Review Flow Terminology and Sign Up for a Special Org

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Sign up for a special Trailhead Playground with some broken flows.
• Identify the terms associated with flows.

Sometimes Things Break

At some point, we all learn an important lesson: Sometimes things don’t go as planned. You put a piece of furniture together and realize that you put the most important piece in backwards, or you accidentally sit on your reading glasses and a lens pops out.  

But these things don’t stay broken forever. You can review the instructions and reassemble that piece of furniture, and you can finally use that glasses repair kit that’s been in your junk drawer. 

This is also true for flows in Salesforce. Sometimes flows can “break”—stop working for one reason or another. If you’re thinking, “Wait, what’s a flow again?!” remember that a flow automates a business process in your Salesforce org. 

Numerous things like faulty logic, null values, permissions, or bad code can keep a flow from working properly. This module teaches you how to root out the problem with a flow in your org that’s not working as it should.

Review Flow Terms Before You Start

Before you get hands-on fixing a flow, we recommend getting acquainted with Flow Builder by completing Flow Builder Basics and the Build Flow with Flow Builder trail. You also need basic familiarity with users, profiles, and permission sets (we recommend checking out the Data Security module).

Here are some basic flow terms to get familiar with.

• Run executes the most recent saved version of the flow that you have open. Important note: This actually attempts to complete the flow and potentially interact with the data in the org. For example, if your flow updates a record when a certain action is taken and you complete that action in Run, it actually updates a record in your org.
• Debug does everything that Run does, but with some superpowers thrown in. It lets you enter values for the flow’s input variables and display debug details while running the flow. That way, you can verify how the flow processes data. Important note: Similar to Run, this actually attempts to complete the flow and interact with the data in the org. When in doubt, use Run and Debug in a Sandbox org.
• Flow Interview is an instance of a flow.

Wait, What’s Wrong with My Org?

This module is unique in the fact that you work in a “broken” org. Consider this the first of many warnings not to use this org to complete any other Trailhead badge. You can probably guess what you’ll be fixing. That’s right, some flows. Does that seem a bit too realistic for you? Well, that’s the point. You won’t always be the admin of a Salesforce org where everything is set up perfectly. 

Sign Up for a Special Developer Edition Org

To complete this module, you need a special Developer Edition org. This org includes a couple of flows that just don’t work the way they should, which you fix throughout the course of this module. 

Get the free Developer Edition and connect it to Trailhead now so you can complete the challenges in this module. Note that this Developer Edition is designed to work with the challenges in this badge, and you shouldn’t use it for any other badge. Always check that you’re using the Trailhead Playground or special Developer Edition org that we recommend. 

1. Sign up for a free Developer Edition org for Troubleshooting.
2. Fill out the form.
3. For Email, enter an active email address.
4. For Username, enter a username that looks like an email address and is unique, but it doesn't need to be a valid email account (for example, yourname@test.com).
5. After you fill out the form, click Sign me up. A confirmation message appears.
6. When you receive the activation email (this can take a few minutes), open it and click Verify Account.
7. Complete your registration by setting your password and challenge question. Tip: Write down your username, password, and login URL for easy access later.
8. You are logged in to your Developer Edition.

Now connect your new Developer Edition org to Trailhead.

1. Make sure you're logged in to your Trailhead account.
2. In the Challenge section at the bottom of this page, click the playground name and then click Connect Org.
3. On the login screen, enter the username and password for the Developer Edition you just set up.
4. Click Finish on the troubleshooting org reminder.
5. On the Allow Access? screen, click Allow.
6. On the Want to connect this org for hands-on challenges? screen, click Yes! Save it. You are redirected back to the challenge page and ready to use your new Developer Edition to earn this badge.

Since this org has unique features that might prevent you from completing other challenges, it is a good idea to rename this org to remind your future self not to use it to complete any other badges. Although this step is optional, we highly recommend it.

1. In the Challenge section at the bottom of this page, click the playground name and then click Manage Orgs.
2. In the Hands-On Orgs page, click Rename next to your newly connected org.
3. For the Name enter Troubleshooting Org and click Save.
4. Close the Hands-On Orgs page tab or window and return to the badge page.
5. Ensure the Troubleshooting Org is selected and click X to close the Choose a hands-on org pop up window.

Now that you’ve connected to the broken org, time to figure out what makes it broken.

Resources

• Trailhead: Flow Builder Basics 
• Trailhead: Data Security