The most frustrating thing when having created a report is realizing that nobody uses it. There are 2 main reasons that can lead to this happening; the report was simply not good enough or people do not know how to get to it, do not know where to find it. In this blog post, I want to address the second reason: where best publish a report so that users intuitively can find it.
Where best publish a report
Sales Cloud and Engagement Cloud can host your reports in different locations. They all have a specific best-use-case! There is even one that in my opinion, although it has a purpose to be there, should never be used. The possibilities I will discuss in this blog post are:
- Homepage infolets
- Homepage dashboards
- List page sidetabs
- Detail page sidetabs
- Analytics
- Mobile analytics
- Less traditional possibilities
And do not forget that each of these can also be implemented differently according to roles users have. There are almost too many possibilities. But if you pick the right one to place your reports, I am sure they will be found.
Homepage Infolets
When infolets were introduced to Sales Cloud, they were an eye opener to me. I had been struggling with a question for a while until then: “How does one consume reports and dashboards on a tablet”. Individual reports were not really the problem on tablets. But traditional dashboards with many reports would simply not fit on the smaller screen that tablet users would be using. Combining reports on a dashboard was a problem for mobile users.
Infolets were the perfect answer! Instead of combining lots of reports on a dashboard giving a nice overview of information, infolets give a nice overview of information through KPI’s. And as each infolet can be used to drill down to a detail report, infolets give a nice overview and provide a way to access detailed information both at the same time. A perfect solution for mobile Sales Cloud and Engagement Cloud users.
To optimize the available tablet space, you can even flip or extend the infolets to lead more!
On top of that, standard or custom made infolets can be chosen by each user from the infolet repository. This allows each user to personalize his homepage infolets combining infolets of his personal interest in a nice overview.
Homepage Dashboards
Infolets are great for mobile users. But they might annoy people with laptops or desktops. They still can be valuable, do not get me wrong, but sometimes you just want to work on a proper old-fashioned dashboard, right? Homepage dashboards were brought back for exactly that purpose: Combining reports on dashboards and dashboard tabs, allowing users to filter data through prompts, … Together with infolets, these dashboards can provide Sales Cloud and Engagement Cloud users with a great overview of what is happening in the sales and service organization.
List Page Sidetabs
The infolets and dashboards on the homepage allow end users to consume reports from across the application. But would you put a detailed opportunity analysis there? Why would users go look there, what would trigger them to look for that report there? Would it not be better to provide such an analysis very close to where the opportunity list is? Is that the more natural place to go look for a report that provides an analysis across the opportunities in the opportunity list?
That is exactly what the list page sidetabs are for: An intuitive place to put reports that are really tied into the information that is available in the list page.
There is one specific usage of such a list page sidetab I want to highlight. It has to deal with not being able to search for revenue lines from the opportunity list as the opportunity list is about … opportunities. But revenue lines are closely tied to opportunities so ….
My favorite way of using these sidetabs is providing a report containing a list of revenue lines, with prompts to filter them, next to the opportunity list, with a drilldown capability to navigate immediately to their related opportunities.
Detail Page Sidetabs
And what about reports that analyze one specific data record e.g. a report providing detailed insight into one specific account? Yes you could create dashboard with a filter to search for the account you want to analyze, but there is a better way. Just like adding a sidetab to a list page for reporting on the list data, sidetabs can be added on a detail page, analyzing one particular data record e.g. a detailed analysis of an account
Analytics
Then there is this big ‘Analytics’ button on the homepage springboard. It just begs to be clicked on. It is there to search and browse your favorite reports. That is if you expect your users to proactively actually go and search reports amongst the many that are available or added during an implementation …. it will not happen.
Do not get me wrong, it does serve a purpose. It can be useful for those users that know a report exists but could not find it. It is the great escape catch-all for those users who are determined to find a report they know exists. But if you consider publishing reports under ‘Analytics’, maybe adding a dashboard through page integration is a better alternative.
But if you want your users to find your reports, you better use any of the possibilities listed above to make it available to them.
Mobile Analytics
For mobile users, we have multiple options too. The native mobile app for Sales Cloud and Engagement Cloud allows users to consume reports.
But did you know there is also a separate mobile app, Oracle BI HD app, just for analytics purposes. It is there to use dashboards and reports without having to navigate through the application. You off course have to log into Sales Cloud or Engagement Cloud to be able to access then and access your data, but from there on, it is only reports and dashboards 🙂
And if you have a need to create reports on a mobile phone, maybe based on an MS Excel sheet you received by email, you have to check out Synopsis !
Less traditional possibilities
For users that have no means to get to a device or an application where they can consult the reports, we can have the reports be sent to their email. Sales Cloud and Engagement Cloud comes with a scheduling and email delivering solution for reports.
Another great way to use reports is embed them directly into PowerPoint presentations through the SmartView plugin. How great is it walk into a sales meeting, open your presentations, connect inside PowerPoint to sales cloud, hit the refresh button and have your presentation updated with the latest Sales Cloud data !
