Case escalation rules versus assignment or Flow
Key Takeaway
An assignment rule decides who owns a lead or case. An escalation rule decides what happens when a case is still not closed after a set time. Flow is the general-purpose automation tool.
Salesforce has several ways to route and act on cases automatically. Assignment rules, escalation rules and Flow each answer a different question, so you choose the tool by what needs to happen and when.
The question each tool answers
- Assignment rules decide who owns a lead or case that matches their criteria. They pick the owner based on the record's field values.
- Escalation rules decide what happens when a case is still not closed after a set time. They watch the clock and act when a case stays open too long.
- Flow is the general-purpose automation tool. It can start from a record change, a schedule, a button, or other triggers, and it can do much more than change owners or send emails.
Escalation rules act on cases, while assignment rules cover both leads and cases.