of the
Back in the days when George Doubinski used configuration, he talked about using constants in workflows.However, this is only the tip of the configuration iceberg. Just above our Default Value box we can stack values for insertion into our field.
What does it mean to stack the values and what happens when we do?
When we update a record in a workflow and select a field to update, we see a box like the one on the right. In this scenario, I have selected the Send Email step in the workflow and clicked into the To field on the Form.
By adding a series of values into my Set To box, I create a simple form of branching logic which goes like this:
If the Student/Customer field has a value use this Else If the Reported By field has a value use this Else If the Owning User field has a value use this Else Send it to Leon Tribe
A lot simpler than trying to explicitly set up If-Then statements using Workflow steps.
I do use this to fetch values from the different parent entities or different fields as in your example here. Phone numbers being one of my most common use cases – get mobile phone from Contact, or business phone from Contact, or business phone from Account, etc.
But my favourite “tip on the tip” is to use the current value of the field as the first item in the list. So if the field has a value, stick with that, if not, go fetch from somewhere else. Not always of course – sometimes I don’t trust the current value and want to make sure to overwrite with best data I have, but it is a useful way to avoid the if/then logic and use this “coalesce” method instead.