☁Reports & Dashboards in Salesforce☁

                               ☁Reports☁


     ☁Salesforce provides powerful reporting and generation tools on the data stored in the              objects.☁

      ☁In reports data displayed is as per running user's security access. ☁

       ☁Reports can be run on both standard and custom objects. ☁

       ☁Reports are stored in folders. Users with access to these folders can run the reports.☁

       ☁ Types of Reports☁

There are three type of reports

•        Tabular report : This is the most basic report. It displays just the row of records in a table like format with grand total. Tabular reports cannot be used for generating dashboards.

•        Summary report:- This is the most commonly type of report. It allows grouping of rows of data. It supports sorting and displaying subtotals. For example in a recruiting app, a summary report could be used to display open positions classified by department name.

•         Matrix report:- This is the most complex report format. Matrix report summarize information in a grid format. Matrix reports allows records to be grouped by both columns and rows.

  1. Summary and Matrix reports can be used to generate dashboards.

    2. Reports present in public folders can be emailed to Salesforce users.

    3. Report display up to 2000 rows of data. Larger reports can be emailed to Excel.

☁Reports provide two options of exporting data into Excel.☁

     Printable View - Export report with formatting into Excel

      Export Details - Export raw data

   ☁Report generation☁

Generation of reports requires following steps.

 ☁ Selection of object☁

☁ Selection of report type☁

☁ Select type of information to be displayed (example count, average)☁

☁For summary and matrix reports, specify how fields should be grouped.☁

☁Select columns on the report☁

☁Select column order on the report☁

☁Specify filtering criteria which should be used to select  records ☁

               ☁Report Type☁

There are two type of Reports:

        ☁Standard Report type☁

•         Created when a object is created
•          Created when relationships between objects are created
•          Always inner joins
•          Cannot be modified.

       ☁Custom Report type☁

•            Created by Admin or users with “Manager Custom Report  types”.
•          Used to streamline the reporting process.

                           ☁Dashboards☁

☁Dashboards are graphical representation of reports. Dashboards can be generate for summary or matrix reports (and not for tabular reports). Dashboards display data as per last time report was run.☁

  A Dashboard can have up to 20 components.

   There are five type of dashboards

   Chart: Used for comparisons

   Table: Good for showing top five, bottom five lists.

   Gauge: Used to show progress towards a goal

   Metric: Shows a single number

   Visual Force page: used to pull data from other sources.

There are six type of charts

v        Vertical column

v        Horizontal bar

v        Line

v        Donut

v        Funnel

v        Pie

☁Vertical column☁

☁Horizontal Bar☁

☁Line☁

☁Donut☁

•  Donut is used to demonstrate proportion of single value against total  

   and also  show the total value.

☁Funnel☁

•  Funnel is used to show proportion of values against each other.

☁Pie☁

•  Pie is used to demonstrate proportion of single value against total.

☁The folder in which dashboards are stored determines which user has access to running the dashboard. The dashboard data is based upon the reports data.☁
☁When a user views the drill-down report for a dashboard component. running user's access permissions determine what data is displayed on the drilldown report. ☁
☁Hence it is possible that the data in the drill down report does not match the cumulative dashboard data.☁
☁Dashboard also support automatic refresh and email. The refresh and email can also be scheduled at intervals - daily, weekly, monthly.☁

Two things that determine access to dashboards:

v        Dashboard Folder

v        Running User

Limitations of Salesforce reports or dashboards

Although fairly powerful, Salesforce reports have certain limitations.

 These are explained below.

☁ Support for trend analysis in Salesforce is fairly limited.☁

☁ User Interface of Salesforce reports and dashboards is fixed. Salesforce does  

            not  support pixel perfect report.☁

☁Salesforce reports do not support importing data from other sources.☁

☁ When displaying objects and their children, Salesforce does not support

           reporting on objects that do not have any children.☁

☁If an object has two different related lists, then Salesforce reporting does not  support displaying both these related lists together.☁