Mastering Salesforce Reports and Dashboards

Chapter 2. First Things First

Before you dive into reporting in Salesforce, it is important to understand which edition of Salesforce you are working on, and what reporting features come with it. You should then review the feature permissions that have been assigned to you, learn how data is organized and secured in your Salesforce system, and understand the out-of-the-box reporting foundations available to you. When reporting on currency fields, it is important to understand the capabilities and limitations of the Multiple Currencies module. Additionally, it is worth considering that each new Salesforce module enabled into your system, whether a free or paid add-on, may introduce its own reporting capabilities.

While many of the settings discussed in this chapter are controlled by your system administrator, your basic understanding of them is vital to ensuring that your reports and dashboards return the results you expect. The more you learn about how your data is organized and the security settings that apply, the stronger your report writing will be.

Salesforce Editions

While all editions of Salesforce offer customizable reports and dashboards, it is important to know which edition you are using to understand the full range of reporting features available to you. The current editions that Salesforce sells include Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited, with Enterprise being the most common and Unlimited including the maximum set of features. Figure 2-1 shows the ...