Salesforce​​ Reports

Or

Is it That Easy?

Part 1

CONTENTS

Salesforce Reports –​​ Getting Outside the Window

As seen in the earlier training modules, using​​ Search​​ is a quick way to find information about individuals or groups of individuals.​​ This information is contained on Salesforces screens.​​ 

Like looking through a window, Salesforce screens give you a partial view.

Salesforce Reports​​ get you outside the window.

When you need a complete picture, use Salesforce Reports, not just information from screens.

Objects,​​ Records and Reports

An Object is a grouping of related fields

We have talked about the Salesforce Object Model. Understanding the Object Model helps you avoid confusion over the complexity of details in Salesforce.

As shown above, objects are categories of related information.​​ Each granule of information is defined in a field.​​ The name of the object gives a general idea of the category of information. But looking at the fields contained in an object help you get to know it.

For example: An object called, “Dog” might have the fields:​​ Name,​​ Breed,​​ Sex,​​ Color,​​ Height,​​ Weight.

Objects can be mapped to spreadsheets

The Dog object is like a tab on a spreadsheet  The fields are like Column Heads

A record is an instance of an object

As shown above, an instance of an object has values in the fields. Example: An instance of a Dog object, named Snoopy has values representing a description of Snoopy.

You can have many instances of an Object. For example, one for each dog.

Records​​ can be mapped to​​ rows on a spreadsheet

As shown above, each row is an instance of a Dog object.

An Object, with all its Records, can be represented as a Table, or Spreadsheet.

A Database is made up of multiple, related​​ Tables.

Reports are​​ views of information​​ based on Objects and Records

Information can come from one or more related Tables

Information can be filtered for subsets of information

Information can be summarized from groups of records

We will look at this further in the following sections.

​​ 

Reports​​ – A Whole​​ Store of Perspectives

As you saw in​​ Section 1.5​​ of the “Salesforce Query” training module, Salesforce has hundreds of already-built reports, as well as a number of dashboards that can be used, out of the box. Likewise, many reports have been customized and/or built from scratch for Project Onward.

As shown above, the folders on the left each contain a number of reports pertaining to the category. Because Salesforce is used by companies and organizations of all types, many of the reports do not apply to us. Other categories of reports are used more for Salesforce administration. But​​ the reports that are most useful for Project Onward have been gathered into the “ProjectOnward Reports” folder at the top left​​ (red​​ arrow).​​ Many of these reports have been built from scratch, or customized to get at specific information for Project Onward.

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Run a​​ Report – Giving by Organization Example

Running a report is as easy as finding it and clicking on it.

As pictured above, click on the “ProjectOnward Reports” folder on the left, then on the “Organization Giving” Report on the right.​​ (Note that the gray text tells you that “Giving,” in this report, means all money coming in​​ EXCEPT​​ Art Sales.)

Always​​ Check the​​ Report Options at the​​ Top

For every report, it is important to first check the Report Options (red​​ box, above), and adjust them as needed.

Summarize information​​ by – Leave this as, “—None—,” until you are more proficient with​​ advanced reporting.

Show​​ – Leave this as “All​​ accounts.” At Project Onward, we don’t currently have teams of people working groups of transactions or accounts. If we did, you could use this field to filter the report to a subset of accounts, such as “My accounts.”

Time Frame

For Project Onward reports, you can make sure that your report will include ALL records by using “Created Date,” and setting the​​ Range​​ to arbitrarily low and high dates.​​ For most reports, I use a​​ Custom​​ range on the Created Date field, and set the dates from​​ 1/1/2010​​ to​​ 12/31/2025.

Note that I can filter the report by any combination of these fields.​​ For example, for Opportunities, I might only want to include Opportunities from this Fiscal Year. In that case, I would change the Date Field to “Closed Date” (the date of the transaction), and set the date range from 7/1/2017 to 6/30/2018. We will see this in another example.

What is on the Screen is​​ NOT​​ the Report

What you see on the screen is​​ a​​ representation​​ of​​ the report.

To see the actual Report, you must first “Run” the report, then “Print” or “Export” the report (red​​ arrows, above).

• Click the “Run Report” button.​​ (The screen may or may not change.)

• Click either:

  • The “Printable view” button​​ – To bring-up the actual report in a web browser (from which you can print it).

  • or the “Export Details” button​​ – to export the report to a “.csv” file, which can be brought up in a Spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel.

Sort the information by the column

When you are on the report screen, as above, you can always click on a Column Heading, to sort the information by what is in the column.​​ (Click again, to reverse the order – example: largest to smallest, or smallest to largest.)

For example, as shown above, I clicked on “Total Gifts” (red​​ arrow), and it sorted the records with the smallest amount at the top. I clicked again, and it reversed the order of the records, with the largest amount at the top (as shown above.)

Since I changed the screen, I then click on the “Run Report” button, again. Then on the “Printable View” or “Export Details” button, to see the actual report.

Then Print or Export the Report

After clicking on the “Run Report” button again, I have clicked on the “Printable View” button (as above).​​ The dialog allows me to either open the report in a web browser, or Save it (as an .html file) to a local folder. I chose to Open the report in a web browser.

Now I have a Report​​ 

The complete Report now shows in my Web​​ Browser​​ (as shown above).​​ In​​ this example, it shows the same information as what was on the screen. However,​​ in a situation with lots of records, the Report is complete (whereas the screen may not show everything).

Use File > Print, or File > Save As,​​ in your Web Browser

As shown above, to Print the report, click on “File” in the upper-left of your Web Browser, then click on “Print…”

(Alternatively, to Save the report as an .html file, that can be brought up in a Web Browser, click on “Save Page As…”)

Be careful​​ – It’s best to Print to PDF First

Long reports can use lots of paper. It is better to Print to PDF first!​​ (as described in​​ Section 2.5.3​​ of the​​ “Computer Survival Skills”​​ training module).​​ 

As shown above, you can choose to print to PDF instead of to a printer.​​ (For Windows computers, you may need to first load a PDF utility. See the reference in the above​​ Computer Survival Skills​​ module.​​ On Macs, you may have the “Print to File” option).​​ This allows you to see how many pages will get printed.​​ From your PDF utility, you can​​ then​​ decide to print all the pages, or​​ maybe​​ just some of them​​ to a printer.