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Full Action Plan Template entry
How-to guide

How to create an Action Plan Template

Designing a good template is half the work; entering it in Setup is the other half. The list of Tasks usually starts as a spreadsheet co-owned by RevOps and the team that runs the process.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 19, 2026

Designing a good template is half the work; entering it in Setup is the other half. The list of Tasks usually starts as a spreadsheet co-owned by RevOps and the team that runs the process.

  1. Open Action Plan Templates

    App Launcher, search for Action Plan Templates, open the list view. The page may sit under a feature-specific app like FSC Admin or Industries Setup.

  2. Create a new template

    Click New. Provide Name, Description, and Target Object. Choose the object the template will be applied to (Account, Opportunity, Case, Financial Account, and so on).

  3. Add Item Templates one by one

    For each Task in the playbook, add an Item Template. Enter Subject, Days Until Due, Priority, Owner Type, and Owner. Order them logically; users will see them in the order entered.

  4. Set Owner Type to a role rather than a person where possible

    Prefer Account Owner or Opportunity Owner over a specific user. Roles survive personnel changes; named users do not. Use named users only for steps that always go to a specialist.

  5. Activate the template and assign permissions

    Mark the template Active. Assign the relevant permission set to every user who will create plans from it. Test by applying the template against a sandbox record before going live.

Namerequired

Human-readable template name. Appears in the picker when applying a plan.

Target Objectrequired

The single object the template can be applied to.

Activerequired

Boolean. Only Active templates show in the picker.

Item Templatesrequired

The set of Task definitions that make up the plan.

Days Until Duerequired

Per-item offset from plan start date.

Owner Typerequired

How each Task should be assigned when the plan is created.

Gotchas
  • Templates are scoped to one Target Object. A template for Accounts cannot be applied to Opportunities. Clone per target instead of trying to share.
  • There is no in-place versioning. Cloning is the supported pattern. Old plans keep their original template reference even after you stop using the old template for new plans.
  • Owner Type User with a named person freezes the assignment, regardless of who runs the engagement. Use role-based options unless the step belongs to a specific specialist by design.
  • Inactive templates disappear from pickers but old plans still display their template name. Archiving a template does not retroactively affect history.

See the full Action Plan Template entry

Action Plan Template includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.