Validation Rules
Overview
Validation Rules are a type of criteria in Salesforce that allows organizations and Admins to define specific requirements and error messages at the individual record level in Salesforce. They can help further require fields or values that you aren’t able to enforce through dynamic pages or page layouts.
How Are Validation Rules Used?
Rules are defined at an Object level, they apply to individual records and are checked upon save. Validation rule criteria is defined in a failure context, meaning you write the criteria to evaluate to True, when the record SHOULD fail. With the rule you can also define the error message alerting the user to the reason for the failure.
Rules can reference field values, lookup values, user values, profile values, role values, permission values and more to define criteria.
What is the Benefit?
Error Prevention
Validation Rules allow admins to define specific scenarios in which records should not be allowed to be created/edited. In doing so, you help ensure data integrity and that business processes are followed as they should be.
User Experience
Validation Rules give insight in real time as to why an action can’t be performed against a record. They help to ensure processes are always followed and ensure that role specific actions/requirements don’t impact other roles.
Who is Impacted?
End Users
These rules act as a safeguard against violating standard business practices.
Salesforce Administrators
Administrators can ensure their customers needs are met, building out the validation rules and error messages as requested from their client.