Reporting
A full report builder, not a list of canned reports.
Build reports on screen
What it is. Choose what the report is about, pick columns, add filters, group and total — with a preview updating as you work.
What it does. Undo and redo throughout; nothing saves until you say so.
What you gain: anybody who can use a spreadsheet can build a report. No request queue, no developer.
Reports across linked records
What it is. Report types covering one object or two linked ones.
What it does. Both forms are available: only records that have a match, or every record whether or not it has one.
What you gain: you can report on what exists and on what is missing — accounts with no contact, contacts with no activity.
Three report shapes
What it is. Tabular, summary and matrix.
What it does. The shape follows from what you group: none, rows, or rows and columns.
What you gain: one tool covers listing, summarising and cross-tabulating.
Multi-level grouping
What it is. Grouping by any field, several levels deep, down the side and across the top.
What you gain: an answer rather than a list.
Totals
What it is. Sum, average, minimum and maximum on any number column.
What it does. Subtotals appear per group and a grand total at the bottom.
What you gain: the arithmetic is done before anybody reads it.
Report filters and filter logic
What it is. Filters on any field, combined with AND, OR, NOT and brackets.
What you gain: the report answers the real question rather than an approximation of it.
Relative date ranges
What it is. This month, last quarter, this year — rather than two typed dates.
What you gain: "last quarter" stays correct next month without anybody editing the report.
Locked filters
What it is. Filters the author fixes so readers cannot change or remove them.
What you gain: a report scoped to one company stays scoped to it, however it is shared.
Reader-side filtering
What it is. Changing filter values while reading a report, without altering what is saved.
What you gain: one report serves many people, each narrowing it to themselves.
Bucket columns
What it is. A column you invent, sorting existing values into categories you name — ranges for numbers, chosen values for text and picklists.
What you gain: report by your own categories without adding a field to the database or waiting for a change request.
Formula columns, at two levels
What it is. Row-level formulas calculate once per record. Summary formulas calculate once per group from the totals, at whichever grouping level you choose.
What you gain: percentages, ratios, ages and rates computed inside the report, so the report is the finished answer rather than a starting point.
Charts
What it is. Bar, column, line, pie, donut and gauge, drawn from the report's groupings.
What it does. Where a report has several groupings, the chart can be re-sliced by any of them.
What you gain: the same report answers more than one question, and trends become visible.
Folders and favourites
What it is. Reports live in folders, and the folder decides who can see them. Starred reports appear under Favorites.
What you gain: one library serving several companies, each seeing only its own.
Clone and Save As
What it is. Taking a copy of any report under a new name.
What you gain: people improve existing reports without risking them.
Export
What it is. Download as a formatted report, keeping groups and subtotals, or as plain details for further work.
What you gain: numbers leave in whatever form the recipient needs.
Sharing
What it is. Reports and folders shared with companies at read or edit level, or with chosen individuals. Revocable.
What you gain: you build it once and decide separately who gets it.
Importing existing Salesforce reports
What it is. Bringing a report that already exists in Salesforce into the portal rather than rebuilding it.
What you gain: you start from the reports your company already trusts.
Formula sync
What it is. Formula columns stay aligned between a portal report and its Salesforce counterpart.
What you gain: the same calculation means the same thing wherever somebody reads it.