Automatically Reassign Task Owners

Assigning project tasks to individual team members is a vital step to ensure that every individual has clear visibility into the work that they are responsible for managing. Although it is possible to assign tasks to users manually, automating this functionality could make the process of creating new projects even more seamless.

The instructions in this document will outline a sample configuration for automatically assigning task owners using Flow. The sample configuration will assume a use case where a template is cloned to create a new project and the reassignment of tasks occurs based on criteria from the related Account.

When it comes to templates, one recommended approach is to utilize Salesforce Queues as placeholders for task assignment. The automation in this article will be set up to reassign such tasks to designated team members upon project creation based on the queue placeholder assignment.

Here is a summary of what will be covered in this article:

• Sample Use Case and Configuration Overview
• Flow Configuration
• Flow Testing

Sample Use Case and Configuration Overview

The sample use case that we will be following in this article is for a common customer onboarding scenario. To summarize, the use case will follow the process where a TaskRay Project is created for a new customer to be onboarded and the tasks within the project are all automatically reassigned to applicable team members. More specifically, we will focus on the portion of the automation that is responsible for task reassignment.

Details below.

Sample Use Case and Goal

Goal

Automatically reassign tasks on a newly created project. Task assignments should be based on values defined on the Account and Opportunity records related to the new project.

Use Case Details

• A new customer is purchasing some product licenses. 
  • An Account record is created for the new customer.
  • An Opportunity record (related to the customer's Account) is created to track the details of the sale of product licenses for the new customer. 
• When the Opportunity record is marked Closed Won, a TaskRay Project is automatically created to track the onboarding process for the new customer.
  • The new TaskRay Project is created by cloning a template.
  • The new TaskRay Project is related to the customer's Account and Opportunity records.
• The new TaskRay Project contains tasks that should be managed by a Customer Success Manager and by an Implementation Manager. 
  
  • The Customer Success Manager is set as the Owner of the related Account.
  • The Implementation Manager is specified in the Implementation Manager custom field on the related Account.
  • Tasks should be reassigned to the applicable users automatically.
  • Placeholder task assignments are defined on the template that is used to create the new project.

This article will outline the specifics pertaining to the automation that reassigns the tasks.

Sample Template Configuration

• The template is set up to have tasks assigned to queues, which are used as placeholders. In this case, there are two main placeholders/queues used:
  • Customer Success Manager tasks 
  • Implementation tasks
• For reference: Intro to Templates.

Automation Overview

• Prior to task reassignment: an automation is set up to clone the template and create the Onboarding TaskRay Project. The automation also establishes the relationship between the new TaskRay Project and the customer's Account and Opportunity records.
  
  Important! For the purpose of this document, the details for the portion of the automation that is responsible for creating the project will not be outlined. This document will outline the piece of the automation that starts at the point right after the project is created. The piece of the automation for creating the project could be set up in any way necessary for the specific use case (for example: a project can be cloned or stitched together leading up to task reassignment).
• This article will outline the automation to reassign the tasks once the project is created as follows:
  • Customer Success Manager tasks will be assigned to the Owner of the related Account record
  • Implementation tasks will be assigned to the user specified in the Implementation Manager custom field on the related Account
  • This portion of the automation will be set up to be triggered from the Clone Operation Complete checkbox on the project (more details below). 

Clone Operation Complete

Clone Operation Complete is a checkbox on the TaskRay Project object. This checkbox is set to false on projects that are created from scratch, but it is updated to true on projects that are created by way of cloning templates. This checkbox can be used to help with the order of operations in custom automations, as well as to trigger automations from the TaskRay Project object.

The automation outlined in this document will use the Clone Operation Complete checkbox to trigger the task reassignment portion of the automation.

Flow Configuration [Admin]

The following section will outline the steps for configuring the flow for this process. Below is a sample configuration of the flow:

Follow the steps in the sections below to configure the Flow.

Step 1: Create New Flow

1. From Setup, navigate to Process Automation | Flows.
2. Click on the New Flow button.
3. In the New Flow modal, select the Record-Triggered Flow option.
4. Click on Create.

Step 2: Configure Start and Entry Conditions

This step is to define the specific criteria that will be used to trigger the task reassignment automation. 

1. In the Configure Start modal, click into the Object field and search for TaskRay Project.
2. For Trigger the Flow When select A record is created or updated.
3. In the Set Entry Conditions section, for Condition Requirements select All Conditions Are Met (AND).
4. For the first condition, set the following:
   • Field = TASKRAY__trCloneOperationComplete__c (Clone Operation Complete)
   • Operator = Equals
   • Value = {!$GlobalConstant.True}
5. Add another condition by clicking on the + Add Condition button and set the following:
   • Field = TASKRAY__trAccount__c (Account)
   • Operator = Is Null
   • Value = {!$GlobalConstant.False}
     
6. For When to Run the Flow for Updated Records select Only when a record is updated to meet the condition requirements.
7. For Optimize the Flow For select Actions and Related Records.
8. Click Done.

Step 3: Identify / Get Queues Used as Placeholders for Task Assignment

The next step of the process is to capture the Queues that were used as placeholders for task assignment in the project template. This is necessary to determine the tasks that should be reassigned, as well as how they should be reassigned, in the newly cloned projects.

In the sample use case, there are two queues that are used as placeholders on the template: Customer Success Manager and Implementation. For this purpose, there will need to be two separate Get Records elements in the Flow to capture each of the queues.

As you work on building out the Flow in your org, keep in mind that queues could vary depending on the use case and requirements.

1. On the Flow canvas, click on the Plus / Add Element icon below the Start element.
2. Select the Get Records element.
3. In the New Get Records modal, enter the Label (e.g. "Get Customer Success Manager Queue") and API Name.
4. Under Get Records of This Object, click into the Object field and select Group.
5. In the Filter Group Records section, for Condition Requirements select All Conditions Are Met (AND).
6.  For the first condition, set the following:
   • Field = Type
   • Operator = Equals
   • Value = Queue
7. Add another condition by clicking on the + Add Condition button and set the following:
   • Field = Developer Name
   • Operator = Equals
   • Value = Customer_Success_Manager (name of the queue)
     Note: The Value for this condition will vary depending on the name of the queue. It is also necessary to provide the Developer Name of the queue (rather than the label). To find the Developer Name of the queue, navigate to Salesforce Setup > Queues. In the list of queues, the Developer Name will be listed in the Queue Name field/column.
     
     
8. In the Sort Group Records section, set the following:
   • Sort Order = Not Sorted
   • How Many Records to Store = Only the first record
   • How To Store Record Data = Automatically Store All Fields
9. Click Done.

Repeat the steps 1-9 in this section for any additional Queues used (you will need separate Get Records elements for each queue). For the sample use case, another Get Records element should be created to capture the Implementation Queue.

Step 4: Update Task Owners

The final portion of the Flow is to update the task owners based on queue assignment. 

In the sample use case, tasks are assigned to the following placeholders on the template: Customer Success Manager and Implementation. Then, the tasks should get reassigned as follows:

• Customer Success Manager tasks will be assigned to the Owner of the related Account record
• Implementation tasks will be assigned to the user specified in the Implementation Manager custom field on the related Account

For this purpose, there will need to be two separate Update Records elements in the Flow to reassign each type of tasks accordingly.

Reassign Customer Success Manager Tasks

1. On the Flow canvas, click on the Plus / Add Element icon below the last Get Records element.
2. Select the Update Records element.
3. In the New Update Records modal, enter the Label (e.g. "Reassign Customer Success Manager Tasks") and API Name.
4. Under How to Find Records to Update and Set Their Values, select Specify conditions to identify records, and set fields individually.
5. In the Update Records of This Object Type section, click into the Object field and select TaskRay Task.
6. In the Filter TaskRay Task Records section, for Condition Requirements select All Conditions Are Met (AND) and set the following:
   • Field = OwnerId
   • Operator = Equals
   • Value = Group from Get_Customer_Success_Manager_Queue > Id (Group Id)
7. In the Set Field Values for the TaskRay Task Records section, set the following:
   • Field = OwnerId
   • Value = {!$Record.TASKRAY__trAccount__r.OwnerId} (clickpath: $Record > TASKRAY__trAccount__r > OwnerId)
     Note: This references the Owner of the Account related to the TaskRay Project. With this configuration, any tasks that are assigned to the Customer Success Manager placeholder queue will be reassigned to the user specified as the Owner of the related Account record. 
8. Click Done.

Reassign Implementation Tasks

1. Follow steps 1-5 from the Reassign Customer Success Manager Tasks section above (modify labels accordingly for Implementation).
2. In the Filter TaskRay Task Records section, for Condition Requirements select All Conditions Are Met (AND) and set the following:
   • Field = OwnerId
   • Operator = Equals
   • Value = Group from Get_Implementation_Queue > Id (Group Id)
3. In the Set Field Values for the TaskRay Task Records section, set the following:
   • Field = OwnerId
   • Value = {!$Record.TASKRAY__trAccount__r.Implementation_Manager__c} (clickpath: $Record > TASKRAY__trAccount__r > Implementation_Manager__c)
     Note: This references the Implementation Manager (custom field) on the Account related to the TaskRay Project. With this configuration, any tasks that are assigned to the Implementation placeholder queue will be reassigned to the user specified as the Implementation Manager on the related Account record. 
4. Click Done.

Step 5: Save and Activate the Flow

Now that the Flow is fully configured, it is time to save and activate it.

1. In the top right corner of the Flow canvas, click on the Save button.
2. In the Save the Flow modal, enter the Label (e.g. "Reassign TaskRay Project Tasks") and API Name.
3. Click Save.
4. In the top right corner of the Flow canvas, click on the Activate button.

Flow Testing

As a best practice, it is always a good idea to test custom automations to make sure that they meet requirements and follow expected behavior. Custom automations can be tested using the Debug options in Flow, using sample test records.