Process Automation and Logic
The automation stack
Know the modern tools and the legacy ones the exam still references: Flow (record-triggered, screen, autolaunched, scheduled), validation rules, approval processes with submission and escalation actions, plus Workflow Rules and Process Builder. Record-triggered flows run either before save (fast field updates on the triggering record, no extra DML) or after save (create and update related records, call Apex, send notifications).
Order of execution
System validation, then before-save flows and before triggers, then duplicate rules, then the record saves, then after-save flows and after triggers, then rollup summaries, workflow rules, escalation, processes, and finally commit. Each stage can change data and re-fire rules, which is exactly what recursion questions test.
Traps
- Assuming a before-save flow can update a different record; it cannot.
- Forgetting validation rules fire before before-save automation, so a flow cannot repair bad input first.
- Building a field update that re-triggers its own rule indefinitely.
- Confusing entry conditions (should the flow run at all) with decision elements (which path inside).
- Placing SOQL, DML, or update elements inside a loop and hitting governor limits.
- Forgetting that when two automations write the same field, the last one to run wins.
Rule of thumb
Build new automation in Flow. Use before-save for same-record field updates, after-save when other records or notifications are involved. If two automations touch the same field, consolidate rather than hope.
Worked example
A validation rule blocks Amount below zero. A before-save flow that tries to reset Amount to zero never runs for a user submitting a negative value, because the save fails at validation first. Solve it with a screen flow or corrected input instead.