Workflow rules

A workflow rule determines the actions that are performed on the record in a specific state and often move the record to another state. There are several types of workflow rule. For information about the actions that can work with each type of workflow rule, see Workflow actions.

• Use primary rules at the beginning of a workflow to create a new case, opportunity, solution, or lead record that's automatically part of the workflow. The primary rule replaces the standard New button which is displayed when workflow is deactivated. For consistency in the UI, you can set the rule Label to New <entity> and set Alternative Image for Rule to New.gif. You generally use column change actions with primary rules. Primary rules are represented by light purple arrows in the workflow tree.
  If your workflow creates a new record that has a dedupe search or an inbuilt system action, you must hang a transition rule rather than a primary rule from the entry state. For example, NewCompany, NewIndividual.
• Use transition rules to connect one workflow state to the next. Transition rules are displayed to the user as workflow action buttons. A transition rule linked to a workflow entry state lets a user add a record to a workflow. For example, transition rules allow a user to add an existing lead record to a lead workflow. Similarly, transition rules allow a user to add an opportunity that's been progressed from a lead to an opportunity workflow. Transition rules are represented by purple arrows in the workflow tree.
• Use conditional rules to create two sets of actions. One set is executed when the JavaScript condition is true, the other set is executed when the condition is false. The JavaScript condition on a Conditional Rule is evaluated when the user clicks the workflow rule button. This means that conditional rules always show as long as other conditions (for example, Restrict to Team) are true. The advantage of a conditional rule is that it's always displayed to the user as a reminder. Also, when the user selects the rule and the conditions are not met, a message can be displayed stating the reason. Conditional rules are represented by two purple arrows in the workflow tree; one arrow has a green tick (True), the other arrow has a red cross (False).
• Use escalation rules to add actions that occur when certain conditions are met. You specify conditions as SQL WHERE clauses in the rule. You can also use escalation rules outside the context of workflow. For more information, see About quick notifications and escalation rules. Escalation rules are represented by blue arrows in the workflow tree.
  You can specify a time limit on each stage of a case workflow to act as an SLA with a warning limit. To do this, create a field on Cases that stores the start date of each stage (for example, case_startstage) and ensure the date is entered when the case moves to a new stage. You can base escalation rules on the value in the date field.
  To record the duration of each stage, set up specific fields for each stage (for example, case_startstage1, case_stage1duration, case_startstage2, case_stage2duration) and use Execute SQL Statement workflow actions to update these values.
• Use global rules to add actions that are always available and do not move the workflow into another state. Global rules always hang from the Start state. For example, use a global rule to allow the user to edit an opportunity at any point in the opportunity’s life cycle. If the user makes changes to certain opportunity details, the opportunity is not progressed to a different state. Global rules are represented by blue arrows with a purple circle in the workflow tree.