Salesforce’s Spring ‘18 Release has way too much cool stuff to cover in one blog post. Lots of good things happening that are going to make Salesforce admin, devs, and users’ lives easier.
For starters, all those Lightning updates! We’re over here nerding out about each and every change Salesforce is doing to make Lightning better. Here are a few of our favorites!
Lightning Components as screens in a flow
Lightning Components can now be included as screens in a flow, allowing you to customize the user interface to fit your needs exactly. With the cloud flow designer, you can customize to some extent, but the Lightning Components update in the Spring ‘18 Release makes the sky the limit in customization possibilities. All you need is the lighting:availableForFlowScreens interface and a corresponding design resource, and you’re good to go!
Flow Stages (beta)
Like Paths in the Lightning UI, Flow Stages allows you to associate screens in a flow with certain stages in a process. This helps demonstrate to users what step they are at in a process. For example, in a three-step process for a health insurer call center, you can define the stages and assign specific screens within the flow to each stage.
Then by including a lightning component to show progress, users can more easily see where they are. In this use case, if the first step is to verify caller information, the next step is to confirm details about the caller’s primary physician and mailing address, and the final step is to gather information about the question or issue the caller has (and hopefully resolve the issue), agents can view which stage they are at as well as prepare for the next stage. Note: this feature is in Beta for Spring ’18
Upload files through a flow
When you include the forceContent:fileUpload Lightning Component, users can now upload a file through a flow. Use cases for this feature can range from expense tracking to self-service customer communities. Users can log an expense by uploading a receipt file. In self-service communities, users uploading a screenshot of an error when they create a case.
Launch a flow from an object-specific Quick Action
With the Spring ‘18 Release, you can now call Flows from object-specific quick actions, a particularly useful new feature. This works well when you will only need the flow sometimes – not every time – when you interact with a record. Instead of including a Flow on the Lightning Page, you can save valuable screen real estate and call it with a specific action when you need it.
A cool use of this is that it works for flows in the Field Service Lightning mobile app, so you can launch a flow in the FSL app with a couple of quick clicks. Note, though, that the FSL feature of this is in Beta for Spring ’18.
Want to learn more about how updates in the Spring ‘18 Release can streamline your Salesforce organization? Let’s talk.