Force.com Platform Fundamentals

Preface
Introducing the Force.com Platform
About the Sample Recruiting App
Reviewing Database Concepts
Building a Simple App
Enhancing the Simple App with Advanced Fields, Data Validation, and Page Layouts
Expanding the Simple App Using Relationships
Securing and Sharing Data
Collaborating with Chatter
Automating Business Processes
Analyzing Data with Reports and Dashboards
Introducing Reports
Report Formats
Setting Up the Recruiting App for Reports
Creating a Summary Report
Creating a Matrix Report
Introducing Dashboards
Introducing Custom Report Types
Look At What We've Done
Moving Beyond Point-and-Click App Development
Learning More
Glossary
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Introducing Reports

We can help users monitor and analyze the data that's being generated in their organization by building reports. Reports are summaries of the data that's stored in an app. They consist primarily of a table of data, but can also include data filters, groupings, and a customized graph.

While a comprehensive set of reports is included with every organization to provide information about standard objects, such as contacts and accounts, we can also build custom reports that highlight interesting metrics about the data stored in our custom objects.

For example, an executive at Universal Containers might have the following questions about recruiting.
  • On average, how many days does it take for each recruiter to fill a position?
  • Which functional areas have the most open positions?
  • Which positions have been open for more than 90 days?
  • Which positions are getting the most candidates?
  • Which employees conduct the most interviews?
  • What does the job application pipeline look like for each open position?
  • Who have we hired in the last 90 days?

We can answer all of these questions and more by creating custom reports in the Reports tab of the app. Although this tab isn't visible by default in our Recruiting app, any user can click the arrow tab on the right side of the tab bar to display all available tabs, and then navigate to the reports area by clicking Reports.

A Sample Report A sample report that contains a table of data with optional data filters, groupings, and graph