Salesforce​​ Reports

Or

Is it That Easy?

Part 2

CONTENTS

Salesforce Reports –​​ Getting Outside the Window

Customizing​​ of​​ reports​​ – Think About the Object Model

Salesforce also has a Report-Building and Customizing environment, so that​​ reports can be customized, or​​ new reports can be tailored and/or built from scratch for Project Onward needs.

Salesforce reports are built off of the Object Model. Remembering the object that you want to work with will greatly simplify report customization and building.

Household Giving example

To create a Household Giving​​ report, we look for a close report to modify.​​ By close, we mean one build from the same object.​​ From the Object Model above, we see that Household and Organization are both​​ Account​​ objects.​​ That is, they are both types of the same object.

An easy way to customize a report is to take an existing report and manipulate it.​​ As shown above, since there is already an Organizational Giving report, we will start with this.​​ We can assume that it is built from the​​ Account​​ object – the same as needed for our new Household Giving report.

Before customizing,​​ always​​ SAVE​​ to your “Personal Custom Reports”

We will modify the “Organizational Giving” report (red​​ arrow, above right).​​ Before doing this,​​ we will​​ save the report to the “My Personal Custom Reports” folder​​ (red​​ arrow, above​​ left). This is your own personal folder of customized reports.​​ Only you​​ will​​ see these, and be able to run them.

To do this, first click on the arrow to the left of the report name (red​​ circle, above). Then click on “Edit.”

We are now in the Report Editor view.

As shown above​​ (red​​ circle), the Report Type is​​ Accounts. That is, it is built from the Account object.​​ The left pane shows the Account object and the fields available to us.​​ The report (shown on the right) was built from dragging fields to column heads (as seen in the “Account Name” field).​​ We will look at this further in the following sections.

As noted above, before we do anything, we should Save the report to our Custom Reports Folder. Click the​​ Save As button (red​​ arrow).

A dialog should pop-up, allowing you to name your new report.​​ 

As shown above, give it the name, “Household Giving,” on the top line.​​ 

The second line will be automatically generated. This is a unique name, with no spaces, that Salesforce uses, internally, to refer to the report.

Give as much description as you want.​​ This will show up as gray text, next to your report in the list.

Important: Click the arrow of the bottom line and choose “My Personal Custom Reports” as the folder to save your new report to. Then click the​​ Save​​ button.

Customize your new Household Giving report

If you are still in the screen from the above procedure (as in the above, left), you are already in the screen to start customizing.​​ 

If you start from the list of reports (as in the above right), you can go to the “My Personal Custom Reports” folder and then click on your Household Giving report.

When you first click on a report, you are in the screen to Run the report (not to customize it). As shown above, notice that there is not left-pane for the Account Object fields.​​ To customize the report, click the “Customize” button.

Now, you are back in the Report Customization screen.

As seen above, note that the Customization screen shows the Object and Fields in the left pane.

Change the Report Filtering to show only Household objects

Asdfsad

As seen above, the Organization Giving report that we created this report from, filtered on Organization account objects.​​ We want to filter on Household account objects.

Remove the old filter by putting your mouse over the filter text (red​​ arrow). Then click on the blue Remove link.

Notice that the list of records on the right updates and now includes Account records of all types (Organization and Household).

Add a new filter

As shown above, click the Filter Add button on the top left to add a new filter.

New fields pop-up.​​ Click on the arrow for the field on the left and select​​ Account Record Type​​ from the list of fields (as shown in the​​ red​​ arrow on the left).

Then click on the magnifying glass icon by the field on the right.​​ A Lookup screen pops-up, with the choice of​​ Account Record Types to filter on.​​ Click the box for​​ Household Account​​ record type and click the​​ Insert Selected​​ button.

Check your filter and report properties

As shown above, your new report filter is in the white area on the bottom of the report properties (red​​ arrow, left).​​ Check your filter to make sure it is what you want.​​ As shown, the report will show records whose Account Record Type equals Household Account. (Accounts with Record Type of Organization will not be included.)

Also check your other selection parameters. For most reports, make sure you are showing:

All accounts with a Created Date range from an arbitrarily low date (1/1/2010) to an arbitrarily high date (12/31/2025).​​ (Use the calendar icons if you want to change the dates –​​ red​​ arrows, right).

When everything looks like what you want, click the​​ OK​​ button.

Save your updated report

As shown above, the new filter that you just created shows that the report will include only Households. Make any last checks and/or adjustments.​​ When you are satisfied, click the​​ Save​​ button.

Add a​​ column

Just to make sure I am not picking up any Organization objects, I will add the​​ Account Record Type​​ to the report.​​ 

As shown above, I just find that field in the pane on the left and drag it to the report Column Head bar on the right.​​ While I am dragging the field, the field shows a red-slash icon.​​ When I am at a place on the column-head bar where I can drop it, the icon turns into a green check.

As shown above, now my report has a new column,​​ Account Record Type

Change the sorting

Notice that the above report is ordered alphabetically, by Account Name. What if I want to always show the highest giving amount at the top?

I click once on the​​ Total Gifts​​ column head name, and it sorts with the lowest amount at the top. I click the column name again, and it sorts with the biggest amounts at the top.

Now I can​​ Save​​ the report again, and it will always run with the largest amounts at the top.

Run the report

Remember, what you see is not the report, itself. You need to Run the report.

As shown above, after clicking the​​ Run Report​​ button, your report displays, with the records sorted as you had customized (largest​​ Total Gift​​ amounts at the top).

Print​​ the Report

You can print your report to either a Web Browser, then to a PDF or printer. This gives you a quick way to Save or Print your report.​​ 

Refer to​​ the earlier section​​ in Part 1​​ of this document,​​ 1.2.5 Print or Export.

Export your report to a Spreadsheet

In order to more precisely work with the data in the report, you can export the data to a spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel.​​ 

This is explained in a separate module on the​​ Basics of Excel.