© 2024 Talia R
taliaren0826@gmail.com
Timeline:
Aug-Dec 2024
Team:
IU HCI/d Team
Salesforce Automation Team
My Role:
Ideation
User Interview
User Story
Competitive Analysis
Lo-Fi & Hi-Fi Prototyping
Proof of Concept
Tools:
Figma
FigJam
Whiteboard
Whimsical
© 2025 Talia R
taliaren0826@gmail.com
IDEATION & CONCEPT
We brainstormed and sketched out ideas for addressing the four key challenges we uncovered. After discussions with product managers from Salesforce automation team, we tried to narrow down our focus, considering factors like business implication, technical feasibility, time limitation, and the balance between effort and impact. Through this process, we chose to focus on developing visual aids to facilitate collaboration between admins and clients, as well as enhancing admin-to-admin collaboration through improved documentation features.
How did we decide which one was worth pursuing?
Digging deeper into this problem
Re-understanding flows + Repetitive Visualization
Re-understanding flows + Repetitive Visualization + Multichannel Communication
Discovery board
Documentation dashboard
Whiteboard
Version control
Integrated communication channel
Locked sub-flow
Edit history
Flow recording
Text-based flow
Simple diagram
Real-time sync
Admin activity board
Technical feasibility
Time limitation
Effort-impact balance
Business implication
[ Technically hard and expensive ]
[ Does not provide unique value ]
[ Does not benefit large groups of people ]
[ Users not used to new changes of flow versions ]
NO collaboration features in Flow Builder
To further understand the current user flow of admins as they use tools like Lucidchart or Miro to manually visualize flows, we conducted follow-up interviews with 3 of the previous participants.
Shares it with clients with preferred mode of communication or via zoom
Recreate a simple version of flow in Lucidchart or similar tool
Salesforce Admin works on an automation workflow in Flow Builder
Current Scenario
Challenges To Design Stratagies
Lack of integrated visualization tools in Salesforce
Admins repeatedly filtering essential information of flow and creating simplified flowcharts for clients from scratch is time consuming and exhausting.
Lucidchart
Miro
Struggles with refreshing memory for complex flows
Admins spend a lot of time taking screenshots of flows and adding descriptions in project management tools or documents for future reference.
Monday.com
M.S. Word
AI-powered simple diagram of flow
AI summary of flow & centralized notes
CONTEXT
Improving collaboration while building automation workflows
In Fall 2024, I worked on a Salesforce-sponsored project aimed at creating a more collaborative experience in building automation workflows. The goal of the project was to optimize the interaction between tools and humans to enhance team productivity.
I designed an AI-powered feature that generates simplified diagrams of automation workflows, facilitating better collaboration and communication between admins and clients.
Automation workflow (hereafter referred to as “flow”) building is the process of creating systems that automatically execute repetitive tasks based on specific triggers. Examples include automatically sending welcome emails to new subscribers, updating customer records with new data, and issuing alerts for upcoming deadlines.
What is Automation Workflow Building?
In Salesforce, admins can automate tasks by building flows using Flow Builder, a visual, point-and-click tool that simplifies the creation of automated processes. With Flow Builder, admins can easily build flows without needing to write any code.
What is Flow Builder?
Who Build Flow & Who Do They Work With?
Building automation workflows requires collaboration among multiple stakeholders to align technical solutions with business goals. Depending on the size of the project, the number and roles of stakeholders may vary.
Co-admins
Project managers
Citizens
IT Teams
Clients - Makes Requests
Admins - Build Flows
PROBLEM
Inconsistent knowledge levels about flows between clients and admins.
Admins wasting considerable time on simplifying flows for clients.
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Obstacles in re-familiarizing or educating new admins about past flows.
Difficulty in tracking information across various communication platforms.
Collaboration is happening, but not in Flow Builder
SOLUTION
The solution is designed to reduce repetitive tasks for admins by allowing them to easily generate AI-powered simplified diagrams, removing the need to manually recreate flows in external tools like Lucidchart or Miro. Admins can also collaborate directly with stakeholders on simple diagrams, significantly streamlining the feedback and communication process.
Designed an AI-powered simple diagram to improve admin-to-client collaboration
The solution has been designed to cater to the needs of both admins and clients
The solution help them easily understand flows and align with the progress of projects.
For Clients:
The solution reduces repetitive tasks and organizes all the feedback from clients.
For Admins:
How did we get there?
FEATURE 1
Generating simple diagram and AI summary instantly
An AI-powered feature that generates simplified diagrams with the click of a button, eliminating the need for repetitive manual creation and making it easier to explain complex flows to stakeholders.
Simple Diagram
Flow: Data-heavy & Complex logic
Simple Diagram: Concise & Understandable
Automatically generates a concise summary of project details, enabling stakeholders to quickly grasp the key content while supporting documentation.
AI Summary
Is AI-powered simple diagram possible?
Proof of concept
We used ChatGPT to validate whether AI could simplify a flow based on its content. It not only provided specific steps to generate the diagram but also offered the code to create it.
FEATURE 2
Tools to edit and annotate the simple diagram
As AI can also make mistakes, admins have complete control to correct the simple diagrams and edit them during meetings for quick feedback and adjustments.
Edit & Annotate
Admins can easily record discussions , making it simpler to track thoughts and changes. Improving the efficiency of the building process.
Notes
FEATURE 3
Sharing, downloading, and commenting for admins and clients
Clients can access a view-only version of the simple diagram tab in browser and the actual workflow remains protected.
Share
Admins can easily export diagrams as part of documentation, ensuring consistency and clarity among team members, especially during onboarding or troubleshooting.
Export
Feedback is collected directly within the tool, minimizing scattered communications across platforms and ensuring that admins receive and address comments in time.
Comment
DISCOVER
At the beginning of the project, we were novices with Flow Builder. We had no idea what the existing user flow is or how stakeholders interacted and collaborated. This lack of understanding raised numerous questions, leaving us facing a steep learning curve. We had much to discover about the platform, its users, and the pain points they had in terms of collaboration.
How did we come to understand a project that we knew nothing about?
Recognizing the complexity of our challenges, we adopted an Agile approach for conducting primary and secondary research to gain a thorough understanding of the platform, analyze current user flow and identify key pain points.
User Interview
Platform Walkthrough
Competitive Analysis
Digital Ethnography
70+
Reddit + Salesforce IdeaExchange posts
6
Semi-structured interviews
What are the key differentiators of Flow Builder compared to other automation tools?
How does the process of building flows currently look like?
Why is current collaboration bad?
Who all would be involved in building the automation workflow?
What are the problems when collaborating?
How do stakeholders collaborate when building automation?
What tools do stakeholders use when collaborating?
RESEARCH FINDING
Stages of Building Automation
Building automation happens over weeks or months. We identified 4 main stages of building automation in Salesforce: Discovery (gathering and analyzing requirements), Building (designing and developing workflows), Testing (validating functionality), and Documenting (creating detailed records of the automation process for future reference). Collaboration between stakeholders happens at each stage, ensuring that the flow aligns with business needs.
Discovery
Building
Testing
Documenting
Client
Admin
UAT Team
Client
Admin
Client
Admin
Admin
Admin
Client
Admin
Admin
Admin
Stakeholders in Building Automation
We summarized several main stakeholders involved in building automation. After assessing the extent of each stakeholder’s involvement in building automation, we chose to focus on admins and clients as our target user groups.
Demand Side
Define the project's requirements and provide feedback and approvals during the project
Clients
Operation Side
In charge of designing and building flows
Admins & Co-admins
Other Roles
(Depending on the project size)
Oversee the overall process of the project
Project managers
Create simple flows like marketing campaigns
Citizens
Provide support for technical issues and facilitate the integration of flows with external systems
IT Teams
KEY CHALLENGES
Multichannel Communication
The use of multiple tools for communication causes scattered information across various platforms.
“Trying to keep track of where information was shared is tough. You might get something in an email, Slack, or project management app, and it’s hard to remember where to find it.”
Client
Admin
Multiple Admin Collaboration
The lack of version control and integrated collaboration features makes it difficult for multiple admins to work on the same flow.
“We have to let each other know when we’ve saved the flow and what the last save was. If he saved his branch and I saved mine later, there would be a conflict.”
Admin
Admin
Re-understanding Flows
When admins revisit a flow after a break or when new admins join the team, they need considerable time to familiarize themselves with the flow.
“Sometimes I’ll have something mostly done, but then I’m waiting weeks for feedback, and when I finally get it, I have to refresh my memory on what I was working on.”
Admin
Admin
Repetitive Visualization
Admins spend a lot of time visualizing flows to make them understandable for clients with no technical knowledge.
“It would took me an hour and a half to do a recorded me walking through the flow step by step of what it did. And it took another couple hours to build a Lucidchart of the simplified version.”
Client
Admin
Based on 6 user interviews and digital ethnography, we developed actionable user stories to frame our findings and used affinity diagramming to synthesize 4 key collaboration challenges, including collaboration among multiple admins and collaboration between admins and clients.
User Stories
ITERATION & FEEDBACK
We reached out to our previous interview participants and conducted 3 rounds of follow-up interviews to gather their feedback. This action was crucial for iterating on our design. We also had the chance to present this project to the Salesforce automation team for strategic feedback.
Color coding
Before
After
Use the same color coding as Flow Builder to enhance consistency
Effectively distinguish different elements
Difficult to understand
Not visually appealing
Tabs
Before
After
Safe editing without affecting the actual flow
Manage multiple simple diagrams easily
Share a particular version with stakeholders
Toggle design conflicts with mental models
Too many simple diagrams on the same canvas
Scattered buttons lead to navigational inefficiency
“For someone who doesn't know how to read a technical flow, this can feel less intimidating and more accessible”
-- Salesforce Consultant
-- Senior Director of UX, Salesforce Flow
“Everything that we are working on and as being reviewed with our decision makers is all focused on AI”
-- Salesforce Architect
“Being able to have something like this that I could export and show my clients the high level would be helpful”
FUTURE SCOPE
Exploring the idea of enabling admins to generate diagrams with varying levels of detail, from simple to comprehensive for different stakeholders.
01
Exploring different layouts for simple diagrams, like vertical, as it aligns with the current flow builder design.
02
MY TAKEAWAYS
Collaboration
Ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard and keeping all team members on the same page are key to effective collaboration.
Making Decision
Time and research are always limited. Instead of trying to solve every problem, focusing on the most impactful solutions that bring the greatest value to users.
Be Flexible
Things rarely go exactly as planned, and that's perfectly fine. Embracing change and seeing it as a chance to grow.