AlertFlow: Build a Configurable Notification Banner System for Salesforce

Introduction

Have you ever faced a situation where your sales team accidentally worked on a sanctioned account? Or maybe they didn’t notice that a customer account was on credit hold or any other criterea.

These problems happen because Salesforce doesn’t show important warnings on record pages by default. Yes, the information is there in the fields, but users often miss it.

In this article, I’ll show you how to build a configurable notification banner system that displays alerts on any record page. The best part? No code changes needed to create new alerts!

📦 I want this

What Problems Does This Solution Solve?

Let me share some real situations where this solution helps:

Problem 1: Users Miss Critical Information

The Situation: Your Account has a field called IsSanctioned__c set to true. But your sales rep doesn’t notice it because they’re focused on the Opportunity.

The Risk: The rep might quote a deal or send a proposal to a sanctioned entity — a serious compliance violation.

Our Solution: A bright red banner appears at the bottom of the page saying “This account is under sanctions. Contact Compliance Team before proceeding.”

The above scenario is just an example there can be other scenario where you need to show the notification message.

Problem 2: Child Records Don’t Show Parent Warnings

The Situation: You’re viewing a Contact or Opportunity, but you don’t see that the parent Account is on credit hold.

The Risk: Users make decisions without knowing the full picture.

Our Solution: When you enable “Show On Children”, the notification automatically appears on all related records — Contacts, Opportunities, Cases, and more.

Problem 3: Creating Alerts Requires Developers

The Situation: The business team wants to add a new warning for high-value opportunities over $1 million.

The Traditional Way: Create a ticket, wait for developer, write LWC code, test, deploy. This takes days or weeks.

Our Solution: An admin creates a new Custom Metadata record in 2 minutes. No code. No deployment. Instant alert.

Problem 4: No Standard Way to Show Temporary Announcements

The Situation: There’s a system maintenance scheduled for next week. You want to warn everyone, but only for 3 days.

Our Solution: Set a Start Date and End Date on your notification rule. The alert automatically appears and disappears on schedule.

How the Solution Works

The AlertFlow system has three main parts:

1. Custom Metadata Types (Configuration)

We use two Custom Metadata Types to store all the configuration:

Notification Rule — Defines WHAT message to show and WHEN to show it
Object Config — Defines parent-child relationships between objects

2. Apex Service Layer

The <strong>NotificationService</strong> class does the heavy lifting:

Fetches active rules
Evaluates conditions (field equals value, greater than, contains, etc.)
Handles hierarchical lookups (Account → Contact)
Processes merge fields like {!Account.Name}

3. Lightning Web Component

The <strong>notificationBanner</strong> component:

Lives in the Utility Bar
Injects banners into the page DOM
Supports SLDS icons
Allows users to dismiss notifications

Features at a Glance

Feature Description

🔔 Configurable Rules	Create alerts using point-and-click configuration
🏗️ Hierarchical Notifications	Parent alerts show on child records automatically
🎨 Severity-Based Styling	Error (red), Warning (orange), Info (blue), Success (green)
🔗 Action Links	Add “Learn More” or policy URLs to notifications
⏰ Date-Based Scheduling	Set start and end dates for temporary alerts
❌ Dismissible	Users can close notifications for the current session
📝 Merge Fields	Dynamic messages using `{!Account.Name}` syntax
🎯 Record-Specific	Target a specific record ID instead of field conditions

Install the Package

Installing AlertFlow takes less than 5 minutes.

Step 1: Click Install Link

Production/Developer Edition:

https://login.salesforce.com/packaging/installPackage.apexp?p0=04tJ4000000Pce6

Sandbox:

https://test.salesforce.com/packaging/installPackage.apexp?p0=04tJ4000000Pce6

Step 2: Select Install Options

Choose Install for All Users (recommended)
Click Install
Wait for the confirmation email

Step 3: Add to Utility Bar

Go to Setup → App Manager
Edit your Lightning App (e.g., Sales)
Click Utility Items (Desktop Only) on the left
Click Add Utility Item → Select Notification Banner
Set Panel Height = 1
Check ✅ Start automatically
Click Save

That’s it! The component is now active.

Result

Org-Wide Notification

Sanctioned Account Scenario

Related child record (Opportunity)

Configuration Guide

Understanding Notification Types

Type When to Use Example

Hierarchical	Show on parent AND child records	Sanctioned Account alert on Account, Contact, Opportunity
Record_Condition	Show only on matching records	High-value Opportunity alert when Amount > $1M
Org_Wide	Show everywhere	System maintenance announcement

Creating Your First Rule

Let’s create an alert for sanctioned accounts.

Go to Setup → Custom Metadata Types
Click Notification Rule → Manage Records
Click New
Fill in:

Field Value

Label	Sanctioned Account Alert
Message Title	⚠️ Sanctioned Account
Message Body	`{!Account.Name}` is under sanctions. Contact Compliance Team.
Severity	Error
Icon	`utility:ban`
Notification Type	Hierarchical
Target Object	Account
Condition Field	IsSanctioned__c
Condition Operator	Equals
Condition Value	true
Show On Children	✅
Dismissible	✅
Active	✅

Click Save

Testing Your Rule

Open an Account record where IsSanctioned__c = true
You should see a red banner at the bottom of the page
Open a related Contact — the same banner should appear!

Advanced Configuration

Targeting a Specific Record

Sometimes you want to show an alert for just one specific account — not based on a field value.

Use the Target Record ID field:

Field Value

Target Record ID	`001xx00001234ABC`
Condition Field	(leave blank)

Now the notification shows only for that one account.

Using Merge Fields

Make your messages dynamic using merge field syntax:

Syntax What It Shows

`{!Account.Name}`	The Account’s Name
`{!Account.Owner.Name}`	The Account Owner’s Name
`{!Opportunity.Amount}`	The Opportunity Amount

Example Message:

{!Account.Name} has been flagged for review. Contact {!Account.Owner.Name} for details.

Adding Action Links

Add a URL that users can click:

Field Value

Link URL	`https://company.sharepoint.com/policies/sanctions`
Link Label	View Policy

This adds a clickable “View Policy” link to your notification.

Using SLDS Icons

The Icon field accepts Salesforce Lightning Design System icon names.

Format: category:name

Popular icons:

utility:warning — Warning triangle
utility:error — Error/stop sign
utility:info — Information circle
utility:ban — Prohibited/banned
utility:priority — Priority flag
action:announcement — Announcement

Browse all icons at: Lightning Design System Icons

Object Configuration

For hierarchical notifications to work on child objects, you need Object Config records.

Pre-Configured Objects

The package includes these configurations:

Object Parent Object Lookup Field

Contact	Account	AccountId
Opportunity	Account	AccountId
Case	Account	AccountId
Lead	(none)	(none)

Adding a Custom Object

If you have a custom object related to Account:

Go to Custom Metadata Types → Notification Object Config → Manage Records
Click New
Fill in:

Field Value

Label	Custom Object Name
Object API Name	`CustomObject__c`
Is Parent Object	(unchecked)
Parent Object API Name	Account
Parent Lookup Field	`Account__c`
Is Active	✅

Now Account notifications will appear on your custom object records!

Custom Metadata Field Reference

Notification Rule Fields

Field Type Description

Message_Title__c	Text (255)	Banner title. Supports merge fields.
Message_Body__c	Long Text	Banner message. Supports merge fields.
Severity__c	Picklist	Info, Warning, Error, Success
Icon__c	Text (50)	SLDS icon name (e.g., `utility:warning`)
Notification_Type__c	Picklist	Org_Wide, Record_Condition, Hierarchical
Target_Object__c	Text (80)	Object API name (e.g., Account)
Target_Record_Id__c	Text (18)	Specific record ID (optional)
Condition_Field__c	Text (80)	Field to evaluate
Condition_Operator__c	Picklist	Equals, Not_Equals, Contains, etc.
Condition_Value__c	Text (255)	Value to compare
Show_On_Children__c	Checkbox	Show on related child records
Link_URL__c	URL	Action link URL
Link_Label__c	Text (80)	Action link text
Priority__c	Number	Display order (lower = higher)
Dismissible__c	Checkbox	Allow users to dismiss
Start_Date__c	DateTime	When rule becomes active
End_Date__c	DateTime	When rule expires
Active__c	Checkbox	Enable/disable rule

Object Config Fields

Field Type Description

Object_API_Name__c	Text (80)	Object API name
Is_Parent_Object__c	Checkbox	Is this a parent object?
Parent_Object_API_Name__c	Text (80)	Parent object API name
Parent_Lookup_Field__c	Text (80)	Lookup field to parent
Is_Active__c	Checkbox	Enable/disable config

Troubleshooting

Notification Not Showing?

Check This How to Fix

Active = false	Enable the rule by checking Active__c
Start/End Date	Make sure current date is within range
Condition doesn’t match	Verify the field value matches
Utility Bar not set up	Add component to Utility Bar and enable “Start automatically”

Icon Not Displaying?

Use the SLDS format: utility:warning (not emoji like ⚠️)

Browse valid icons at: lightningdesignsystem.com/icons

Not Showing on Child Records?

Check Show On Children is enabled on the rule
Check Object Config exists for the child object
Verify the lookup field is correct

Conclusion

The AlertFlow notification system gives you a powerful, flexible way to display contextual alerts in Salesforce — without writing code for each new scenario.

Key Benefits: