Salesforce Flow Orchestrator extends standard Flow so admins can build complex, multi-step automations that run across several users and stages. It reuses the Flow assets you already have and sequences them into one end-to-end business process.
Understanding Flow Orchestrator
Flow Orchestrator runs multi-user, multi-stage, multi-step Flows. You build sequences where different people or teams get assigned specific actions, in order or in parallel. Employee onboarding is the obvious case: HR, IT, and the department manager each own distinct actions, usually in a set order.
Creating a Flow Orchestration
Flow Orchestrations are created in Salesforce Setup, soql-not-in-not-equal-exclusion/" class="auto-link">not in the Automation app. Go to Setup, search 'Flows' in the Quick Find box, and click 'New Flow'. On the 'New Automation' page, search for and pick one of:
- Autolaunched Orchestration (No Trigger)
- Record-Triggered Orchestration
Those are the primary orchestration flow types, marked with a conductor icon.
Building a Flow Orchestration: stages and steps
Building one feels like building a standard Flow, with two extra concepts.
Stages
A Stage groups one or more Steps. Stages run in sequence, so each one is a distinct phase of the orchestration.
Steps
A Step is a specific action inside a Stage. It names the Flow or Flows to run, assigns the work to a user, handles notifications, and sets where the Flow shows up. Steps inside a Stage run sequentially or in parallel.
On the Flow Orchestrator canvas, Stages appear as card groups with a blue arrow icon. Each Stage has Exit Conditions, which you can set to fire when all its Steps complete or when a named auto-launched Flow returns TRUE.
Decision logic in Flow Orchestrator
Decision elements between Stages let you route dynamically and skip Stages against criteria you define.
In a new employee onboarding orchestration, for instance, a 'Laptop Setup' Stage can be bypassed when a 'Requires Laptop' checkbox on the contact record is unticked. The steps then run against context rather than running every time.
Configuring steps: background vs. interactive
Inside each Stage you define the individual Steps. Steps differ from Subflows mainly in how users interact with them and who gets assigned to run them.
Background steps
Automations that need no direct user interaction and run in the background, much like auto-launched Flows.
Interactive steps
Screen Flows that need user input. The useful advance here is being able to trigger a Screen Flow from a Record-Triggered Flow Orchestration and surface it in the 'Orchestration Work Guide' component on a record page.
Building a Step means specifying the Flow to run (screen or auto-launched), the Record ID to call it from, and the assigned user. Being able to assign different Steps to different users is what makes the tool worth using.
The Flow Orchestrator Work Guide
Anyone assigned an Interactive Step gets to it through the 'Orchestration Work Guide' component, which you add to the relevant Lightning Record Page. It gives users one place to see and complete their assigned tasks.
Use cases for Flow Orchestration
Flow Orchestrator earns its keep on processes that span teams or need user actions in sequence:
- Service delivery orchestration, where a client delivery process runs across several teams.
- Multi-person approvals, extending Approval Flows with more complex multi-stage logic.
- Escalation processes, routing records to different team members as criteria change.
- New employee onboarding, from HR confirmation through IT provisioning.
Before this, you would have stitched the same thing together from Flows, email alerts, and manual tracking. Flow Orchestrator consolidates it into a single auditable master flow, with end-to-end visibility and clear ownership for each step.
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