Reports
Forty-four reports, in four groups. Knowing which group a report is in tells you whether you may touch it.
| Group | How many | What they are for | Safe to edit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday | 6 | Lists people read each day | Yes |
| Calculation | 11 | Feed the dashboards. All say DO NOT TOUCH | No |
| Templates | 6 | Copied to make FrontSpin calling lists | Copy, don't edit |
| P1 Tracker | 21 | Feed the P1 Tracker dashboard | Carefully |
The naming convention
A report whose name ends in DO NOT TOUCH or DON'T TOUCH is read by a dashboard tile. Changing its grouping, its columns or its formula columns changes the number on the dashboard — usually without any error.
It is a convention, not a lock. Anyone with access can still edit one. Treat the suffix as a label on a live wire.
A report ending in (Template) is meant to be copied, not run as-is. See Templates.
The two report types
| Report type | Grain | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Activities with Contacts | One row per activity–contact | Anything about calling |
| Contacts & Accounts | One row per contact | Anything about who people are |
This split is the single most useful thing to understand.
A report about calls is built on Activities with Contacts. It can group by Call Result, by the rep who made the call, and by date, because those live on the activity.
A report about people is built on Contacts & Accounts. It can filter on Bucket Status and Best Phone Status, because those live on the contact.
Asking an activity report "how many contacts are P1" counts activities, not people — that is the mistake this split exists to prevent.
Building one
Where: Reports → New Report
- Click Reports in the top bar.
- Click New Report.
- Choose the Report Type — the two above cover nearly everything here. Choosing the type is the one decision that cannot be changed later.
- Click Start Report.
- In Outline, add Groups (what the rows and columns break down by) and Columns (the fields shown).
- In Filters, set who and when.
- Check the preview, then Save & Run.
The preview shows a limited number of records. A report that looks empty in the builder is often fine when run — click Run before concluding anything.
Formula columns do the real work
Almost every number on the dashboards is a formula column, not a record count. There are two kinds, and the difference matters:
| Kind | Works on | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Row-level formula | One row at a time | "Is this call a connect? 1 or 0" |
| Summary formula | A group total | "Connects ÷ total rows, as a percent" |
The pattern throughout this build is a row-level formula that returns 1 or 0, summed by the grouping, and a summary formula that turns that sum into a percentage.
Every one of them is written out in Formula columns.
Standard filters on activity reports
Activity reports carry four filters that are easy to overlook, because Salesforce adds them rather than you:
| Filter | Set to | Means |
|---|---|---|
| Show Me | All activities | Not just mine |
| Date | Varies by report | Which activities |
| Show | Completed Activities | Logged calls, not planned ones |
| Show | Tasks and Events | Both kinds |
Completed Activities is the one that catches people out. An open task is not a call that happened, so it is excluded — which is right, and is why a report can look short.
Where this fits
The folders these live in are Folders. What reads them is Dashboards.