How to Guide: Process Builder - Think! Make a plan.

Would you build a tower without at least writing a list of all the supplies that are needed? At least a minimal amount of organization? No! Why treat a process any differently?  

Making a plan... perhaps I should have used paper instead of the wall!

Read the scenario or analyze the problem and translate into “process builder-ese”   

• What is the end goal of the process?
• Which object should trigger the process?
• Are multiple tools needed?  Visual Workflow and Process Builder?
• What should drive the order of your process?

For a Trailhead Superbadge- read the instructions! 95% of the questions that I receive are easily answered by reading the instructions more carefully, so I can’t say enough about print, highlight, read, read, read!  If you can not visualize a step in advance, don’t start the process creation until you understand what is needed.

If you can not explain a process in simple enough terms so that a 5 year old will understand, you are not ready to start clicking.

A sample scenario:
Mom: My darling Trailhead Baby, could you help with a small problem that I have at work.
Trailhead Baby:  ummm Mom, I have lots of important things to do today...coloring, practicing my shapes, and learning to do a somersault. 
Mom: I’m making macaroni and cheese for dinner.
Trailhead Baby: I’ll have it done by 5.

Scenario:
Tasks are a big pain point for my sales team.  We want sales to create and keep up with tasks, however, there are several times during the sales cycle where they have to manually edit or delete tasks.  When we create a new opportunity, there are usually a few open tasks on the account already.  Those should be transferred to the opportunity.  Opportunities can start in three stages - prospecting, evaluating, or quote.  Once sales receives the purchase order, any tasks that remain open on the opportunity need to go.  The salesperson should get a reminder to follow up on the deal if payment doesn’t arrive on time.  Of course, once we get the check, any open tasks related to payment should be removed, and new tasks added for the account owner for customer on-boarding.  The person working the deal should be notified every time a payment arrives.  If an opportunity is lost, we want the salesperson to check back in with the account after 8 months.  

One more thing:
The executive team wants an easy way to keep an eye on "big" deals. It won't hurt if it makes the salesperson look good, but I do not want to add another to-do item to sales' list.