Order of execution and trigger order
The save order of execution from before-save flows to post-commit email, what each automation can see when it runs, how roll-ups pull parents into the same save, what a recursive save skips, and how trigger order values sequence record-triggered flows.
Understand the implications of the order of execution when using automation tools.
~8 min read · 11 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Place before-save flows, before triggers, validation, duplicate rules, after triggers, assignment, auto-response, workflow and escalation rules, after-save flows, entitlement rules, roll-ups, sharing, commit and post-commit work in order, and predict what each one sees.
- Explain why a later automation's value wins, why a rule misses a value set after save, and why email is lost when a save rolls back.
- Explain what a workflow field update and a recursive save re-run or skip, and how roll-ups put parent records through the save.
- Sequence record-triggered flows with trigger order values, and know what those values cannot change.
Key terms: order of execution (the fixed sequence of events Salesforce runs when a record is saved); save procedure (that sequence run for one record, including a parent updated by a roll-up); recursive save (a second save of the same record in the transaction); trigger order (a 1-2,000 value that sequences flows with the same trigger on one object); post-commit logic (work that starts only after commit, such as sending email).
Key facts
- Detail
- Run immediately before Apex before triggers
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- Run after custom validation, before the record is saved
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- Run after after triggers and before after-save flows
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- Run after after-save flows
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- Re-runs system validation, not custom validation; update triggers fire once more
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- Goes through its own save procedure in the same transaction
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- Skips steps 9 (assignment rules) through 17 (grandparent roll-up)
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- Sent post-commit only
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- 1-2,000; equal values run alphabetically by API name
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- Order not guaranteed
- Why does a duplicate rule compare values that a before-save flow cleaned up?
- When do flows without a trigger order value run?
- Why can inserting one detail record run the parent record's update flow?
- Which steps does a recursive save skip?
- What does a roll-up mass recalculation not trigger?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Platform Administrator II pack
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- All 29 lessons of the Platform Administrator II guide, with reading progress
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