ArticlesRetirement: ClickLink

ClickLink

What is Changing?

ClickLink was Certinia's pioneer solution for declarative data movement. However, as Salesforce has matured, Salesforce Flow emerged as the industry standard. By retiring ClickLink, we are empowering customers to use native, high-performance automation that is easier to debug, more flexible, and aligned with the future of the Salesforce platform.

ClickLink was the go-to declarative automation before Salesforce Flow, moving data between different objects (like converting a custom object record record into a Sales Invoice) required complex Apex code historically. ClickLink acted as a "declarative wrapper" for Apex. 

It allowed admins to:

• Map fields between source and destination objects
• Create "ClickLink Rules" and "ClickLink Jobs" to automate record creation
• Avoid writing custom triggers for basic data transformations

Today, Salesforce Flow can do everything ClickLink did—and significantly more—with better performance and a lower learning curve.

Benefits include:

• Real-time Logic: Flow handles complex branching logic (e.g., "If Category A, do X; if Category B, do Y") and much more.
• Native Integration: Because Flow is a core Salesforce feature, it continues to receive major updates. 

ClickLink has not received any major updates for a number of years. Any standard Certinia functionality that historically used ClickLink, has now been migrated to Foundations Messaging natively. For example, the Retirement: Legacy Mode in the PSA - Accounting Connector. 

How Does this Affect Me?

Most organizations today heavily use Salesforce Flow, and for those still using ClickLink, this is a natural progression towards using the latest industry best practice - and cutting edge technology. 

What Steps Do I Need to Take?

1. Navigate to the ClickLink Rules tab and the ClickLink Jobs tab
2. Identify all active ClickLink rules, buttons and ClickLink jobs
3. Document any object mappings currently living in the ClickLink package
   1. This can be done by noting the Source Object and Target Object values
4. Replicate those mappings within Salesforce Flow or migrate to standard Certinia functionality
   1. Common ClickLink Rules with standard Certinia replacements are noted below:
      1. Account to Supplier Site
      2. Journal to Misc Adjustment
      3. Misc Adjustment to Journal
      4. Payable Credit Note to Misc Adjustment
      5. Accrual Transactions
      6. Billing Event to Sales Invoice
      7. Expense Report to Payable Invoice
      8. RPGP to Dimension 1,2,3,4
      9. AP Voucher to Payable Invoice
   2. If using with mappings related to PSA, refer to Retirement: Legacy Mode in the PSA - Accounting Connector
5. Ensure the logic fires correctly under the new Flow architecture or replacement Certinia feature
6. Test the migration thoroughly in a UAT environment

Why is Foundations Messaging not the recommended replacement? 

Although Foundations Messaging still plays a key part of the Certinia architecture, it isn’t the right "universal" successor to ClickLink.

This strategy was determined based on a key factors such as:

• Messaging is for the "Certinia Ecosystem" - it's designed to handle "handshakes" between Certinia products (e.g., PSA to Accounting) and is optimized for Certinia's internal data structures
• Although Messaging can be used for custom object mappings, this is the same scenario ClickLink now presents - in that Flow supersedes the capabilities of Foundations Messaging
• Salesforce Flow over custom messages has the same benefits, high-performance automation that is easier to debug, more flexible, and is aligned with the future of the Salesforce platform

Comparison table for quick Reference:

Where to find further help

For more information on Salesforce Flow, see Flow Builder Basics from Salesforce trailhead.