Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 2

Last week we started creating a complex dashboard table that could help a nonprofit keep tabs on its most important donors. 

We created the report that will be the basis for the dashboard component.  Today we will finish by actually adding it to the dashboard!

Step 1: Add a chart to your source report

In order to create a complex dashboard table, you must first add a chart to the source report. The chart on the report itself does not have to look meaningful: in fact, it usually doesn't!  

Go to your report, click  "Customize" and then click "Add Chart":

Choose a scatter chart as the type of chart, and on the chart data tab, set all four chart data fields to the meaningful groupings of your report, as shown:

Click "OK" and then Save and Run your report. You will notice that the resulting scatter chart is not very interesting as a chart, but it allows us to create a more complex dashboard table. 

**If you want to make the chart less prominent on the report itself go to the "Formatting" tab on the chart editor and choose to make the chart size "Tiny" and the chart location "Below Report"!**

Step 2: Go to your dashboard

You probably have multiple dashboards in your salesforce org; choose the one where you would like to add this component, or start a new one.  For more about creating and editing dashboards, check out: Cloudy's Chalkboard: Creating Dashboards

When you are on the correct dashboard, click "edit"

Step 3: Drag a table component onto the dashboard

Step 4: Drag the correct report onto the component.

Note that you must switch from the "Components" tab to the "Data Sources" tab in the Dashboard Builder palette on the left side.  

(For instructions about how to build this report, see last week's post: 

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 1)

Step 5: Edit the table

The default settings of the table that appears will only show 2 columns.  Click the wrench in the upper right corner of the table to see more options.

On the Component Editor that appears, choose the Formatting tab and click "Customize table".  You will now be able to edit the table columns to show all four data points: 

Congratulations! You have created a complex dashboard table that will allow you to keep track of important donor relationships that might be at risk.  Consider scheduling this dashboard to refresh regularly, and/or have it emailed to interested parties automatically.

Following similar steps, you can create tables to track other parts of your business as well. If you would like help with your reporting and dashboards, Contact Us!

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 1

Who are your 

STAR clients?

Are any of those 

relationships at risk?

If you are using salesforce.com CRM, you understand the idea of Customer Relationship Management: you want to track the relationships and transactions of your customers or constituents and gain a 360 degree view of your business. You know that you can look at a single contact record and see all of their information, including lifetime transactions, campaign involvement, and activity history. 

But how do you leverage that information at a higher level?

Let's learn how to create a complex dashboard table that displays critical relationship updates at a fictitious nonprofit organization called Cartoon.org:

This example relies on some fields that are standard
in the salesforce.com Non Profit Starter Pack.
A for-profit company can create a metric to fit their business
using the same basic process described here.

Cartoon.org puts a high value on two types of donors:

1) Those who have donated more than $2,000 in their lifetime.

2) Those who have donated more than 5 times in their lifetime, regardless of amount.

These donors have shown, either by the amount OR frequency of their donations, that they are invested in the mission of Cartoon.org: it would be unwise to let those relationships founder!

The head of development at Cartoon.org wants to see a table of these high-value donors who HAVE NOT DONATED in the last six months. She will use this information to target these donors with some special attention to make sure they don't forget about their favorite charitable organization!


This two-part demo will show you how to create this report and dashboard for your organization.

Step 1: Create a new report

Go to Reports>New Report>Accounts & Contacts>Contacts & Accounts>Create
("Accounts" may be renamed "Organizations" in your org!)

Step 2: Set Filters and Filter Logic

Standard Filters: Show = All Accounts (/All Organizations) Date Field = Created Date Range = All Time

Custom Filters: Total Number of Gifts >= 5 Total Gifts >= $2,000 Last Gift Date < "6 MONTHS AGO"

(**NOTE: You will probably need to adjust the custom filter values to reflect donation totals, donation frequency, and time frames that are meaningful to your organization!)

Filter Logic:
Adjust the filter logic by clicking the little down arrow next to "Filters" and select "Filter Logic".
The default logic that is displayed will be "1 AND 2 AND 3".
Edit it to be "(1 OR 2) AND 3" as shown above.

Step 3: Set Columns and Summarize

You can quickly clear the default columns by clicking "Remove All Columns" Link

Add the four columns we need for this report: 
Name, Last Gift Date, Total Number of Gifts, and Total Gifts

Summarize the two "Total" columns:
Hover over the column header, click the down arrow, select "Summarize this Field" and click "Sum" on the dialogue box.

Step 4: Add report groupings

Group by "Last Gift Date" and "Name":
Hover over the column header, click the down arrow and select "Group by this Field" for both columns.

Run the report; it should look like this: 

Step 5: Save your report

Click "Save" and save your report with a meaningful name and description.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This report is ready to be shared 
with your development team: 

These are your most important at-risk donors.

Make a plan to follow up with them!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tune in next week to create a handy dashboard component with this information.

If you would like help creating more meaningful reports and dashboards for your organization, Contact Us!

More dashboard tutorials from Cloudy:

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Creating Dashboards

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Grouped Bar Charts

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Creating Dashboards

Salesforce.com reports are a powerful tool for understanding your data, but when you have many reports, levels of complexity, and large amounts of data, it can be a lot to take in.  Charts and Dashboards are the best way to create snapshot views of your data.

Good dashboards give executives the answers to the questions they care about most, give managers a handy tool to drive meetings, and give users an organized view of the things they need to prioritize.  If you have never created a dashboard, here is a step by step tutorial to get you started.

Step 1: A dashboard is simply a visual representation of a collection of reports, so the first step is to create or identify the folder where you will store these reports.  If Cloudy is creating a Sales Dashboard, he will create a new report folder and call it "Sales Dashboard Reports."  Since report privacy is set at the folder level, now is the time to think about who gets to see this data and make the appropriate settings on the folder.  To create a new report folder, go to the Reports tab, click the folder icon at the top right of the folder menu, and select "New Report Folder."

Step 2: Create Summary or Matrix reports showing what you want to represent with your chart components  (Tabular reports cannot be used for dashboards).  The Format settings menu is found in the Preview pane of the Report Builder; if you are relatively new to report building, start with a Summary report!  Save your reports in the folder you created in Step 1.

Step 3: Create or identify the folder where you will store your dashboard.  As with reports, privacy is determined at the folder level, so consider those security questions now.  To create a new dashboard folder, go to the Reports tab, click the folder icon at the top of the left hand folder menu, and select "New Dashboard Folder."

A table can be configured to link
directly to the listed records.

Use a pie chart to show
proportions against the total.

Step 4: Create your Dashboard by going to the Reports tab and clicking the "New Dashboard" button.  Using the drag-and-drop interface, add the chart types you want to use from the "Components" tab, and then find the matching reports from the "Data Sources" tab and drag them onto the correct components.  You can use the same report for more than one chart if you want to represent the data in more than one way.

A gauge shows progress
toward a goal or a limit.

A grouped line chart show data
trends over time
                               

Step 5: Customize your chart components.  You can add a title, subtitle, and footer simply by clicking in those spaces.  Click the wrench in the upper right corner of each component to view further formatting options.   (For a tutorial on one advanced formatting option, see Cloudy's Chalkboard - Grouped Bar Charts)

When you are ready to view your completed dashboard, Click "Save As" and save the dashboard to the correct folder, then click "Close."  On the Dashboard viewing page, a "Refresh" button appears at the top of the page.  Your dashboard will not refresh automatically; you must either click the button or schedule refreshes to occur regularly by clicking the down arrow next to "Refresh" and selecting "Schedule Refresh."  On this page, you will also see the option to have a dashboard emailed to you or any other user on a recurring schedule.  This is a great way to keep managers or teams up to date.

If you have other questions about using dashboards, please leave a comment below, or Contact Us!

Cloudy Cumulus is part of Redpath Consulting Group, based in Minneapolis, MN (c) 2012

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Grouped Bar Charts

Salesforce.com charts and dashboards create useful snapshot views of your data.  Bar charts are popular because you can easily add valuable detail to a basic bar chart by using groupings.

Look at Cloudy's examples below and then follow the step-by-step instructions to create a grouped bar chart for your report or dashboard:

Step 1: Create your report.

You need to include at least 3 fields:

-Record Name or ID (ie. Activity ID)

-Group Category 1 (ie. Activity Type)

-Group Category 2 (ie. Assigned to)

Check your filters:

-Set the date filters to the time frame you are interested in.

-Add any other filters needed to zoom in on the records you want to see.

Summarize:

-In the report Preview pane, select the Format drop-down and choose "Summary."

-Drag the Group Categories into the Summary drop zones in any order you wish.

Step 2: Create your chart.

You can create a chart on a dashboard or on the report itself. 

Chart Editor:  

(these instructions assume a horizontal bar chart.  Switch X and Y axis instructions in the case of a vertical bar chart)

-If you are on the report itself, the Chart Editor appears automatically when you add a chart.  If you are on a dashboard, click the wrench icon to open Chart Editor.

-Click the "Chart Data" tab

-For the X-Axis, choose the correct measurement metric (ie. Record Count, $ amount, etc.)

-For the Y-Axis, choose the first Group Category you want to see.  These will be the bars on your chart.

-Next, click the "Group By" drop down and choose the OTHER Group Category.  

-Select the type of Grouped Bar Chart by clicking the icons below the Group By menu.  For stacked grouping like the example above, click the middle icon.

Click OK to view your Grouped Bar Chart!

Read more of Cloudy's Salesforce.com step-by-step instructions:

How-to install an App in your sandbox

If you would like help creating these or other dashboard components, CONTACT US

Learn more about our Salesforce.com services HERE

Cloudy Cumulus is part of Redpath Consulting Group, based in Minneapolis, MN (c) 2012