Reports FAQ

A report returns a set of records that meets certain criteria, and displays it in organized rows and columns. Report data can be filtered, grouped, and displayed graphically as a chart.

The Salesforce Reports and Dashboards Quick Start is a great resource to get started with Reports.

Standard Reports

To help monitor your college/university, we offer a wide range of standard reports, accessible in standard report folders on the Reports tab. You can also create new custom reports to access exactly the information you need.

Report Folders

Reports are stored in folders. Report folders allow users to group similar reports together for ease of use and to control who has access.

Each folder can have different read and write permissions, so certain users can be granted or denied access. You must have "Read permission on the records included in your reports; otherwise, when you run them, they may be missing data or appear blank.

If you are using Email from Reports, you must save the Report in the Broadcast Email Report folder.

You can find a specific Report Folder using the search bar under Folders.

There are several similarities between views and reports:

• Views and reports both allow great flexibility in creating filters for defining data selection criteria.
• The data from either can be added to a campaign.
• Printable views are available from either a view or report.

The differences between the two are quite significant, however:

• A report can query and return data across multiple CRM objects.
• Custom report types can be configured, utilizing the relationships among CRM objects.
• Report data can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.
• The "Add Chart to Report" feature allows custom graphical interpretation of report data.
• The report printable view generates an Excel spreadsheet, which can be utilized as input to a data management tool such as the Apex Data Loader.
• Report data can be viewed in summary or detail formats.
• Reports can be customized without permanent changes to the stored report criteria.
• A view can only query and return data from a single object type.
• The data listed in a view can be filtered by campaign.
• The "Create Printable View" function produces a formatted screen image which can be printed, but not exported.

The report format determines how the data in the report is displayed. To determine which format is best, please review the table below:

Report Formats

• Tabular Reports are the simplest and fastest way to look at data. Similar to a spreadsheet, they consist simply of an ordered set of fields in columns, with each matching record listed in a row. Tabular Reports are best for creating lists of records or a list with a single grand total. They can't be used to create groups of data or charts and can't be used in dashboards unless rows are limited. Examples include contact mailing lists and activity Reports.

• Summary Reports are similar to tabular Reports, allowing users to group rows of data, view subtotals, and create charts. They can be used as the source report for dashboard components. Use this type for a report to show subtotals based on the value of a particular field or when you want to create a hierarchical list, such as all opportunities for your team, subtotaled by Stage and Owner. Summary reports with no groupings are tabular reports on the report run page.

• Matrix reports are similar to summary reports but allow you to group and summarize data by both rows and columns. They can be used as the source report for dashboard components. Use this type for comparing related totals, especially if you have large amounts of data to summarize and you need to compare values in several different fields or you want to look at data by date and by product, person, or geography. Matrix reports without at least one row and one column grouping are summary Reports on the report run page.

To send a report to a non-Salesforce user, schedule a report to be sent to your email account, then forward the email to the individual without a Salesforce account.

You can also export report details in .xls or .csv format and send them as attachments via your personal email client.

Even if you have renamed labels (i.e., Setup > Rename Tabs and Labels) for Contacts or Leads, Salesforce reports that include the Contact ID or Lead ID as a column will continue to display as Contact ID or Lead ID.

There can be several reasons a student may not show up on a report. The most likely reason is that the student may not be associated with a School (Account) record. Since students not attached to a School are considered orphan records, they do not get included when a query runs for a report. Another reason may be as simple as the data you are querying on does not meet the query's criteria. For example, a query set to look for transfer students would not include freshman records.

Most Report Types rely on the relationship between a School and a Student. Assigning the 'Unknown School' to a Student record is the most common method of ensuring a Student always shows up on a report when they meet the report criteria.