Before you start to build your report, first ask what question do I want to answer within my data structure? This will determine how you set up your report and which fields you will include.

Take some time to outline the requirements your report needs.

As a best practice, look at other reports that are similar to the one you want to build. This will give you an idea of where to start and which fields and filters you may need.

In this example, you will see how to build a report that includes the following fields:

A list of the Air Source Heat Pump Approved or Completed Contractors. Include:

  • Primary Contact
    • First Name
    • Last Name
  • Basic Contractor Info
    • Phone Number
    • City
    • State
    • Zip Code
  • Legal Business Name
  • Business Website
  • Counties Served

This will be a tabular report (format) and the filter will include only Approved or Completed projects.

Each step includes a screenshot. Please open the screenshot to follow the instructions to understand the steps better. The numbering in the steps correspond with the numbering in the screenshots. 

Step 1

  1. To begin the Report, click the Reports tab.
  2. Click New Report.



Step 2

Select the type of report you will like to build. Based on what you want in your report, you should be able to pick the appropriate Report Type.

  1. Search for the Report Type you want.
  2. In our case, we need to build a report that has a list of Air Source Heat Pump Contractors so the Report Type: Contractor Application With Application Content (c) works for us. 
  3. After you have the correct Record Type selected, click Create.

Step 3

  1. The record type you selected and the name you saved the report under will display here.
  2. The Fields Sidebar will give you all the fields you need for the particular report type you selected.
  3. If your report does not need the already included fields, Drag and Drop it back to the sidebar or click Remove All Columns.

For the example report, Contractor Application Number and Application Content Name are not needed. 

Salesforce include several pre-constructed report filters or fields.


Step 4

  1. Search for the fields you want.
  2. There are two ways you can add the field to the report:
    1. Double click the field to add it to the report.
    2. You can drag and drop the field to the report.

Customer First Name, Customer Last Name, Email, and others are fields our report requirement tells us we need.


Step 5

  1. Select where you want to pull the data from. In the example, we want information from All Contractor Applications.
  2. All the fields outlined for us by our report requirements are selected.

You can rearrange the fields by clicking and dragging them to the desired position along the columns.

Step 6

Select the Range of time you want data from.

In the example report, we want data from All Time.

Step 7

The next thing we will do is add the correct filters so the report will only give us information that we want. 

  1. Click Add next to Filters.
  2. In the dropdown list, select Field Filter (the other types of filters will not be needed for this report).

Step 8

The first filter excludes all applications that are not part of the ASHP program.

  1. You can choose the type of data you want to filter (in our case, we want to filter the Record Type to give us only records from the Air Source Heat Pump Applications).
  2. Click on the Lookup icon(magnifying glass).
  3. This will provide you with a Lookup list for you to choose from. Select the record type you need (Air Source Heap Pump Applications).
  4. Click Insert Selected to add the filter criteria to your report.

Step 9

  1. From the report requirements, we needed the filters we've added.
    1. We added them the same way the Record Type filter was added, but the type of data being filtered was different.
      1. Contractor equals "True" - the report requirements said they have to be a contractor.
      2. Status equals "Approved,Completed" - the Contractors have to be Approved or Completed their work.
      3. Record Type equals "Contact" - this filter was needed to only provide Contractors with their contact information listed in their application.
      4. Type equals "Primary Contact" - was used to get rid of all the duplicates. 
  2. The format you want your report in can also be selected. In our case, we needed to put our report in the Tabular Format.
  3. When you have all the requirements in your report, click Run Report to see your records.

Step 10

Run the report to see all the records within the report. 

  1. Click Customize to make changes (this will take you back to the previous page.)
  2. You can export the report to an excel spreadsheet.

Step 11

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see how many records have populated in your report. If you have an idea of how many records there should be, you can confirm it with the Grand Total Records.