Analytics as a Service:
Introduction to Reports
Reports can include both standard & custom objects
two users with different access levels see different data with the same report
objects & fields are available immediately after they get created
reports run in real-time data
reports are saved in folder, report security is determined by folder where report is stored.
System administrator and users with ‘Manage public reports’ permissions can manage the folders
Custom Report
3 panes – fields, fitlers & preview
4 types of reports:
tabular – simple listing of data
summary – sorting and sub totalling
matrix – summarizes data in grid (to compare related totals)
joined – can contain data from multiple standard or custom report types
can customize by adding more columns, but cannot deselect action & name columns
the way the type of report to be created can be identified by:
Select Data
Select Report Type
Select Summaries
Select Groupings
Select Filters
scheduled reports run at user’s timezone who scheduled it
to run a report, the report must be in a public folder and the user has to have access to it
Hide Details – will show only summary rows, Show Details will show all the data
report shows only upto 2000 reports, beyond that the user can export to excel
Printable view – exports data to excel with the report formatting
Export Details – exports raw data to excel (no report format will be retained)
Introduction to Dashboards
Dashboard – contains components based on report or chart, can use VF pages to present data, shows data as of the last time it refreshed, can be refreshed manually
dashboard can have upto 20 components
can choose either 2 or 3 columns
dashboard components
chart – good for comparisons, is based on report data and the field which you summarize the report is the field that you see on the dashboard
table – shows the top/bottom n records, can be used to display totals also, can include upto 4 columns
guage – shows progress towards goals, display percentage or total
metric – shows single number (grand total)
visual force page – pulls data from another source
can follow individual components through dashboard alerts and snapshots
can post component’s snapshot to dashboard feed to chatter or dashboard feed
chart types
vertical column – summary report with single grouping. variations: vertical col: grouped, stacked, stacked 200%, good for showing dates
horizontal bar – good for summary with single grouping. horizontal grouped, stacked, stacked 200%
line – specially used to show data over time
donut chart – good for multiple groupings with total amount
funnel – good for datasets for multiple groupings in ordered sets and want to show the proportions among them
pie – multiple groupings and want to show proportion of single value for each groupings against total
scatter – illustrate degree of correlation between two axis
combination charts – that includes different sets of data
dashboard security
dashboard folder – controls who sees the folder
running user – controls what data is displayed on the dashboard
clicking a dashboard component takes users to underlying source report, filtered source report or another url that the dashboard creator specifies
can drill down to single record, but user will see that the security model will allow to see
report access is determined by folders
it is possible to see a dashboard component, but not the underlying report
Dashboard filters
let users chose which data to chose each filter based on single field, can specify upto 10 filter options
enables users to view different subsets of data on the same dashboard.
each dashboard can have upto 3 filters.
filters can be created on date, datetime, currency, pickup, lookup and text fields
filters cannot be added with visual force components, scontrol conponents
cannot use filters for bucket fields, filter components cannot be followed on chatter
scheduling or emailing a filtered dashboard will return unfiltered data
Dashboard display info as of date
can be refreshed daily, weekly, monthly
Custom Report Types (CRT)
unique templates for creating reports, created by administrators or users with ‘Manage Custom Report Types’
can include standard or custom objects, allows users to select the objects and fields that should be related for reporting purposes
Enable the creation of “with or without” reports
Three steps to create a report based on CRT:
select the primary object
select related records from other objects (optional)
can chose upto 4 objects, chose “with or without” for each related object (similar to outer join)
Add fields related via lookup (optional)
traverse multiple objects
use lookups to join other objects
can go upto 4 levels deep, supports many to many relationships
primary object cannot be changed after the CRT is created
there is a limit on # of CRTs (depends on SF edition)
counting rows
standard reports show all rows from both the objects (positions & job applications)
what if you want to see only unique rows so that within a report of both job applications & positions, you could see how many job apps you have or how many positions you have.
in this case, need to create a report that uses custom field to count the # of records
two step process
create a new formula field
run a report that utilizes this new field
to create custom summary formula: 3 steps
create formula fields to count the number of records for each object
create custom summary formula to calculate the ratio between the number of records for each object
optional: create a dashboard component that will show the ratio between the two numbers
Bucketing – helps qualifying the data (for e.g. Not qualified, Qualified, Highly Qualified – for candidates)
create a new formula field to group the information
create or update a report that utilizes the new field
create or update a dashboard component using the new or updated report
Analytic Snapshots
provides trending, can be scheduled
schedule the report and capture the data in custom object and report on the data in the custom object to view historical data and analyze trends
can be created in 3 steps:
create source report (tab/summary)
create the target object (custom). Fields in target object should have same type as in the source object that included in the source report
setup the analytic snapshot
select the source report, select the target object, map the fields on the report to the fields on the custom object and schedule the frequency for taking the snapshot
Going Beyond Salesforce Reports
exception reports are available in a few places, but not everywhere
no reporting on multiple related lists (using crt, you can include custom objects that are hierarchically related
there is only one layout or UI for the reports
Salesforce reports don’t provide trending capabilities beyond analytic snapshots
Salesforce reports provide limited analysis of what changed bet two dates
can’t include data in sf report from another source
RaaS -that uses Salesforce as a source – then reports on the data by running multiple queries
BIaaS – copies all data to local repository, then runs queries off of the copy of the data (data repository is provided as a service)
Data Warehousing – similary to BIaaS, but you own the servers