The Workflow Builder
A workflow is automation drawn on a canvas rather than written. Nodes do things, edges connect them, and a run walks the graph.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Automation:
- Workflow Builder — the canvas, nodes and edges
- Worklist — what is waiting on a person
Architect Panel → Automation:
- Tasks — the engine that resumes waiting runs
The parts
- The workflow — a name, a target datastore, a trigger, a status and the canvas.
- Nodes — each with a key, a type, its configuration and a position.
- Edges — from a node’s output port to another node, optionally labelled.
- Runs — one execution against one record.
- Steps — what each node did on that run.
The canvas is the definition
Not a picture of it. What you draw is what executes, which means the diagram cannot drift out of date — a problem every documented-elsewhere automation eventually has.
Every node has ports
Most have one output; a condition has two, true and false. Edges leave a specific port, which is what makes branching explicit rather than implied by ordering.
A run belongs to one record
Started by something happening to that record, walking the graph, recording each step. So "what did the system do to this record" has a precise answer.
Runs are claimed
Each in-progress run holds a claim token, so two engine passes cannot process the same run simultaneously. That is what makes waits and resumption safe rather than a source of duplicated actions.
Runs have a step budget
The number of steps taken is tracked, which bounds a workflow that loops. A cycle in the graph is a mistake that is easy to draw and would otherwise run forever.
When a workflow is right
- Several steps in sequence with branching.
- Anything involving a wait, an approval or a timer.
- Anything somebody other than a developer should be able to read.
When something else is right
A single field update on save is a rule, not a workflow. A recurring job across many records is a task. Workflows are for a process that happens to one record over time.
Build it in draft
A workflow has a status, and only active ones run. Draw it, review it, then activate — because an active workflow acts on real records from the moment it is switched on.
Worked example
An organisation runs a complaint-handling workflow: acknowledge, wait, check whether it has been assigned, escalate if not, request approval before closure. Drawn on one canvas, readable by the complaints manager, with every run showing exactly which path a case took.
Recommendations
- Workflows for processes, rules for single updates, tasks for batches.
- Build in draft and activate deliberately.
- Avoid cycles — the step budget will stop them, untidily.
- Draw it so a colleague can read it.