Flow Orchestrator vs. Traditional Flows: When to Use Each for Salesforce Automation

Businesses use Salesforce automation to reduce manual work, improve efficiency, and automate repetitive business processes. Two commonly used automation approaches inside Salesforce are Traditional Flows and Flow Orchestrator.

Traditional Flows are mainly used for simple automation tasks such as updating records, sending notifications, creating tasks, and automating business logic. Flow Orchestrator is designed for more advanced processes that involve multiple users, approvals, stages, and coordinated workflow steps.

Both tools are built using Salesforce Flow Builder, but they are used for different levels of process complexity.

This document explains the key differences between Traditional Flows and Flow Orchestrator, including their functionality, use cases, workflow structure, and step-by-step implementation examples for Salesforce services and business automation.

Traditional Flow:

Traditional Flows are standard Salesforce automation tools built in Flow Builder. They are commonly used for updating records, sending notifications, creating tasks, and automating repetitive business logic.

When to Use Traditional Flows

Traditional Flows are best for simple and fast automation processes that do not require multiple users or workflow stages.

Traditional Flow Example

Scenario: When a Technical Case is created with Low Priority, Salesforce automatically creates a task with Subject – Follow up in 2 days

Step 1: Open your Salesforce org. From Setup, enter Flows in the Quick Find box, then click New Flow.

Step 2: From the Flow Builder, select Record-Triggered Flow.

Step 3: Configure the Record-Triggered Flow

1. Choose Object – Case
2. Set Trigger – When a record is created
3. Set Condition – Priority Equals Low

Optimize the Flow For – Actions and Related Records

Step 4: Create Formula Resource for Due Date

1. Create Resource
2. Resource Type – Formula
3. Data Type – Date
4. API Name – DueDateOnly
5. Formula – DATEVALUE({!$Record.CreatedDate}) + 2

Step 5:  Add the Create Records element.

Step 6: Configure Task Creation

1. Label – Create task after case creation
2. Object – Task

Task Field Values:

1. Subject – Follow Up
2. Status – Not Started
3. Related To ID – {!$Record.Id}
4. Due Date Only – {!DueDateOnly}

Step 7: Save the flow

Flow Label- Create Task After Case Creation

Step 8: Activate the flow

Flow Orchestrator:

Flow Orchestrator in Salesforce is an advanced extension of Flow that enables end-to-end automation of complex business processes by coordinating work across multiple users, systems, and flows. It combines Screen Flows, Autolaunched Flows, and   multi-user approval processes into a structured orchestration model, allowing processes to be broken into stages and steps that can run in sequence or in parallel. It supports multi-user workflows with task assignments, conditional branching, and progress tracking, while managing orchestration instances that track the full lifecycle of a business process from start to completion.

When to Use Flow Orchestrator

Scenario: When a Case is created with low priority, a Support Agent reviews it, a Manager verifies the priority, and Salesforce automatically updates the case details (Update the Priority to High).

Step 1: Open your Salesforce org. From Setup, enter Flows in the Quick Find box, then click New Flow.

Step 2: From the Flow builder, search Orchestration, and select Record-Triggered Orchestration.

Step 3: Configure the Record-Triggered Orchestration

1. Choose Object – Case
2. Set Trigger – When a record is created
3. Set Condition – Priority Equals Low

Step 4: Create Agent Review Screen Flow.

Step 5: From Setup, go to Flows, click New Flow, select Screen Flow, then click Create.

Step 6: Add Screen Element.

Step 7: Configure the Screen Flow

1. Label – Review Case Screen
2. Add Display Text – Please review this case

Step 8: Save the flow:

Flow Label – Review Case Flow

Step 9: Activate the flow.

Step 10: Create Manager Verification Screen Flow

Step 11: From Setup in Salesforce, go to Flows, click New Flow, select Screen Flow, and click Create

Step 12: Add Screen Element

Step 13: Configure the screen Flow

1. Label – Manager Verification Screen

2. Add Display Text – Please verify the case priority

Step 14: Save the flow

Flow Label – Manager Verification Flow

Step 15: Activate the flow.

Create Background Update Flow

Step 16:  From Setup in Salesforce, go to Flows, click New Flow, and click Autolaunched Flow (No Trigger)

Step 16.1: Create Input Variable:

1. API Name – recordId
2. Data Type – Text
3. Available for Input – ✔ (Checked)

Beginners may not find this option, so better to update it with the actual name – Autolaunched Flow (No Trigger)

Step 17: Done.

Step 18: Add Update Records:

1. Object: Case
2. Condition Requirement – All Conditions are Met (AND) – Case ID = recordId
3. Set Field Values for the Case Records

• Priority = High

Better Wording:
Priority = High

Also make it a pointer.

Step 19: Save the flow

Flow Label Update Case Priority

Step 20: Activate the flow.

Step 21: Add Stage 1- Record-Triggered Orchestration

Stage Label – Agent Review

Step 21.1: Add an Interactive Step to Stage 1

1. Click Add Step
2. Select Interactive Step

         Configure the Step

1. Step Label – Review Case
2. Condition – When the stage starts, the step starts
3. Action – Review Case Flow
4. Assignee Type – User
5. User – Your User
6. Related Record ID – {!$Record.Id}

Step 22: Add Stage 2- Record-Triggered Orchestration

Stage Label – Manager Review

Step 22.1:  Add Interactive Steps to Stage 2

1. Click Add Step
2. Select Interactive Step

  Configure the Step

1. Step Label – Verify Priority
2. Condition – When the stage starts, the step starts
3. Action – Manager Verification Flow
4. Assignee Type – User
5. User – Your User
6. Related Record ID – {!$Record.Id}

Step 22.2: Add a Background Step to Stage 2

1. Click Add Step
2. Select Background Step

Configure the Background Step

1. Step Label – Update Priority
2. Action – Update Case Priority
3. Input Variable – recordId

Step 23: Save the flow

Flow Label – Case Management Orchestration

Step 24: Activate the flow.

Add the Case Management Orchestration Flow to Page Layout

Step 1:  Go to the Case record, click the Gear Icon (⚙️), and select Edit Page.

Step 2:  In the Lightning App Builder, search for Orchestration Work Guide in the left-side Components panel.

Step 3:  Drag and drop the Orchestration Work Guide component onto the record page.

Better to be replaced with – Orchestration Work Guide

Step 4: Save the Lightning Record Page.

Step 5: Activate the Lightning Record Page and assign it as the Org Default.

Step 6: Click Close and Save the page layout.

Step 7: Back to Lightning App Builder.

Difference Between Flow Orchestrator vs. Traditional Flows in Salesforce

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