Joined Reports in Salesforce: A Complete Guide

Salesforce Reports dynamically represent data stored within Salesforce CRM, empowering users to analyze information from various objects and fields.

They provide valuable insights about the performance of a business, enabling users to identify areas for improvement and measure progress towards their goals.

Salesforce Offers Two Report Types

Standard Reports – These are the pre-built, out-of-the-box report templates available in your Salesforce org.

Standard report types in Salesforce come with predefined fields, filters, and groupings based on specific Salesforce objects, requiring minimal setup.

Reports of this type are suitable for data analysis tasks like monitoring sales performance, tracking support cases, and evaluating marketing campaigns.

Custom Reports – Users can define and configure their own report structures by combining related Salesforce objects using custom report types.

Custom report types in Salesforce find practical applications in analyzing sales performance across product categories, tracking customer interactions, and evaluating performance based on custom business processes.

In this article, we will explore various report types in Salesforce and provide a detailed overview of joined reports, including their use cases.

Different Types of Reports in Salesforce

There are four different types of reports in Salesforce.

Tabular Report

Tabular reports are the simplest type of report in Salesforce.

Tabular reports use a simple table format to present records and fields. For example, generating a mailing list.

You can create a dashboard based on the tabular report but generating a report chart using the tabular report is not possible.

Summary Report

Summary reports offer a concise view of data by grouping and displaying subtotals and grand totals.

Summary reports provide a plethora of options for organizing the data. Understanding data patterns and trends within different groups is an excellent application of summary reports.

The creation of report charts and dashboards is supported in the Summary report.

Matrix Report

Matrix reports pivot data, presenting both row and column groupings for better visualization.

This report type allows users to compare data across two dimensions by viewing it in a grid format.

We can use the Matrix report for analyzing sales performance across different product categories and sales representatives.

Matrix reports in Salesforce offer support for various features, including dashboards, report charts, bucket fields, and formulas.

Joined Report

By utilizing Joined Reports, you can merge data from various report blocks that belong to different report types or objects, enabling valuable cross-object data analysis.

This powerful feature lets you gain comprehensive insights into your business’s performance and relationships between different data sets.

Unlike other report types, a specific option is available for creating a joined report.

In Salesforce, you can build a joined report if there is a relationship with a common object.

Related Read: Types of Reports in Salesforce – Explained

Step-by-Step Process of Creating Joined Reports in Salesforce

In this article, we will assess the efficiency of the customer support team by utilizing a joined report that merges data from Cases and Accounts, helping us identify the ratio of Accounts with cold, warm, and hot ratings along with its related cases.

To get started, go to the Reports tab and click on New Report.

Select the primary report type of your choice. In this example, we will choose “Account” and then click on Start Report.

Once the report is generated, access the Report dropdown, opt for “Joined Report,” then click Apply.

Each Joined Report has a principal report type, which is determined by the order in which report types are added. By default, the first report type added becomes the principal report type. In this example, since we selected the Accounts report type first and then the Case report type, the Accounts report type is designated as the principal report type.

To add the second report type, which is Case in our scenario, Choose the “Cases” report and click on the Add Block.

Navigate to the filters tab to filter the Account and Case records based on the rating of Cold, Warm, and Hot.

As you can see in the above image, by using the group field, we can display cases alongside their respective Accounts.

By toggling on Enable the Update Preview Automatically on the top right corner of the report builder, you can instantly view all the customizations you’ve made in the report.

Now save the report and run it to view the results.

Charts are essential in Salesforce reports because they improve data visualization and offer a concise representation of complex information.

The visual representation helps users understand data relationships and pinpoint key performance indicators.

To add a chart to a Joined Report, follow these steps

At the top of your report, choose “Add Chart.”

Click the ⚙ gear icon on the right-top corner and select the appropriate chart type.

Customize the attributes of the chart to match your specific requirements. Click on Save and Run to see the complete graphical representation of your data.

Salesforce provides the option to schedule reports to run automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You can set up these schedules to send the report results directly to the relevant recipients.

Advantages of Using Joined Reports

• Joined reports in Salesforce let you merge data from various objects or report types, enabling analysis and comparison across different aspects of your business.
• Upon exporting a joined report, all data from the different report blocks are included in the export.
• Consolidating multiple reports into a single joined report saves you time and effort in report management.

Limitations to Consider While Working with Joined Reports

• You can have up to 2,000 fields only in each joined Report block.
• In a joined report, Salesforce allows including a maximum of 5 report blocks. This means you can’t include data from more than five different report types or objects in one joined report.
• As the number of blocks in your joined report increases, the loading time becomes longer.
• It is not possible to create report snapshots based on joined reports.
• In Joined Reports, it is possible to add up to three groupings to the report type blocks.
• However, conditional highlighting cannot be applied to Joined Reports.

Business Scenarios

Here are some business scenarios where utilizing Joined Reports in Salesforce can be beneficial

• Create a Salesforce report that merges data from Opportunities and Products to offer insights into sales performance across various product categories and regions.
• Combine data from Opportunities and Opportunity History to generate a report that tracks the progress of deals through different sales stages.

Summing Up

Joined reports help businesses leverage Salesforce’s power for a deeper understanding of their operations. With Joined Reports, businesses can make informed decisions based on comprehensive data analysis, which allows them to stay ahead in today’s competitive landscape.

Take that first step towards your Salesforce dream career by enrolling in our Intensive Salesforce training programs and gaining personalized training and hands-on expertise with the assistance of seasoned Salesforce professionals.

You can also check out our self-study Salesforce Online courses.  

Boost your career by mastering Salesforce Outlook integration and expanding your Salesforce skillset. Join the saasguru community on Slack to engage with experts and fellow learners who are eager to help you explore the world of Salesforce.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can you combine reports in Salesforce?

Yes, you can combine reports in Salesforce using a feature known as Salesforce joined reports. This powerful feature allows you to merge data from different report types or objects within the same report, enabling a comprehensive analysis across various segments of your business data. By utilizing salesforce joined reports, users can create up to five report blocks, each from different report types or objects, providing a multifaceted view of the data.

2. What are the limitations of joined reports in Salesforce?

While salesforce joined reports offer significant flexibility in data analysis, there are some limitations to consider:

1. You can include a maximum of five report blocks in a single joined report, restricting the number of different report types or objects you can analyze together.
2. Each report block in a joined report can contain up to 2,000 fields, which may limit the depth of data you can include.
3. The more blocks you add to a joined report, the longer it may take to load, impacting performance.
4. Joined reports cannot be used to create report snapshots, which means you cannot track historical data changes using this report type.
5. Conditional highlighting, a feature that allows you to visually emphasize data that meets certain criteria, is not available in salesforce joined reports.

3. When to use joined reports in Salesforce?

Salesforce joined reports are particularly useful when you need to analyze and compare data from different Salesforce objects or report types that share a common relationship. They are ideal for complex business scenarios where insights depend on the intersection of diverse data sets. For example:

• Evaluating customer support efficiency by comparing case resolution times against customer satisfaction ratings across different regions.
• Analyzing sales performance by comparing opportunities and actual sales across different product categories and sales teams.
• Monitoring project management efficiency by comparing project tasks, milestones, and outcomes across different departments.

In these scenarios, salesforce joined reports provide a comprehensive view of the data, enabling deeper insights and informed decision-making.