Approach Reporting
Like Never Before:
Hands-On Deep Dive
Evan Ponter
Founder & Principal Consultant
He / Him
WiFi: TDX24 Password: Trailblazer24
Create a Salesforce org: bit.ly/crmaorg
Or login to a Playground, Dev Edition, or Sandbox
Access this slide deck: bit.ly/tdx24report
Forward Looking Statement
This presentation contains forward-looking statements about, among other things, trend analyses and statements regarding future events, future financial performance, anticipated growth, industry prospects, environmental, social and governance goals, our strategies, expectation or plans regarding our investments, including strategic investments or acquisitions, our beliefs or expectations regarding our competition, our intentions regarding use of future earnings or dividends, and the expected timing of product releases and enhancements. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, Salesforce’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties referred to above include those factors discussed in Salesforce’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to: our ability to maintain security levels and service performance that meet the expectations of our customers, and the resources and costs required to avoid unanticipated downtime and prevent, detect and remediate performance degradation and security breaches; the expenses associated with our data centers and third-party infrastructure providers; our ability to secure additional data center capacity; our reliance on third-party hardware, software and platform providers; uncertainties regarding AI technologies and its integration into our product offerings; the effect of evolving domestic and foreign government regulations, including those related to the provision of services on the Internet, those related to accessing the Internet, and those addressing data privacy, cross-border data transfers and import and export controls; current and potential litigation involving us or our industry, including litigation involving acquired entities, and the resolution or settlement thereof; regulatory developments and regulatory investigations involving us or affecting our industry; our ability to successfully introduce new services and product features, including any efforts to expand our services; the success of our strategy of acquiring or making investments in complementary businesses, joint ventures, services, technologies and intellectual property rights; our ability to complete, on a timely basis or at all, announced transactions; our ability to realize the benefits from acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures and investments, and successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies; our ability to compete in the markets in which we participate; the success of our business strategy and our plan to build our business, including our strategy to be a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing applications and platforms; our ability to execute our business plans; our ability to continue to grow unearned revenue and remaining performance obligation; the pace of change and innovation in enterprise cloud computing services; the seasonal nature of our sales cycles; our ability to limit customer attrition and costs related to those efforts; the success of our international expansion strategy; the demands on our personnel and infrastructure resulting from significant growth in our customer base and operations, including as a result of acquisitions; our ability to preserve our workplace culture, including as a result of our decisions regarding our current and future office environments or remote work policies; our dependency on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet; our real estate and office facilities strategy and related costs and uncertainties; fluctuations in, and our ability to predict, our operating results and cash flows; the variability in our results arising from the accounting for term license revenue products; the performance and fair value of our investments in complementary businesses through our strategic investment portfolio; the impact of future gains or losses from our strategic investment portfolio, including gains or losses from overall market conditions that may affect the publicly traded companies within our strategic investment portfolio; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our ability to maintain and enhance our brands; the impact of foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations on our results; the valuation of our deferred tax assets and the release of related valuation allowances; the potential availability of additional tax assets in the future; the impact of new accounting pronouncements and tax laws; uncertainties affecting our ability to estimate our tax rate; uncertainties regarding our tax obligations in connection with potential jurisdictional transfers of intellectual property, including the tax rate, the timing of transfers and the value of such transferred intellectual property; uncertainties regarding the effect of general economic, business and market conditions, including inflationary pressures, general economic downturn or recession, market volatility, increasing interest rates, changes in monetary policy and the prospect of a shutdown of the U.S. federal government; the potential impact of financial institution instability; the impact of geopolitical events, including the ongoing armed conflict in Europe; uncertainties regarding the impact of expensing stock options and other equity awards; the sufficiency of our capital resources; our ability to execute our share repurchase program; our ability to comply with our debt covenants and lease obligations; the impact of climate change, natural disasters and actual or threatened public health emergencies; expected benefits of and timing of completion of the restructuring plan and the expected costs and charges of the restructuring plan, including, among other things, the risk that the restructuring costs and charges may be greater than we anticipate, our restructuring efforts may adversely affect our internal programs and ability to recruit and retain skilled and motivated personnel, our restructuring efforts may be distracting to employees and management, our restructuring efforts may negatively impact our business operations and reputation with or ability to serve customers, and our restructuring efforts may not generate their intended benefits to the extent or as quickly as anticipated; and our ability to achieve our aspirations, goals and projections related to our environmental, social and governance initiatives, including our ability to comply with emerging corporate responsibility regulations.
3
*Restrictions apply. See terms and conditions at sforce.co/survey-terms.
Coffee on us.
The first 500 Trailblazers to provide feedback on this event will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card.
1
2
3
Evan Ponter
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
5
Agenda
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
Crawl
Build a “Deluxe” Custom Report Type
Walk
Enforce Object Relationships
Fly
Create a Cartesian Product Dataset
Run
“With or Without” Custom Report Type
6
Every Report Should Answer a Question
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
Prompt people who request a report with the following:
“What question do you want the data to answer?”
Example:
“Which sales teams’ customers log the most support cases?”
Then translate that request based on your Salesforce configuration:
Display a count of case records grouped by the role of the account owner
7
Common Frustrations
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
Lack of Understanding�How to include fields in report builder�How to eliminate “duplicate results”�How to remove “ghost filters”
Standard Report Types�Cannot be customized�Report Rows <> Object Records
Custom Report Types�4 Object Limit�Report Rows = Bottom Object Records
Primary Object
Report Rows =�Filtered Records
8
Start From The Bottom
9
Select Primary Object,�Edit Custom Report Type Layout
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
Cases
Accounts
Account Owners
Account Owner’s Roles
Account Owner’s Parent Roles
Owners
Owner’s Roles
Owner’s Parent Roles
Account Creators
Account Owner’s Managers
Parent Accounts
Account Creator’s Managers
10
✨ Deluxe Report Type ✨
WiFi: TDX24 Trailblazer24 | Org: bit.ly/crmaorg | Slides: bit.ly/tdx24report
Cases
Accounts
Account Owners
Account Owner’s Roles
Account Owner’s Parent Roles
Owners
Owner’s Roles
Owner’s Parent Roles
Account Creators
Account Owner’s Managers
Parent Accounts
Account Creator’s Managers
11
Crawl
Build a “Deluxe” Custom Report Type��to answer��“Which sales teams’ customers log the most support cases?”
Build a Deluxe Report Type
Setup > Feature Settings > Analytics > Reports & Dashboards > Report Types�Click “New Custom Report Type”
Primary Object
Cases
Report Type Label
Cases (Deluxe)
Description
Each detail row represents a Case record. Includes fields from the Account and Account Owner
Store in Category
Customer Support Reports
Development Status
Deployed
Click “Next”
12
Build a Deluxe Report Type
Object Relationships
Click Save
Really, that’s it
13
Build a Deluxe Report Type
Edit Layout
Add Fields Related Via Lookup
Account Name > Account Owner “view related fields”�Scroll down and check the “Role” checkbox
Click “Create New Section”
Name it “Account Owners”, then click “OK”�Click and drag the desired fields to the section
Select fields, click “Edit Properties”
Shorten the “Display As” value�Set “Checked by Default” to true for fields that should be displayed as default columns
Specify default time frame field
The first date or date/time field that appears in the layout is used as the default field for the time frame filter that is part of every report. Drag the desired field to the top-left of the layout
14
Build a Deluxe Report Type
Report Type Selection Screen
Hide Report Types�App Launcher > Reports > New Report
Click the “All” category on the left�Click on a report type you want to hide�In the action menu, click “Hide Report Type”
Note: This is an org-wide setting. There is no profile, permission set, role, group, or other mechanism that makes this more specific
Note: Reports that were built using a report type that becomes hidden will still run. There is no impact
Unhide Report Types�The final category on the left: “Hidden Report Types”�Click on a report type you want to unhide�In the action menu, click “Show Report Type”
15
Build a Deluxe Report Type
Use reference fields for columns, groups, or field filters
Create a new report�App Launcher > Reports > New Report�Click the “All” category on the left�Select the “Cases (Deluxe)” custom report type�Click “Create”
Outline�Group Rows: Account Owner: Role
Filters�Show Me > All Cases�Date/Time Closed > All Time
Display Options�Toggle off the “Detail Rows” option
Run report
16
17
Walk
Enforce Object Relationships��to answer��“Which product’s sales involved influencers?”
Build a “Deluxe” Report Type for a detail object
E.g. a report type that displays a detail row for each Opportunity Product record�Setup > Feature Settings > Analytics > Reports & Dashboards > Report Types
Click “New Custom Report Type”
Primary Object
Opportunities
Report Type Label
Opportunity Products (Deluxe)
Description
Each detail row represents an Opportunity Product record that specifies an Opportunity.
Store in Category
Opportunities
Development Status
Deployed
Click “Next”
18
Build a “Deluxe” Report Type for a detail object
Object Relationships
Click to relate another object
Select Object�Products
A to B Relationship�Each "A" record must have at least one related "B" record.
Click Save
19
Add a Cross Filter to a Report
Start from any object enforced in the object relationships of the report type
Create a new report�App Launcher > Reports > New Report�Click the “All” category on the left�Search/Select the “Opportunity Products (Deluxe)” custom report type you created
Click “Create”
Filters�Show Me > All Opportunities�Close Date > All Time
Add a Cross Filter�The top of the filter tab has a dropdown menu�Click “Add Cross Filter”�Select “Opportunities” “with” “Contact Roles”�Click “Apply”
Add Cross Filter Criteria�Click in “Add Contact Roles Filter” area�Select “Role” “equals” “Influencer”
20
21
Run
Build a “with or without” style Custom Report Type��to answer��“What does the 5-year sales projection look like for each account created this year?”
Build a “with or without” style Custom Report Type
Setup > Feature Settings > Analytics > Reports & Dashboards > Report Types�Click “New Custom Report Type”
Primary Object
Accounts
Report Type Label
Opportunities on Accounts + Accounts w/o Opps
Description
Each detail row represents an Opportunity that specifies an Account or an Account that has no child Opportunities meeting the filter criteria
Store in Category
Opportunities
Development Status
Deployed
Click “Next”
22
Build a “with or without” style Custom Report Type
Object Relationships
Click to relate another object
Select Object�Opportunities
A to B Relationship�"A" records may or may not have related "B" records.
Click Save
23
Build a “with or without” style Custom Report Type
Filter records semi-independently in the report builder
Create a new report�App Launcher > Reports > New Report�Click the “All” category on the left�Search/Select the “Opportunities on Accounts + Accounts w/o Opps” custom report type�Click “Create”
Outline�Group Rows: Account Name�Columns: add “Amount”
Filters�Show Me: All Accounts�Created Date: Current FY�Close Date = NEXT 5 YEARS
Display Options�Sort “Account Name” by sum of Amount� largest-to-smallest�Toggle off the “Detail Rows” option
Run report
24
25
Fly
Create a Cartesian Product Dataset
to answer
“Which products are associated with each contact?”
26
Join Records From Sibling Objects
Opportunity Contact Roles
Opportunity Products
Opportunity
27
What is a Cartesian Product dataset?
Each detail row represents the unique combination of “A” and “B” records
28
Cartesian Product Documentation
You won’t find this in Salesforce help articles … yet
29
Entity Relationship Diagram
This architecture enables a Cartesian Product Custom Report Type
X
30
Entity Relationship Diagram
Plugging in the objects for this example
Opportunity Contact Roles
Opportunity Products
Opportunity
Contact
Product
X
Build a Cartesian Product Custom Report Type
Setup > Feature Settings > Analytics > Reports & Dashboards > Report Types�Click “New Custom Report Type”
Primary Object
Contacts
Report Type Label
Opportunity Contact Roles X Opportunity Products
Description
Each detail row represents a unique combination between Opportunity Contact Role and Opportunity Product records
Store in Category
Other Reports
Development Status
Deployed
Click “Next”
31
Build a Cartesian Product Custom Report Type
Object Relationships
Click to relate another object
Select Object�Opportunities
A to B Relationship�Each "A" record must have at least one related "B" record.
Click to relate another object�Products
B to C Relationship�Each "B" record must have at least one related "C" record.
32
Build a Cartesian Product Custom Report Type
Edit Layout
Edit the “Products” section�Relabel it to “Opportunity Products”
Add Fields Related Via Lookup
View > Product Fields�Add fields related via lookup > Price Book Entry > Product
Edit Properties for “Product” field�Change the Display As value to “Product Name” and set “Checked by Default” to True
33
34
Set Up Example Data
Find an Opportunity that has multiple products�“Opportunity for Lloyd988” has 3 products added to it
Navigate to the Account record for that Opportunity�“Wise175 Inc”
Create 3 Contacts related to that Account�Use creative names
Add those contacts as roles on the Opportunity�Contact Roles related list > Add Contact Roles�Choose “Influencer” as the role for at least one record
Build a Report with a Cartesian Product Dataset
“Which products are associated with each contact?”
Create a new report�App Launcher > Reports > New Report�Click the “All” category on the left�Select the “Opportunity Contact Roles x Opportunity Products” custom report type�Click “Create”
Filters�Show Me > All Contacts�Birthdate > All Time
Run report
35
Distribute Cartesian Product Dataset Results
“Which products are associated with each contact?”
Adjust the Report�Group by Product Name�Add the quantity field as a column�Click “Add Chart”�Save�Choose the public folder
Adjust the Contact Lightning Page�Add a report chart component�to the contact lightning record page
EXTRA CREDIT�For those who wanted the contact full name and the product name visible in the results,�Filter the report to Role = “Influencer”�
36
37
Wrap Up
What a great session!
38
Thank
You
Survey
Discussion & Resources