Analytics

Open CertifiedOnDemand.com Section Resources

This is not an exhaustive list; additional resources are referenced within objectives below.
ObjectiveResourcesKey Facts
Describe the capabilities of reports and dashboards.Reports and Dashboard Quick Start
[Should / Various / Salesforce.com]

Build a New Report
[Could / Various / Salesforce.com]
A report allows you to quickly summarize and chart record data. A dashboard can present summary data from multiple reports on a single page.

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107 Responses to “Analytics”

  1. OSRHPavithra September 15, 2017 at 8:52 am #

    Hi John,
    this topic ,Understanding Relative Date Values for Filter Criteria, isn’t navigating to a valid page

  2. spykiller July 28, 2017 at 6:50 pm #

    A divisional manager wants to add a chart into a page layout, Which report format can be used as the source report to accomplish this?
    Choose 2 answers.
    A. Matrix format with a chart.
    B. Joined format with a chart.
    C. Tabular format with a chart.
    D. Summary format with a chart.

  3. niyalok May 17, 2017 at 4:11 pm #

    Hi John,
    Working in the professional edition…I am unable to create a new dashboard as the reports tab does not display the new dashboard button..just the new report is present. Also, unable to create a new report folder/dashboard folder as the folder icon with the drop down…new report folder..new dashboard folder is not there. Why are these features not available?

    • niyalok May 17, 2017 at 11:44 pm #

      I was in Group Edition, not Professional….

    • JohnCoppedge May 20, 2017 at 4:01 pm #

      Are you logged in a system admin? I’m not sure specifically which features are available in group, I would make sure that dashboards are included

  4. alekhya.mathukumilli@gmail.com May 5, 2017 at 5:46 pm #

    Hi john,

    I have a question regarding External Users. My community users could not see fields on reports. They have complete access to these fields.

    They could not see the fields of Contact Object
    I created a custom object Related Contacts gave a master detail relationship with Contacts on this field.

    I created a report on Related Contacts. The reports has contact fields to. I gave access for this folder. But the community user could only see all the fields of Related Contact but not the Contact.

    Please help me with this.

    Thank you,
    Alekhya.

    • JohnCoppedge May 5, 2017 at 10:55 pm #

      I would guess that you need to look at the record level access to the contacts – community users can use a different record access model (sharing sets). I would check your community security settings-

  5. bgonzalez April 18, 2017 at 2:52 pm #

    If you have your dashboard as “Run as specified user” and if the user clicks on the dashboard component to view the report, what kind of access do they have then?

    • JohnCoppedge May 12, 2017 at 6:32 pm #

      They’d get the results of the records that they can view in the system (the same as reports) instead of the results of records that another user could view

  6. kmkaast April 16, 2017 at 1:42 pm #

    Quiz repeated

  7. kmkaast April 12, 2017 at 10:54 am #

    Reports and Dashboards Quick Start is repeated on first section.

  8. rashminder@techneosys.com March 18, 2017 at 3:12 am #

    Hi John,

    1)I am also unable to see folder sharing in my setup to enable reports and dashboard enhanced access.any specific reasons?
    2) Under view access levels for reports and dashboards it says..”With Viewer access you can see the data in a report or dashboard, but you can’t make any changes, except by cloning it into a new report or dashboard.” while on the comparison between viewer,editor and manager access page it states the opposite i.e. you can change a report with viewer access.I am not clear on this.could you please clarify?
    3)Also would you be able to point out a resource on dashboard components and an example/demo for reporting snapshots..

    appreciate your help..
    thanks
    rashminder

    • JohnCoppedge March 23, 2017 at 1:43 pm #

      #1 – turned on by default most likley (will add a note to the content about this)
      If your organization was created after the Summer ’13 Salesforce release, you already have analytics folder sharing. If your organization existed before the Summer ’13 release, follow these steps to make folder sharing available to your users.

      #2 viewer can view but not edit, editor and manager can edit reports inside
      #3 a common example would be trend analysis – e.g. change in the opportunity pipeline over time

  9. ybiyani@hotmail.com March 11, 2017 at 5:39 pm #

    In the KEY FACTS for “Describe the capabilities of custom summary formulas” the note says the following. I think, instead of “maximum” this should say “sum”.

    A custom summary formula is different than a custom formula field. In the above scenario, a custom formula field cannot calculate the maximum value of all won opportunity records, and thus could not be used to calculate a percentage of that maximum.

    • ybiyani@hotmail.com March 11, 2017 at 5:40 pm #

      Forgot to hit “Notify when new comments are added” checkbox and hence adding this comment…

    • JohnCoppedge March 11, 2017 at 8:31 pm #

      Good point – updated

  10. kamalganda March 9, 2017 at 4:07 am #

    Hi John,

    I have purchased the study guide however when ever I click on any link am getting following message

    To view the remainder of this content, you must purchase the Salesforce.com Certified Administrator Study Guide. Please Login or purchase the study guide.

    • JohnCoppedge March 11, 2017 at 3:39 pm #

      Please email your transaction details to the support email (listed on the contact page). It is likely that your transaction was not completed- if your credit card/paypal was billed we will certainly make sure you have access. If you had two accounts, please make sure you are on the right account as well.

  11. Sal March 7, 2017 at 11:04 pm #

    Hi,
    Dynamic Dashboards deliver data based on login credentials of the user viewing the report as opposed to the “running user”
    TRUE
    FALSE
    ?

  12. Dee_kochar February 21, 2017 at 10:20 am #

    Hi John ,
    To my understanding we could use report charts(directly on report w/o dashboard) only on Summary and Matrix type reports , but recently i read that joined reports also support that . If that is true what would the correct answer of the following question :-

    34. A divisional manager wants to add a chart into a page layout
    Which report format can be used as the source report to accomplish this?
    Choose 2 answers.
    A. Matrix format with a chart.
    B. Joined format with a chart.
    C. Tabular format with a chart.
    D. Summary format with a chart.

  13. egraells February 19, 2017 at 12:25 pm #

    I think quality for Custom Summary Formula is much better in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9CZkXxPOXU

  14. jaydelaune February 4, 2017 at 8:03 pm #

    Good Salesforce 8-page PDF “Historical Trending” resource: Reporting on Historical Changes in your Data [last updated 1/25/17]
    https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/206/latest/en-us/sfdc/pdf/salesforce_opportunity_trending_cheatsheet.pdf

    Plenty of use case examples – still only limited to 3 months of data. This course has been excellent about introducing features that I didn’t even know existed!

  15. adjoam December 19, 2016 at 4:14 pm #

    hi john/all, just sharing this in case it may be helpful .. there are lots of mock exams that say that you can’t use a tabular report as a source report for dashboards – but salesforce says:

    “You can use a tabular report as the source report for a dashboard table or chart component, if you limit the number of rows it returns”
    https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=reports_tabular_in_dashboards.htm&language=en_US&type=0

    • adjoam December 19, 2016 at 8:44 pm #

      found another link where salesforce says:
      “Tabular reports are the simplest and fastest way to return your data in a simple list view format. Keep in mind that tabular reports can’t be used to create dashboard components.”
      https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=000025298&type=1

      just tested this in my dev org – the link in my first comment is correct – i.e. you can use a tabular report as the source report for a dashboard component, bearing in mind:
      1) component should be table or chart and
      2) you need to limit the number of rows returned on the tabular report

  16. Yanique Bourjolly November 1, 2016 at 4:14 pm #

    Hi John,

    You refer to standard and custom report ‘types’. Are you interchanging ‘type’ with ‘format’ here?

    Thanks

    • Yanique Bourjolly November 1, 2016 at 4:16 pm #

      NVM, looks like you’re referring to the Object from which to build the report. Thanks

  17. fitzcarota October 27, 2016 at 6:29 pm #

    Hi John, Also the following section, ‘Build a Custom Summary Formula’. Thanks again!

  18. fitzcarota October 26, 2016 at 7:55 pm #

    HI John, when clicking on ‘Choose a Report Format’ section, I’m getting ‘Invalid language code. Check that the language is included in your Knowledge language settings’. Thanks.

  19. nk005347 October 20, 2016 at 12:59 pm #

    Hi John, I am not able to determine reason for reporting snapshot. Will it not be more useful to have audit trail data used for discovering trends over timeline? Reporting snapshot will not capture all transitions of data and will capture only snapshot at scheduled point in time. Am I missing something here.
    Also does SF allow integration with third party ETL tools or snapshot is the only way to do it.

    Regds
    Nikhil

    • JohnCoppedge October 20, 2016 at 3:07 pm #

      Yes you can integrate to a data warehouse, which would be the most robust solution (or look at using wave). The idea is that you can capture the data at a point in time… e.g. compare the sales pipeline at the start of the month to the end of the month. You could do this with filters (e.g. opportunity created date), but the only way to compare the entire pipeline would be to capture the report data at the point in time when it was run (snapshot)

  20. ayeshis@gmail.com September 12, 2016 at 2:34 pm #

    Which dashboard components can display data from summary rows of a reports ? –> Is it chart and tables or matrix and Gauge. It was a exam question. I passed the admin (201) exam today. Thank you John for hosting this site

    • JohnCoppedge September 28, 2016 at 9:38 pm #

      Awesome thanks- and congrats! Not sure exactly what the question is getting at – as both can summarize data points. Metric and gauge can apply feedback within the chart (e.g. 90k — goal is 100k … where 100k is stipulated in the dashboard component).

  21. bilabongster July 1, 2016 at 11:40 am #

    Hello John
    Dont you think the security related content here has become outdated after enhanced sharing is enabled by default?

  22. bilabongster July 1, 2016 at 9:31 am #

    Hey, I cant find an option to create a custom summary formula in the report builder, do I need to set it up somewhere?

  23. Agyasi Ampah February 11, 2016 at 12:43 am #

    Hi John

    some of the videos under data management and analytics are not working
    eg. custom summary formulas. Salesforce.com PARENTGROUPVAL Report Formula
    i am suing a mac book pro

  24. tejalr8@gmail.com January 25, 2016 at 12:53 pm #

    Hi john,
    i have question related sharing my report and Dashboard to another user in my org.

    as before i do have Campaign report and dashboard..and i came to the point i m shring that borht folder(report and Dashboard) to the user who can access..
    @ that point 3 options are available.

    1)Viere
    2)Editor and
    3)Manager.

    first 2 i can understand..
    but i m confuse abt manager option.
    so at that access level…is that the particular user i need to select who is at manager level..or i want to give all the right to any user i want to share this dashboard and report with..
    and if something if it should be manager then i can go and select Role rather then the user ,right?
    and in other case where i wan to select user and want to give all the access what defined by Manager option at sharing point of any report and dashboard..
    am i right?
    Thank you .
    Tejal.

  25. tejalr8@gmail.com January 25, 2016 at 12:44 pm #

    Hello john,
    Im on the stage where i m really now good implementing reports and dashboards,
    Thanks to this site off course.
    but i m confuse at some point..

    so craving for ur help.

    for my question ..baseline consideration are

    .baseline consideration are
    scenario between 3 users in my org:
    User 1: SAD
    (license type…System Admin) that’s me ..:)

    User 2: SPUC
    ( license type……Standard Platform User Clone)

    User 3: SUC
    ( license type………..standard User Clone) user

    my question is…
    When i have report and dashboard, as admin, and i do want to share with some user that is SUC and SPUC.
    I have campaign related report type and Dashboard.
    and i want to share it with Suc and Spuc.
    i m able to share it with Suc but not able to share and display Dashboard chart with Spuc..

    what i m assuming is …Spuc user profile limiting him to access campaign…as the profile access limit to the obj. Campaign…
    and Suc user is able to see that same Dashboard as it’s profile is having access to campaign..

    —–>pls tell me if i m in wrong assumption that ,…profile have some thing to effect with user at dashboard shared folder for certain object access.

    ——> and further ,,,what if i o want SPuc User want to share my Dashboard of campaign report and i want him to give me green signal that he can really see my chart…?

    and one more thing i want to understand is…does this all scenario also effected by OWD settings as well.
    what if i change OWD for al users and for Suc who can ok to see my chart for campaign, i restrict him…@OWD .@record access to my campaign related records..?

    i know its really that u might think i might should go and explore by my self..trust me………i did try.. ..
    but really i m not able to conclude my problem.
    Your explanation will sure helping me all the time ,,and sure it will help me if u really give some advance idea…
    Thank you.
    Tejal @Learning mode.

    • JohnCoppedge January 25, 2016 at 6:49 pm #

      Yes the user needs to have a license type that supports the objects in order to run a report on them- regardless of profile or OWD settings. Your platform user should not be able to report on the campaign records for that reason.

  26. crystalq January 1, 2016 at 5:34 pm #

    I am not sure why I cannot find Folder Sharing for report and dashboard via customize->setup. Assumed it was changed in winter14 . Cheers,

    • JohnCoppedge January 5, 2016 at 11:06 pm #

      This setting? https://help.salesforce.com/htviewhelpdoc?err=1&id=analytics_sharing_enable.htm&siteLang=en_US

      Have you searched in setup for “Folder”?

      • darick.jackson April 29, 2016 at 5:58 pm #

        I have the same issue as “crystalq”. My search in setup for “folder” doesn’t find anything.

      • kabun1 April 29, 2016 at 7:54 pm #

        I have the same issue as well.

        • kabun1 April 29, 2016 at 7:56 pm #

          And to answer your question, John, yes. I searched in the quick find under setup for folder and it does not yield any results.

          • JohnCoppedge August 19, 2016 at 10:40 pm #

            You probably can’t turn it off in new orgs:

            If your organization was created after the Summer ’13 Salesforce release, you already have analytics folder sharing. If your organization existed before the Summer ’13 release, follow these steps to make folder sharing available to your users.

  27. crystalq December 23, 2015 at 9:58 pm #

    Hi John,
    I logged in as a user with system admin profile in my current development environment and found report builder did not work. Report wizard did work instead.
    However, when I logged in as a user with standard user profile , the report builder did work.
    Could you have an idea how to troubleshoot and fix the issue?
    Many thanks,
    -Crystal

  28. Margo Schwartz-Newton November 3, 2015 at 5:48 pm #

    Hi John,
    The layout of Help and Training changed a week or two ago. I can’t find the first link: Getting Started on Reports and Dashboards.
    Thanks.

  29. Sherry Larsen-Holmes August 25, 2015 at 2:01 am #

    In your key facts you say “A custom summary formula is different than a custom formula field.” Can you actually create a custom formula field (column) in a report, or only reference a custom formula field that is in an object?

    • JohnCoppedge August 25, 2015 at 1:54 pm #

      You can reference a custom formula field in a report, yes (this field would need to be created on the object). A custom summary formula (created within the report) is only accessible within the report in which it is created, and cannot be referenced on the object.

  30. Rovita Almeida April 21, 2015 at 9:50 pm #

    Thanks for your response John. Here’s the full question –
    which dashboard component can display data from the summary rows of reports?
    (2 answers)
    a.Gauge
    b.Table
    c.Chart
    d.Metric

    • JohnCoppedge April 22, 2015 at 10:14 pm #

      Should be table and chart – definitely a good exercise to test out. Not a bad question.

  31. Rovita Almeida April 21, 2015 at 4:56 pm #

    I have a question about dashboard component. Tried testing but still unsure.
    In one of the quizzes it is asked which dashboard component can display data from the summary rows off a report.
    I think it is Table and Metric, but could also be Gauge and Chart.

    Any thoughts? Anyone ?

    • JohnCoppedge April 21, 2015 at 6:18 pm #

      I’d have to have the full question for context – most of the dashboard components are used to summarize data however…

  32. Minhaj Arifin March 23, 2015 at 10:16 pm #

    Hi John, Great section and thank you for your hard work.
    I was a little confused between these 3 terms:

    1. ‘Analytic Folder Sharing’
    2. ‘Enhanced Sharing for Reports and Dashboards (access levels).’
    3. ‘Enable Access Levels for Sharing Report and Dashboard Folders’ (The check box setting that appears under Setup->Customize-> Reports and Dashboards –> Folder Sharing)

    Are all 3 the same thing?

    Thanks.

    • JohnCoppedge March 24, 2015 at 10:09 pm #

      Yes I believe these are all referencing the same sharing mechanic – that is the ability to define different tiers of access to reporting/dashboard folders (that is essentially one feature, although the configuration to enable has a few different associated terms).

      • Rena Bennett-Dellwo April 13, 2015 at 8:35 pm #

        To further clarify/confirm with respect to this sharing model… If the report folder sharing is set to Edit but a user’s permissions (either through profiles or other sharing mechanisms) for the object to which the report applies is more limited, the permission controls access to the report in the folder, right?

        • JohnCoppedge April 14, 2015 at 1:49 am #

          I would expect that to be the case, but haven’t specifically tested it. If you get a chance to test it I would love to hear confirmation.

  33. Alex Messinger February 18, 2015 at 7:35 pm #

    Could you say that cross object filters are a quick way to replicate some of the functionality of custom report types? For example, if I only need to filter by criteria on a certain object, but not include any fields from that object in my report.

    • JohnCoppedge February 24, 2015 at 1:00 pm #

      Yes exactly the case – in fact before cross filters existed you would have to create a custom report type.

  34. Alex Messinger February 16, 2015 at 9:54 pm #

    What would be the different use cases for Historical Trending Reports vs Analytics Snapshots?

    • JohnCoppedge February 17, 2015 at 2:15 pm #

      Trending reports are done on the record level and store historical changes about that particular record. Snapshots can be done at the record level as well – but are really capturing historical report data (that report data can be include record data). For example, you could use a snapshot to record summary within an opportunity pipeline report – e.g. # opps, amount, etc. at X date. You could store that data in a custom object and then report on that summarized data, establishing a trend of the pipeline itself over time. Great question Alex – I will make a note to clarify this material next pass through.

      • Alex Messinger February 17, 2015 at 3:03 pm #

        It seems too like Historical Trending reports have limits on the time frame that you can look at– up to 5 dates in the past if I remember correctly. Whereas Analytic Snapshots could look at any or all days since the snapshot object has been configured.

  35. sandeep arora January 20, 2015 at 5:12 am #

    Working fine now… Thanks.

  36. sandeep arora January 19, 2015 at 6:58 am #

    Report Types video is giving an error.
    http://classic.certifiedondemand.com/report-types/

    thanks

  37. Alex Messinger January 3, 2015 at 12:34 am #

    nevermind, I see it now.

  38. Alex Messinger January 3, 2015 at 12:31 am #

    I can’t find the ‘opportunity status’ field as referenced in the Analytics workbook (http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/workbook_analytics/workbook_analytics.pdf). I don’t think I’ve re-named any fields. Is it the same as ‘stage’?

  39. Jai Patel December 16, 2014 at 11:36 am #

    Hi John. I created a report folder and a report in it. I did not share the access to the folder with any users. Still users with “Manage Reports in Public Folders” and “Create and Customize Reports” permission in their profiles are able to view and customize the report. The users do not have any other permission set or sharing rule.
    What I have understood is if the folder access is not shared with anyone then the folder should not be visible to anyone and also users should not be able to customize the report. What have I missed?

    • JohnCoppedge December 17, 2014 at 3:59 am #

      A user with access to manage public report folders would have access to all report folders (that’s the intention of the permission). Generally speaking that is true- without elevated privileges and unshared private folder would not otherwise be visible.

  40. Mayank Srivastava December 10, 2014 at 7:56 pm #

    Makes sense. Thank you.

  41. Mayank Srivastava December 10, 2014 at 7:08 pm #

    For a question like this:

    A user can only report on information they have “read” access to.
    True
    False

    What would the answer be?
    Wouldn’t it be false since a user can also report on information that they have read/write access to?
    The site I was taking the test on gives the answer as True. I’m not sure what is correct.

    • JohnCoppedge December 10, 2014 at 7:36 pm #

      I would say true. Read/write implies the user also has read access. What the question is trying to ascertain is if a user can report on data they don’t have access to – which of course they cannot.

    • JohnCoppedge November 21, 2014 at 10:25 pm #

      Help portal still appears to work for me- have avoided using direct links as they change somewhat often…

  42. Paul Temple November 21, 2014 at 12:55 am #

    In another comment, someone mentioned that the plural form of axis is axes. You responded asking where you had used the term – I think I found it. The second objective, in your description of the Matrix report type. I don’t know why that stuck with me!

    Taking my exam tomorrow AM – wish me luck! Your site has really helped me so far, we’ll see if it pays dividends!

    • Paul Temple November 21, 2014 at 7:21 pm #

      Nailed the exam this morning. Your site was definitely my #1 resource. Before I found your site, I watched the Admin 201 video series on the Salesforce.com partner training portal. Your detailed information really helped fill in the gaps. Thank you so much!

    • JohnCoppedge November 21, 2014 at 10:20 pm #

      Well my grammar is generally pretty good, but English doesn’t make much sense. Thanks, updated!

  43. Timothy Wang October 3, 2014 at 4:18 pm #

    ‘How to use cross filters in Salesforce Reports’ has been updated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3jylFrXhow

  44. Roger Grilo March 16, 2014 at 8:02 am #

    The “Bucketing in Reports” video has been updated — the new one is at http://www.youtube.com/embed/QFYEtBtLHG4

  45. Roger Grilo March 15, 2014 at 6:49 pm #

    there are some practical examples at http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/workbook_analytics/workbook_analytics.pdf

  46. Taurean Sutton January 8, 2014 at 4:20 am #

    To all of the people looking to take the exam, I would highly recommend building a few reports and dashboards. Learn about the sharing/security around these as well. Reflecting back on the exam I recently passed, I would say that this section is definitely worth it spend a bit longer in this section. Also, would recommend going back through this guide and reading the ‘key facts’ that John has posted.

    • JohnCoppedge January 10, 2014 at 5:23 pm #

      Thanks for the feedback Taurean. I’ll consider adding some content (exercises) to this section as well.

    • corinneme@aol.com February 14, 2016 at 11:29 pm #

      Thank you for the heads up!!

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