Understanding and Using Process Deep Cloning

Learning Team

Overview

Processes in Practifi provide the operational backbone for wealth management firms, ensuring that critical workflows like client onboarding, financial planning, and compliance reviews are executed consistently across your organization. Deep Cloning is available for Practifi processes, making it easier and faster for your organization to create new processes. Rather than rebuilding a process from scratch when you need a variation or updated version, Deep Cloning allows you to duplicate an existing process along with all its tasks, stages, outcomes, and actions in just a few clicks.

This article outlines the functionality of Deep Cloning, important considerations, and step-by-step instructions for cloning a process. If you need to create a process from scratch, please consult our Creating Processes article. For more information on process functionality, please consult our Understanding Processes article.

Before You Begin
What Is Deep Cloning?
When to Use Deep Cloning
Considerations
How to Deep Clone a Process

Before You Begin

Before using the Deep Clone feature, ensure you have:

System Administrator permissions in Practifi
Access to the Settings app in Practifi
Identified the existing process you want to clone
Confirmed that all required fields on the Process Tasks in the original process are populated (such as the Priority field)

What Is Deep Cloning?

Deep Cloning is a feature that allows you to duplicate an entire Process Type, including all its related Process Tasks, Stages, Outcomes, and Actions, with a single action. The cloned process becomes an independent copy that you can customize without affecting the original.

When you deep clone a process, Practifi automatically creates a new Process Type record with a unique identifier, preserving all structural elements and configurations from the original. This saves significant time compared to manually recreating each task, stage, and action from scratch.

When to Use Deep Cloning

Deep Cloning is most valuable when you have identified an existing process that closely matches your needs but requires specific adjustments. Common scenarios include:

Creating seasonal variations of an existing workflow (such as year-end review processes)
Adapting a process for different client segments or service tiers
Issuing updated versions of a process to reflect new compliance requirements or best practices
Building similar processes for different teams or business units

When no existing process serves as a suitable starting point, you may want to build a new process from scratch using the standard process creation tools. Alternatively, if your organization has access to the Practifi Intelligence suite add-on, the Smart Process Builder in Admin Intelligence can help you convert plain-English descriptions into complete workflows, reducing the time and technical expertise required to design new processes. Read the Understanding and Using Smart Process Builder article to learn more.

Considerations

Naming and Identification
- The cloned Process Type retains the same name as the original Process Type, but will have a new Code in the following format: <Initial letters of each word in the Process Type Name> - <incremental number>.
- For example, if you clone the standard Investment Plan Creation process type, the clone’s Code will be IPC-1, or IPC-2 if the first one already exists, and so on. You can rename the cloned process after creation if needed.
Page Layout Requirements
- The Deep Clone action has been added to the Practifi - Process Type Record Page as a part of this feature. If your firm has customized this page, you will need to add the action manually. You can use the default page as a point of comparison; it’s still available in the Lightning App Builder section of Salesforce Setup.
Locked Process Types
- Locked Process Types within your Practifi organization can be Deep Cloned, as this action creates a new process rather than editing the locked Process Type.
Required Field Validation
- The Deep Clone action can fail if required fields on the underlying Process Tasks are not populated (such as the Priority field). If you see an error message that says, "An unhandled fault has occurred in this flow," confirm that the required fields on the Process Tasks have valid values rather than None.

How to Deep Clone a Process

Follow these steps to create a copy of an existing process:

Click the App Launcher in the left-hand corner and enter Settings into the search bar.
Select the Settings app from the drop-down menu.
Use the caret button next to the Navigation menu to select the Process Types option.
Select the Process Name of the Process Type you would like to Deep Clone.
On the Process Type Overview page, click the Deep Clone button located in the upper right-hand corner.
Click Next on the Deep Clone pop-up to continue with the Deep Clone process.
Click Finish on the success pop-up message to finalize the cloned Process Type creation.
Before making changes, reselect Process Types from the Navigation menu and locate the cloned Process Type. Select the Process Name of the cloned process from this list.