found out that due to several circumstances, the functionality would not resume…ever! That’s right; we had lost all our automation functionality with no prior notice. This meant that these processes needed to be completed manually, which would become my job as an admin. Between deals closing daily and the end-of-month rush, there was no efficient way to sustain processing without automation. I needed to not only re-establish the connection between Salesforce and NetSuite, but also build multiple flows, beginning with one of our most important business processes, which was to create sales orders that Finance could invoice.

The solution

Diagramming

Since there was no documentation of the previous workflows, I needed to map out the process solely reliant on how I had known it to work. Understanding the objects in each system, required fields, and actions was pertinent in creating the new automation. What I knew was that I needed to start my process in Salesforce and end it in NetSuite. So below I created a diagram of which objects lived in each system, which I would use in this flow and latter flows to complete our entire sales processes. I then focused on the objects that would be the focus of this flow.

Creating new automation

This is the very first flow I built to fill the void within our sales to finance process. The flow saved me a lot of time from manual processing after our initial integration broke. It also gave me insight and knowledge into Composer as a new user and early adopter.

This flow automates the process of creating a sales order in NetSuite when an opportunity is Closed Won in Salesforce. As shown in the diagram above, I am starting my flow from Salesforce so I use my Salesforce instance as the connection org for my first step. (Note: I initially connected it to the sandbox. Once my testing was complete, I updated the connection to production.) I begin my flow by using a new or updated triggering step that looks at the opportunity record in Salesforce. This determines the starting action of the flow.

I add my remaining steps inside of an If/Else condition that constitutes the second node of my flow. I set a filter condition on my flow to trigger only when an opportunity stage is updated to Closed Won, as these are the only opportunity records for which I want to produce a sales order record in NetSuite.

In Steps 2–3, I use the Get Records action. Step 4 looks at the account related to the opportunity from Step 3 and stores the four fields I’ll select in my field mapping between Salesforce and NetSuite (in Step 7).

Step 5 gets the opportunity products and stores the values of the fields. They’ll later be used to create items related to the sales order in NetSuite.

In Step 6, I use a “For Each” node that cycles through a list of records and performs an action for each record in the list. This allows me to cycle through a list and perform actions on each record I am using from the List of Account from Step 4.

Step 7 is my favorite step! Not only am I at the finish line, but this is where I map all the fields required to create a sales order record in NetSuite. This field step consists of fields required for creation, while the others are simply to complete the record with pertinent data. This is also the first and only step where I have connected to the NetSuite org. The step does several automations in itself: It creates the sales order record, looks up the NetSuite customer using the List of Account, and creates the related items from the list of opportunity products in Step 5.

Once this flow completes successfully, WAH LAH! We now have a sales order in NetSuite!

Flow + Composer = a complete solution

The very last step of my automation is actually built in Flow Builder! This is a very simple flow but it’s vital to close out our sales process. Once the sales order is created, we must inform the Finance department that they can proceed to invoice. I complete this with an email flow. I create a custom field on the opportunity that is marked when the sales order is created. That custom field then triggers the email to send to our Finance inbox. Finance can now be confident that we’re capturing all closed deals and producing accurate numbers for revenue recognition.

And there you have it! This flow alone saved me hours of manually processing monthly. And although I had no previous documentation to build from, I could efficiently create my first flow by first diagramming, creating, testing, and activating my flow in MuleSoft Composer. Pairing Composer with Flow is a match made in heaven! The possibilities between the two are endless. Automation can be intimidating to admins, but Salesforce has provided various tools to achieve high-level processing with clicks, not code.

Tips for success

• Utilize your available resources. Below, I’ve provided resources that have and continue to help me navigate Composer. These tools are great guides on how to create flows and troubleshoot issues.
• Take your time when building your flows. As I stated, diagramming really helps to visualize your process and identify the proper steps and actions needed for your flow as well as how to structure them. They can also serve to assist others in understanding the hows and why of how you built your flow.
• TEST YOUR FLOWS! TEST, TEST, TEST! Yes, this is one I really want to drive home. It’s very important to test your flow before activation. You want to make sure all your steps are successful and that you’re meeting the intended goal of your automation by the time your flow completes its run. You do this by testing your flow front to back, preferably in the sandbox.

Resources

• Trailblazer Community Group: MuleSoft Composer
• Trailhead: Get Started with MuleSoft Composer

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