Automatically share child records using Process Builder and Visual Flow

 

This blog post demonstrates how to automatically share custom child record(s) with a user using Process Builder and Visual Flow. 

Problem

Out-of-the-box Salesforce functionality doesn’t allow child records to be automatically shared when a user accesses its parent record. Without additional custom functionality, child records need to be manually shared with users which would be very time-consuming.

Use Case

A company has one or more child companies (distributors). When a user accesses a parent company record they also want access to its child company records (distributors).

Solution

Process Builder and Visual Flow can be utilized to automatically share child records when a user accesses the parent record.  

Custom object Company contains a self-lookup Distributor which enables a parent/child relationship between a Company parent record and one or more child Company (Distributor) records. 

Custom object Company Sharing is related to Company via a master-detail relationship and stores sharing information. 

To implement our solution, we will carry out the following tasks:

1. Create custom objects.

2. Create Visual Flow Share Company & Distributor Record to User.

3. Create Process Builder Company Share - On Create & Update.

1. Create Custom Objects

1.1 Create a custom object Company to store company information.

Object Name	API Name	Singular  Label	Plural Label	Data Type
Company	Company__c	Company	Companies	Text

1.2 Add the following fields:

Field Name	API Name	Data Type
Company Name	Name	Text
Address	Address__c	Text Area
City	City__c	Text
Country	Country__c	Text
Distributor	Distributor__c	Lookup(Company)
Email	Email__c	Email
Phone	Phone__c	Phone
Postal Code	Postal_Code__c	Text
State	State__c	Text

1.3 Create a custom self-lookup field Distributor on the Company object to store all the child Distributor records. 

Field Name	API Name	Data Type	Description
Distributor	Distributor__c	Lookup	Store child Company record

1.4 Create a custom object Company Sharing to store sharing information.

Object Name	API Name	Singular  Label	Plural Label	Data Type
Company Sharing	Company_Sharing__c	Company Sharing	Company Sharing	Text

Image of object here ->

1.5 Add the following fields to Company Sharing.

Field Name	API Name	Data Type
Access Level	Access_Level__c	Picklist
Company	Company__c	Master-Detail
Company Share ID	Company_Share_ID__c	Auto Number
User	User	Lookup(User)

Image of object here ->

2. Create Visual Flow Share Company & Distributor Record to User

Visual flow Share Company & Distributor Record to User transfers ownership of Company and Distributor record to the user when a Company record is created or updated.

2.1 Start Button default it will appear.

2.2 Create a userId input variable and check the Available for input.

2.3 Create CompanyId variable and check the Available for input

2.4 Create AccessType variable and check the Available for input

2.5 Select Decision element from left side panel if company id not equal to null 

 →   Toolbox →  Element →  Logic →  Decision

2.6 Select Create Record element from left side panel to Share the Company Record to User create the Share: Company object record.

 →  Toolbox →  Element →  Data →  Create Record

2.7 Select Get Records element from the left-side panel to get the list of Distributor record  equal to companyId from the Company object.

 

 →  Toolbox →  Element →  Data →  Create Record

2.8 Select Loop element from the left-side panel to iterate the Distributor record  from the List of Distributors.

 →  Toolbox →  Element →  Logic →  Loop

 →  Create SingleDistributor record variable to store Company record.

2.9 Select Assignment element from the left-side panel to assign the Company Share record to value to Create Company Share Record.

→ Toolbox →  Element- →  Logic →  Assignment

→  Create SingleCompanyShareRecord record variable to store Share: Company record.

2.10 Select Assignment element from the left-side panel to assign the SingleCompanyShareRecord to CollectionCompanyShare variable.

→ Toolbox →  Element →  Logic →  Assignment

→  Create CollectionCompanyShare record variable. 

2.11: Select the Create Record element from the left-side panel to create the bulk of Company Share records using this variable CollectionCompanyShare.

3. Create Process Builder Company Share - On Create & Update

3.1 Create Process builder Company Share - On Create & Update which runs each time a Company Sharing is created or updated. 

→ Select Company Share object

→ When a record is created or edited

3.2  Criteria is defined as: When a Company Sharing record is created or when fields Company__c, User__c and Access_Level__c are changed. 

The criteria is defined by using the following formula:

OR(ISNEW(),
ISCHANGED([Company_Sharing__c].Company__c ),
ISCHANGED([Company_Sharing__c].User__c),
ISCHANGED([Company_Sharing__c].Access_Level__c ))

Step 3:  When the criteria is met, Visual Flow Share Company & Distributor Record to User is called using the following variables:

 

CompanyID  →  Field Reference [Company_Sharing__c].Company__c

UserId          →  Field Reference [Company_Sharing__c].User__c

AccessType →  Field Reference [Company_Sharing__c].Access_Level__c

Conclusion

In our example, Process Builder and Visual Flow creates and updates the Company Sharing object to enable Company and Distributor records to be automatically shared with users, therefore removing the need for records to be manually shared.

When a new Company Sharing record is created, users automatically gain access to all the Distributor records.

This solution satisfies the Use Case by providing a practical way to automatically share child records with users. It demonstrates how Process Builder and Visual Flow can be utilised to create an elegant and powerful solution to manage record sharing.