Validation Rules for Account Contact Relationships

When a contact with a related account is created, a direct Account Contact Relationship record is also created. Similarly, when a contact gets a new primary account, the current direct Account Contact Relationship record is modified. Validation rules for the Account Contact Relationship are run immediately after the contact is saved to the database.

Because the Account Contact Relationship records are created behind the scenes and users can’t access the Account Contact Relationship fields when creating or editing a contact, validation rules can block the contact from being saved.

For example, the following Account Contact Relationship validation rule requires a value for the Roles field.

ISNULL(Roles)

However, a user can’t access the Roles field on the Account Contact Relationship object when creating or editing the contact. Therefore, the criteria in the validation rule can’t be met, and the contact can’t be saved.

To bypass the validation rule when a direct Account Contact Relationship is created, add the following syntax to your Account Contact Relationship validation rule.

(NOT (ISNEW() && IsDirect)) && (NOT ISCHANGED(IsDirect))

Now, the Account Contact Relationship validation rule states that the Roles field is required only if the Account Contact Relationship isn’t a direct relationship.

(NOT (ISNEW() && IsDirect)) && (NOT ISCHANGED(IsDirect))
&&
ISNULL(Roles)