Automate Tasks based on Another Task with Workflow Rules

One way to automate your business processes is with Workflow Rules.  If you schedule tasks after another task is completed or scheduled, rules are the way to go!  Workflows let you trigger on both Events and Tasks.  If the criteria for the trigger is met, an action takes place.

One of the available actions is to schedule a task.  The task can be assigned to a user, role, or the record owner.  The Subject, Due Date, Comments, Status and Priority can be configured.

Tasks can be used to schedule meeting preparation tasks prior to an Event.  They can also trigger off each other creating a set of related tasks.  For example when the meeting preparation task is completed, a task for the rep to review is created.  When the Rep has completed the review task, a task for the admin is scheduled to create the agenda.

For this example we will create a task for a specific user when an Event is schedule to do meeting preparation.

There are 3 steps to creating a Workflow Rule:

• Select the Object to trigger on – Event object / Subject field
• Configure the rule criteria – When a record is created only and the Subject contains “New Client Meeting”
• Configure the action to perform if the rule is met – A task for a user 14 days prior to the New Client Event.

1. Go to Setup (Gear Icon) and type “Workflow Rules” into the Quick Find Click on Workflow Rules.

2. Click the New Rule
3. Select the object you want to ‘trigger’ on. For this example we want to trigger on the Event Subject field so Event is chosen.  Click Next.

4. Next, give the Rule a name and configure the criteria. For this example the criteria will be:

Evaluation Criteria:  Created. This means it will look at the value of the Subject field only when the Event record is created to meet the Rule Criteria.

Rule Criteria:  Event: Subject contains “New Client Meeting.  This means the Event’s Subject field must contain ‘New Client Meeting’ in order to perform the action.

**Use Filter Logic to add AND /OR statements to the rule criteria for more flexibility.

5. Click the Save & Next
6. Click the Add Workflow Action dropdown and choose New Task.
7. Configure the task to be schedule when the Account’s Active field equals ‘Yes. For this example the criteria will be:

Assigned to the Account Owner

Subject = Welcome Call and Onboarding

Due Date = 1 day after the workflow rule triggers

Status = Not Started

Priority = High

Comments = Additional notes/directions

8. Click the Save The new workflow rule is created.  Click the Done button.
9. Before you can test OR implement, you must click on the Activate button at the top of the page.
10. Test the rule and make any necessary edits until it is working correctly.

11. To make edits to a Workflow Rule, click the Edit button in the Workflow Rule Detail section.
12. To make edits to the task, click the Edit button in the Workflow Action section.