HOW TO DOCUMENT SALESFORCE AUTOMATIONS.

Documenting Salesforce automations means creating an inventory of the automation in your org — Flows, Apex triggers, validation rules, and approval processes — and recording the object association, active or inactive status, purpose, ownership, risk, and review priority for each one.

Good automation documentation is not just a list. It is a review-ready record that tells you what automation exists, where it runs, whether it is active, who owns it, and which items need attention before cleanup, modernization, or handoff.

WHY SALESFORCE AUTOMATION DOCUMENTATION MATTERS.

Automation is where most change risk lives. When you cannot see what runs on an object, every edit becomes a guess — and the cost of a wrong guess shows up in production.

WHAT SALESFORCE AUTOMATIONS SHOULD BE DOCUMENTED?

Cover every automation type that can affect a record, not just the modern ones. Legacy automation often holds the logic nobody remembers.

WHAT TO DOCUMENT FOR EACH AUTOMATION.

For each automation, capture enough context that someone who did not build it can understand and review it. A name on its own is not documentation.

MANUAL WAYS TO INVENTORY SALESFORCE AUTOMATION.

You can assemble an inventory by hand by working through each automation area in Setup and recording what you find. Expect to move between several screens to cover everything.

WHY MANUAL AUTOMATION INVENTORY GETS MESSY.

A manual inventory is accurate the day you finish it and out of date soon after. The bigger problem is that the signals are scattered and easy to misread.

If you are documenting automation in an org you just took over, pair this with the inherited Salesforce org checklist, and review changes against the automation review before making changes guide.

A FASTER WAY TO INVENTORY SALESFORCE AUTOMATION.

KeelCadence Automation Inventory is a read-only diagnostic that catalogs available Salesforce automation metadata across Flows, Apex classes, Apex triggers, validation rules, and approval processes into a review-ready XLSX workbook. It helps admins review automation before cleanup, modernization, handoff, or governance work.

It documents what exists in available metadata so you can review it with context. It does not make change decisions for you — those still belong to the admins and owners who know the business process.

RELATED GUIDES.

• Salesforce Automation Inventory Guide — how to review available automation metadata across Flows, Apex, triggers, validation rules, and approval processes.
• Salesforce Automation Inventory Tool — what an automation inventory tool should surface before changing anything.
• Automation Inventory — the read-only diagnostic behind this guide.
• What to Do When You Inherit a Salesforce Org — where automation documentation fits in a first-pass org review.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.

What is the best way to inventory Salesforce flows?

Start from the Flows list in Setup to capture Flow type, status, and last modified date, then map each Flow to the object and process it supports. For a complete picture you also need Apex triggers, validation rules, and approval processes, because Flows rarely act alone. The most reliable approach is to pull available automation metadata into one inventory so you can see Flows in context with the rest of the automation on each object.

How do I find all active automations in Salesforce?

There is no single screen that lists every active automation. You need to check Flows, Apex triggers, validation rules, approval processes, and any remaining workflow rules separately, then filter for active status. Because automation is spread across these areas, teams often miss inactive-but-relevant logic or duplicate processes. An automation inventory that catalogs available metadata across all of these areas at once makes active automation far easier to confirm.

What should an automation audit include?

An automation audit should include an inventory of Flows, Apex classes and triggers, validation rules, and approval processes, with the object context, active or inactive status, last modified date, owner, purpose, and a review priority for each item. The point is not just to list automation but to give each item enough context that you can review it before cleanup, modernization, or handoff.

Should inactive automations be documented?

Yes. Inactive automation still matters: it can explain historical data, it can be reactivated by mistake, and it often signals abandoned or duplicated logic worth reviewing. Documenting inactive automation alongside active automation gives you the full history of how an object has been automated over time, which is exactly the context an inherited org tends to be missing.