Salesforce MDAPI Deployment Errors (1) - In Field: name - no WorkflowFieldUpdate named X found (EntitlementProcess)

During deployment of an Entitlement Process we’ve run into a weird issue. In Field: name - no WorkflowFieldUpdate named X found. Issue was weird because field update and field did existed and necessary permissions were given. So what is the problem? Let’s review the sample metadata file for the EntitlementProcess.

I’ve created a sample EntitlementProcess and retrieved it with below package.xml

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
     <types>
          <members>ts test ep</members>
          <members>ts test ep_v2</members>
          <name>EntitlementProcess</name>
      </types>
      <version>48.0</version>
  </Package>

Resulting metadata file is below. Notice that in the Success Actions name is just Thread_Id. When I deployed the package back everything is fine.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<EntitlementProcess xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <SObjectType>Case</SObjectType>
    <active>true</active>
    <description>Test for blog</description>
    <entryStartDateField>Case.CreatedDate</entryStartDateField>
    <exitCriteriaFilterItems>
        <field>Case.IsClosed</field>
        <operation>equals</operation>
        <value>true</value>
    </exitCriteriaFilterItems>
    <exitCriteriaFilterItems>
        <field>Case.Origin</field>
        <operation>equals</operation>
        <value>Phone</value>
    </exitCriteriaFilterItems>
    <isVersionDefault>true</isVersionDefault>
    <milestones>
        <milestoneCriteriaFilterItems>
            <field>Case.Status</field>
            <operation>equals</operation>
            <value>Working</value>
        </milestoneCriteriaFilterItems>
        <milestoneName>TS - First Milestone</milestoneName>
        <minutesToComplete>180</minutesToComplete>
        <successActions>
            <name>Thread_Id</name>
            <type>FieldUpdate</type>
        </successActions>
        <useCriteriaStartTime>false</useCriteriaStartTime>
    </milestones>
    <name>TS Test EP</name>
    <versionMaster>5520J0000004PGM</versionMaster>
    <versionNumber>2</versionNumber>
</EntitlementProcess>

However if you retrieve the EntitlementProcess with the WorkflowFieldUpdate it is referencing, the metadata file is retrieved as below.

<successActions>
    <name>Case.Thread_Id</name>
    <type>FieldUpdate</type>
</successActions>

Notice how name changed from Thread_Id to Case.Thread_Id

And if we try to deploy this package we have the error from the title: In field: name - no WorkflowFieldUpdate named Case.Case.Thread_Id found

I’ve noticed that Case.Case… was not looking right and after checking the sample metadata file from Salesforce documentation I’ve noticed extra sobject name in front of the WorkflowFieldUpdate.

This issue is not documented anywhere except a similar old known issue that was fixed in Spring 14.

Workaround

Workaround to this issue is either deploying WorkflowFieldUpdate separately or changing the file manually by removing the object name in actions part and then deploying that way.