A Joined Report in Salesforce combines two reports that have different report types, within a single view. Salesforce Joined Reports appear like one single report so that you can get a more holistic data view.
In the Lightning Report Builder, you add report blocks, and then define the filters for each block. You can use both standard and/or custom report types as report blocks.
When Should You Use a Joined Report?
Remember that a Joined Report is designed to show two unrelated reports in one view. If you think about the Salesforce data model, there are many objects that don’t naturally ‘gel’ together (not even custom report types can solve it).
Take Opportunities and Cases as an example. There’s no way you would be able to see both an Account’s related Opportunities and related Cases in one view without Joined Reports.
In this Salesforce Joined Reports tutorial, we will be creating a report that shows:
- Block 1: Account report
- Block 2: Cases related to the Account
- Block 3: Opportunities related to the Account
This would be used by sales reps who want to know which Accounts have Cases (especially the unresolved ones!) so that they don’t annoy already frustrated customers with conversations about renewals.
Note: This example is only possible because there is a common relationship – you can’t just jam together completely unrelated objects and hope a Joined Report as the outcome!
- Cases are related to the Account
- Opportunities are related to the Account
Create a Joined Report
Let’s first create a Salesforce report, then we’ll transform it into a Joined Report format type.
1. Go the Reports tab, click New Report.
2. Select the Accounts Report type.
3. Change the Report to a Joined Report format type:
4. Add or amend the filters for the Account report. This is your baseline and will determine what data the other report blocks will pull in.
Add a Report Block
5. Select the Cases report type, click Add Block.
6. Add or amend the filters for the Cases block. Perhaps “Status” = “Open” is a good option, given our use case.
7. Add another report block for Opportunities. Again, add or amend the filters to perhaps include only the open Opportunities (“Opportunity Status” = “Open”).
Add a Grouping
Groups in Salesforce reports group rows together – which can make Joined Reports much easier for users to understand.
8. You can group rows by “Account Name”, for example, which then aligns all of the Account’s Cases and Opportunities, so anyone scanning the report can understand the data faster:
9. Run the report to see where Cases and Opportunities overlap (by Account).
Add a Report Chart
Report charts help users to understand reports even more. These visualizations can speak a thousand words! There are some limitations, which I will circle back to shortly.
Chart example: View the number of Cases by Account.
10. Click Add Chart, then select the chart type that will best represent your data. Select the appropriate Y-Axis value. You will notice these include the report block name.
Salesforce Joined Reports: What to Keep In Mind
Keep these things in mind when designing Joined Reports in Lightning:
- Report performance: The more blocks your report contains, the longer it will take to load. If you have more than two blocks, use report filters to keep the report view only to the data required (or have users frustrated with report load times!).
- Export: Joined Reports are designed to be visually useful inside Salesforce, so they don’t export into a workable format.
- Charts: You can only add one chart to Joined Reports. So, if you have more than two blocks, you have to choose one common factor (or restrict the chart to two objects). In the tutorial, the common relationship was Account name, and the number of Cases was the factor – which is why we could not include Opportunity data in the chart.
Take Joined Reports Further
Now you see how you can view different types of information, side by side. You could use Joined Reports to solve some challenging reporting requirements you receive from your team; think about the opportunities that open up if you create custom report types, then use those custom report types in a Joined Report? You’re opening many data relationships that didn’t previously exist.
How have you used Joined Reports? We’d love to hear your use cases in the comments section below.
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