Linking Records to a Parent Through a Child

This post is going to show you how to add a child record to a parent record. This can be used in cases where a user only has access to the child app, so they are unable to go to the parent to create a record or go to the parent to link it manually.

First Step is to create a field (Field types should match) in both parent and child apps which will share the same unique value, i.e a Project Code or ID. This needs to be a value that will only be used once in a record on the parent app. This is so that when you create a record in the child app it will only look for one record to link to. 

Tip – Make these fields required so there is less room for human error

Parent:

Child:

Once this is done you can then move on to creating the workflow that will link them, this workflow needs to be created in the child app, the event I have chosen is on record create so it links as soon as the record is saved. Next the action needs is to update record, then the result is to Link To Parent Record and the trigger app is the parent app it is linked to. After this you need to add a filter for it to only add the record to the parent record that shares the same value in Project Code. Then save this and test if it has worked

Tip – To lessen the possibility of user error, in the child, having a look up to the parent so the user can select the project they want to pull down the value from the Project code to Project code in the child will reduce the chance of getting the code wrong, the only issue with this is they will have visibility to the projects