Salesforce - Create a custom report
- Carrie Felton
Audience: General users
If you want to see Elizabeth demo this functionality for you, you can follow along with this video!
https://mediaspace.utah.edu/playlist/dedicated/226028713/1_o537pcgv/1_h5q7r8tb
This video was made before Saleforce updates the Report creation interface. To see the new interface, scroll down to the Choose a Report Type section.
What is a Salesforce report?
You have all of your data in Salesforce, so now you can start reporting on it. A report is a list of records based on your criteria. You can report on any objects and records that you can see in Salesforce. You can filter, group, and sort these records to meet your reporting requirements. You also have the ability to choose only records with connections to other objects. Once you have your object and the records, you are able to customize and specify the fields that are visible on the report.
Create a report in Salesforce
Navigate to the Reports tab in Salesforce.
Depending on the app you are starting from, you may also see the reports tab at the top of your screen or in the navigation menu. You can also always get to Reports from the waffle in the top left corner by searching Reports.
Once you are in the reports view, click on New Report in the top right corner of the screen.
Before you get started, it can be helpful to start with a stated question or a list of questions that you are trying to answer with your report. Then, as you build your report, you will make sure it gives you the answers to your questions. Here are a few example questions:
Where is my data? or What do I need a report of? will help you choose a Report Type.
What are the criteria for my data? can also help with Report Type and will help define your filters.
What do I need to know about my data? will help you refine your fields.
Choose a Report Type
Report Types are based on the object you are reporting on. Your questions will help determine your Report Type. For example, if you have questions about classes, you may want to start with Course Offering. Similarly, if you have questions about inventory items, you may want to start with Assets.
You can determine which object you are interested in by clicking into a record that you want to include in your report. You will see the object in the top left corner of every record page or list view.
When you create your report, you will see your Recently Used report types first. If you have not worked on any reporting yet, this screen may be blank for you.
The standard Report Types available to you will include every object you can see. You will also notice that many objects have with or and relating them to other objects. These report types will only show you the records of your specified object that have a relationship with that other object, as indicated in the Report Type.
For example, you can view Accounts, which will show you all of the Accounts that exist. You can also see Accounts with the Courses associated with them and none that do not have Courses. Similarly, you can see all Assets in the system, or you can see Assets associated with an Employee and none that are not associated with an Employee.
When you click on a report type, a sidebar will open on the right side with information about that report type. You can start your report directly from this sidebar.
If you want more information about the report type, you can scroll down.
You will be able to see the most recent reports you have created, and the reports that others have created with this report type. You can see who created the report and the last time the report was used.
You can also see which objects are included in this Report Type. If you know you need to see information that lives on a particular object, this list gives you an idea of whether you will be able to report on that data using this Report Type.
To get to a level deeper, you can click on fields to see which specific fields within these objects are available for reporting, including a search option if you have a keyword for those fields.
Customize your Report
Once you have selected your Report Type, you will see the Report Editor screen.
It may appear blank for you initially because Salesforce will default the filters to only show your records, meaning the ones you created. There may also be a time limit automatically applied to your report, filtering out older records.
Filters
You will start on the Outline tab on the left side. Click on Filters to remove these defaults.
Click on the filters that are there. If you need to see all records, change the Owner to All and change the date filter to All Time. You should see all of the records available to you of the Report Type you chose.
You can now add filters according to your criteria. Click Add filter… on the left side and search for the first field you want to filter on, which can be any field on the object you are reporting on.
Depending on the type of field, you will need to choose your filter criteria. You will need to select the operator on the field and the value you are restricting for any filter.
Operators can include:
Equals
Not equal to
Less than
Greater than
Less or equal to
Greater or equal to
Contains
Does not contain
Starts with
Values will be determined by the type of field you are using to filter on.
Here are a few examples of filters:
To remove a filter that isn’t going to work for you, click the trash icon on the right side of the filter.
Fields
In the lower half of the left side panel, you will see Columns. Each report will default to a given set of fields when you open it. You can remove fields by clicking the X on the right side of that field name, and you can add fields by searching for it at the top of the list.
The order of this list is the order of the fields on your final report. Drag the field titles up and down the list until you have them in the order you need.
Groups
From the Outline tab, you can create groups based on the fields of your object. Grouping is useful when you need to report on various items, but you want to indicate what type of record it is.
For example, you want to report on Course Offerings for a given semester and group them by Instructor. Similarly, you may want to report on Assets and group them by Group Assignment.
Add a group by clicking Add group… and search for the field you want to group by.
Once you have grouped the records by at least one row, you can also group your report columns.
This additional grouping will create a matrix report at the top of your complete report with the grouped information you have indicated.
Continue to add field groupings to the rows and columns by clicking Add group… and searching for the fields you need until you have the information you need.
Sorting
At the top of each column of your report, you can click on the field heading to sort your data. Then, you can click again to change the direction of the sort.
Report functions
Across the bottom of your report editor, you can see a few function options to add basic summary information to your report.
Toggle these settings on and off to add or remove these summary rows.
You can also sort, group, summarize, move, and remove each field by clicking the arrow on the right side of the field name.
The field-specific summarization will be displayed in the summary rows, so if you need that information, be sure to leave those rows toggled on.
Save your Report
In the top right corner of the page, you will see your options for saving.
Once you have your report customized to your needs, you can run the report without saving or save then run the report. However, if you think you may need this report again, it is highly recommended to save it.
If you click Save or Save As or Save & Run, you will see your Save Report screen.
Salesforce will populate a Report Name and Report Unique Name for you, but you can also customize it. The best practice here is to make the name concise enough that you can reference it again easily in the future. A good naming convention is something along the lines of [Unit] [Report Type] [Use Case]. A few examples include Marketing Contact with Email for L&W messaging, Assets with Inventory Event FY2021, ProEd Course Offerings with Course Connections.
The Unique Name is the reference information in the greater Salesforce database, so it will have a few unrelated digits at the end. You do not need to worry about those digits.
We recommend that you add a description of how you have filtered, grouped, sorted, and summarized your data. You can also include any personal use case references on your reports. The description needs to be enough information to know when to look at this report and what you will find there.
The folder will default to your Private Reports folder. If you want to change the folder, click on Select Folder. You will have specific default folders here. You can see all of the folders beyond these defaults in the All Folders section.
Select the folder that you want to store your new report in and click Save.
If you click Run, you will go directly to your complete report. You will have the option to save it from the run report if you have not already done so.
Editing a report
If you need to edit or update an existing report, navigate to your report. If you need a refresher on how to do that, you can find that here: Salesforce - How to navigate to reports
Once you are in the report you want to edit, you can click edit in the top right corner and open the Report Editor and make your changes use the same process as we just covered.
If you want your changes to be permanent for this report, you can click Save and Run.
If the changes are permanent, but you want to retain the existing report, you can click Save As… under the Save menu and create a new report with your changes.
If you want to view the changes but not to save them, you can click Run to view the report and then close when you are finished. Your original report will remain intact.
Additional Resources from Salesforce:
Salesforce Help: Build a Report
YouTube Walkthrough: Build a Report
Trailhead: Reports and Dashboards