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Order of Execution in Salesforce

6 min read
Jess
Jessica B.

Seasoned technical writer giving you top Salesforce Tips.

Updated: Jan 13th, 2025

What is Order of Execution in Salesforce?

The Order of Execution in Salesforce is a sequence of operations that run when a record is being saved or updated. It’s crucial for developers and administrators to understand the order of execution as it can ensure that custom code, validations, and workflows are excused in the right sequence.

Order of Execution
Order of Execution

What is the Order of Execution in Salesforce When a Case Record is Saved?

An order is followed when a Salesforce case record is saved. Developers and administrators need to know this Salesforce Order to understand how business data is manipulated and processed.
When developers fully understand the order of saving a case record in Salesforce, they can confidently and accurately create different types of logic to assist all teams across an organization, such as:

  • Workflow Rules
  • Validation Rules
  • Custom Triggers
  • Specific Business Processes

Take a look at this standard execution of order in Salesforce when a case record is saved in Salesforce below as a quick guide for developers!

Order of Execution Salesforce Diagram

Step 1: Before Triggers Salesforce saving.

light blue tick item
Salesforce performs your system validation rules which check for required fields, field length, unique field constraints, and field data types.
light blue tick item
After the system validation rules have been completed, your custom validation rules will run.

Step 2: Triggers

light blue tick item
Before triggers are custom apex triggers that will run before your record is saved to your database. This includes apex execution order triggers that modify or validate data before it is saved.
light blue tick item
After the Salesforce before triggers are completed, the custom validation rules will run again to ensure the data is still valid.

Step 3: If you have created duplicate rules on an object they will now run.

Step 4: Triggers after saving.

light blue tick item
After triggers are your custom Apex triggers which will run after the record is saved to your database, they are normally tasks that need to run after the data has been committed.

Step 5: If you have created assignment rules on your objects, they will be executed at this stage.

Step 6: Any definite auto-response rules will be processed here.

Step 7: Workflow rules that perform additional actions such as field updates, task creation, and email alerts. These actions can trigger additional before and after triggers.

Step 8: Any defined case escalation rules are checked and executed.

Checked and Executed Escalation Rules
Checked and Executed Escalation Rules

Step 9: Configured process and flows on the object will now run.

Step 10: Post-commit logic such as sending an email will run after the transaction is committed.

Step 11: Any defined roll-up summary fields defined on your object will update after the commit.

Step 12: Criteria-based sharing rules are applied after the transaction is committed to recalculate sharing.

Step 13: Schedules flows and actions are executed at this point.

Not all of the above operations will run in every transaction. Specific operations that occur depend on the actions taken and the nature of the configuration of your Salesforce instance. Understanding triggering execution orders in Salesforce can help you design an efficient and predictable business process and sequence of execution in Salesforce.

Order of Operation Rules: Flow of Execution in Salesforce

Now that we understand the flow of how the executions are run for a transaction, it is important to consider some rules and best practices when you create your own customization and Salesforce automation order of operations.

Validation Rules

These rules ensure data integrity and consistency, they should be simple and simplistic so avoid any logic in validation rules as they run both before and after triggers.

Triggers

When designing your triggers stay mindful of trigger recursion by using static variables and other techniques to ensure you don’t create an infinite loop. Your triggers should be able to handle multiple records at once so the trigger does not only run on one record at a time.

Use Static Variables
Use Static Variables

Workflow Rules

Use workflows to create simple field updates and email alerts, you should avoid creating workflows that use complex logic. Instead, delegate any complex logic to your Apex triggers or processes.

Process Builder and Flows

You can use Process Builder and Flows to automate your processes using point-and-click tools. Your processes and flows should be efficient to prevent any performance issues.

Roll-Up Summary Fields

These summary fields are used to calculate values from related records. These fields are not calculated immediately so the values may not be reflected in your real-time data.

Criteria-Based Sharing Rules

Using these sharing rules you can grant access to records based on criteria. Make sure you exercise caution when setting up sharing rules as they can expose sensitive data.

Assignment Rules and Auto-Response Rules

Assignment rules will automatically assign records to specific queues or users. Your auto-response rules will send automated responses based on specific criteria.

Trigger Salesforce Execution Order 

Understanding the order in which before or after triggers are executed and designing them according to that order. The best practice for designing your triggers is using a one-trigger-per-object pattern.

Governor Limits

Governor limits impose constraints on your resources and operations in a single transaction so be sure you exercise caution when creating these. Your code should stay within these limits to prevent performance issues or exceptions.

Exercise Caution
Exercise Caution

Testing and Monitoring

Make sure you test any automation and customization you configure to ensure they work as intended. You should monitor your Salesforce test automation for performance and usage to identify and resolve any issues.

Exception Handling

Make sure you implement exception handling into your code to ensure any errors are appropriately handled and provide meaningful error messages.

Documentation and Communication

Document each step in your automation, customization, and how they interact. The changes you implement should be communicated to your team so they can note any unexpected behavior.

Understanding and adhering to these rules will help you design effective and efficient document automation within the Salesforce platform while maintaining data integrity and system performance.

Financial Order of Operations

Your Financial Order of Operations in Salesforce is a structured approach to managing your financial data. It should ensure data accuracy and consistency when handling your financial transactions.

Salesforce Data Model

First, you need to ensure you understand Salesforce’s data model including objects such as accounts, contacts, products, price books, and opportunities.

Products and Price Books

Creating and maintaining your Products and Price books is essential to ensure your product and pricing catalog is always up to date. Make sure you define the products and services that you offer, set the exact price, and group them into price books.

Define Products and Services
Define Products and Services

Opportunities

These represent potential revenue from sales or deals. Create and manage your opportunity records for each potential sale including what products the opportunity is interested in, the qualities, and expected close dates.

Quotes

Using quotes you can provide pricing estimates to your customers. This can be done by linking quotes to Salesforce opportunities to provide a detailed breakdown of costs and quantities to customers. You will need to track any changes made to quotes during the negotiation process.

Orders

Once your deal is confirmed, you can convert the quote into an order that will contain the finalized commitments which is important for tracking your revenue and product delivery. Your order should contain the product or service, quantity purchases, pricing, and shipping details.

Invoices and Billing

Once an order is complete, you can generate an invoice for your customers which will reflect the details of the order. You can use Salesforce’s tools to manage the billing and invoicing process.

Payments and Revenue Recognition

You can track customer payments and apply revenue recognition rules which ensures that revenue is recognized accurately based on accounting standards.

Financial Reports and Dashboards

Salesforce offers reporting and dashboard tools to generate financial reports that can be customized to meet your specific needs.

Salesforce Order of Operations: Integrations

You can integrate Salesforce with your Accounting system and other financial tools to sync your financial data and automate your accounting processes.

Integrate Systems
Integrate Systems

Compliance and Security

You will need to ensure that your financial data complies with the applicable financial regulations and that access to sensitive information is secured.

Training and Documentation

You will need to provide training to your Salesforce users, especially those you will be working with your financial data.

Continuous Monitoring and Improvement

You should always regularly review and refine your processes within Salesforce and adapt to any changing needs in your business, industry-standard changes, and compliance requirements.

The listed order can change and vary depending on your organization’s requirements and how you have customized your Salesforce. It’s important to consult your business experts during the planning and execution stages.

Using a Third-Party Tool to Make Order of Execution a Breeze

If you aren’t a coding whizz and using the other Salesforce automation tools seems daunting, you can look to the Salesforce App Exchange. Here you will find a number of trusted third-party apps that can help facilitate the automation of your Salesforce tasks. We recommend the Titan Flow tool as Salesforce flow of execution that helps you to effortlessly streamline your business processes. You can build flexible and robust flows with zero code using Titan’s easy-to-use interface. There is a trial mode for you to check out this tool before making any purchases.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the SFDC order of execution?

Order execution is the process of accepting and completing a buy/sell order on behalf of a client. It can be carried out manually or electronically.

What is the order of operations when a record is saved in Salesforce?

When a record is saved in Salesforce, it goes through numerous events. This is known as the order of operations. Salesforce enforces this sequence to ensure data integrity and to execute automation rules like validation rules, workflows, and triggers consistently. 

Here is the detailed order of operations Salesforce when a record is saved:

System Validation: Before any data is processed, Salesforce runs system validation steps. These include checking for mandatory system-level fields that they are not null, field-type checks, and ensuring that any new record has its parent records available.

Before Triggers: If there are any ‘before’ triggers defined for the object being saved, they are executed. ‘Before’ triggers are used to update or validate record values before they are saved to the database.

Custom Validation Rules: After ‘before’ triggers, any custom validation rules are evaluated. If these rules fail, the save process is halted, and the error is returned to the user interface.

Duplicate Rules: If duplicate management is configured, duplicate rules are checked to see if the record being saved is a duplicate of an existing one.

Record Saved to Database (but not committed): At this point, the record is saved to the database, but the transaction is not yet committed. This means the record is not visible to other users or processes.

After Triggers: These triggers run after the record has been saved to the database. They are often used for operations that need to see the record as saved in the database, such as firing integrations or updating related records.

Assignment Rules: If the object has assignment rules (commonly used in cases or leads), these are executed to assign the record to the appropriate user or queue based on the specified criteria.

Auto-Response Rules: For some objects (like cases and leads), auto-response rules are processed next, typically sending an email response automatically based on certain criteria.

Workflow Rules: After the record is saved, any workflow rules that are defined for that object are triggered. These might include field updates, tasks creation, or outbound messages.

Escalation Rules: These are evaluated and executed next, generally applicable to cases, to escalate them based on certain criteria if they have not been closed within a specified time frame.

Processes and Flows (via Process Builder): If any processes are defined in Process Builder that apply to the object, they are executed. These can include complex workflows, additional field updates, and even triggering external actions.

Commit to Database: At this point, the transaction is committed, and all changes are officially saved in the database.

Post-Commit Logic: This includes sending out any email notifications configured in workflow rules, assignment rules, etc.

How to remember the order of execution in Salesforce?

You don’t need to memorize the order of execution in Salesforce because you can use diagrams or flowcharts available on the internet

Why is Execution Order in Salesforce important?

Knowing the order of execution of Salesforce means you understand how the code, triggers, and other automation flows work within the platform. Understanding the order of execution is useful for both seasoned Salesforce developers and Salesforce newbies to maximize the potential of the platform.

What is the Salesforce order of execution between process builder and flow?

First Trigger runs and then Process Builder. Your flow triggers are executed after your workflow field updates, this includes any Apex triggers and standard validations that run as a result of the workflow field updates. Once the flow is completed, the system will execute any escalation rules. To visualize the process clearly, try looking at a Salesforce Order of Execution diagram. This flowchart will describe each step in the sequence when a record is saved in Salesforce.

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