Flow basics
Flow is Salesforce's primary automation tool, and modern admins are expected to know it well. It replaced the older Workflow Rules and Process Builder, so time spent learning Flow today is time well invested. You build flows visually in Flow Builder, dragging elements onto a canvas and connecting them into a logical sequence that the platform runs automatically.
There are several flow types for different jobs. A screen flow presents a guided, wizard-like UI to users and can be embedded on pages or launched from a button. A record-triggered flow runs automatically when a record is created, updated, or deleted. A scheduled flow runs on a timetable, and an autolaunched flow is called by other automation or Apex. For most admin work you will spend the majority of your time in screen and record-triggered flows.
Inside any flow you assemble elements. The essentials are: Get Records to query data, Decision to branch on conditions, Assignment to set variable values, Loop to iterate a collection, and the data elements Create, Update, and Delete Records. Data moves through variables and resources that you define and reference across elements.
Two habits will keep your flows maintainable from day one. First, name every element and variable clearly so the canvas reads like a sentence — "Get Related Contacts", not "Get Records 1". Second, add a fault path to any element that can fail, so errors are handled gracefully instead of surfacing as raw platform messages.
As a first build, create a simple screen flow that asks the user for a name and displays a greeting, then activate it and run it from the Flow list. Getting comfortable with the builder itself makes the more powerful record-triggered flows in the next lesson far easier to absorb. Flow is where a huge amount of an admin's value is delivered.
