Winter ’22 Salesforce Release Gem: Optimizing Flow Execution With Start Element Change

Salesforce, in the last few releases, has substantially enhanced their declarative automation suite – in particular, Flow.  

In the Summer 2020 release, record-triggered flows were introduced, allowing admins and app-builders to launch flows before or after record insert/update.  

This opened a world of possibilities for admins, but also led to other design implications. Admins had to think very carefully about order of execution, since they could now control execution context- whether a flow executes before or after record save.  

What’s New in ‘22? 

With the Winter ’22 updates to the Record-Trigger start element, Salesforce optimizes the flows execution by determining the execution order (Before, After) based on what the admin wants to do instead of asking explicitly when to do it. 

Now, in the record-trigger start element, the Object is set (1), followed by when the flow should run (2). 

• When record is updated 
• When record is created 
• When record is created or updated 
• When a record is deleted 

If applicable, the user provides entry criteria (3). 

Finally, the new feature, the user identifies what the flow should be ‘Optimized for’ –  (4) Fast Field Updates (Before) or (5) Actions and Related Records (After).   

From Salesforce Release Notes: 

What problem does it solve? 

With this enhancement, admins no longer have to worry about deciding flow execution. The start element helps optimize for best practices based on what needs to be done. This means more efficient automation. 

How do I enable it? 

This feature is generally available with the Winter ‘22 release with no additional setup needed. September 10 will be the first release weekend with the second and third coming the first two weekends in October. 

To get started, go to Salesforce Flows and simply create a new record-triggered flow or open the start element of an existing flow. 

Available for: Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic in Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions

Author: Grant Ongstad, Senior Salesforce Consultant