Getting Started with Custom Reports
Imagine that the head of sales for your company asked you to put together a new weekly sales report to help analyze why sales deals are taking so long to close. How would you start? This is exactly the kind of task that Siebel CRM On Demand Answers can help you to do.
Before you begin:
- To perform the procedures described in this section, your role must include the Manage Custom Reports privilege.
- Make sure the data that you want to include is not already available in a prebuilt report.
- Review the information about custom reports. See About Reports. If you have added new fields, you can use those custom fields on a report. If you have changed the display names for fields, the new display names are used for reports.
However, if you rename record types, such as Accounts, the new names are not reflected in the reports.
NOTE: If you selected the option to add new picklist values when importing data, those new picklist values may not show up in the reports for 24 hours. Therefore, you may not be able to use the new picklist values as filters during that time period.
To create custom reports, you access Siebel CRM On Demand Answers and begin creating your custom report by doing one of the following:
- Selecting an existing report to base your new report on
- Creating the report from scratch
After that, the Siebel CRM On Demand Answers tool guides you through the process of setting up your custom report and performing an ad hoc analysis. This process consists of these general steps:
- Step 1: Defining Criteria
Set up columns and filters. Add filters to determine which data to include (optional but recommended). Filters restrict the data that is displayed, reducing the size of the data set and avoiding performance issues.
- Step 2: Creating Layouts
Add charts or tables (optional) to include graphical or alternative representations of the data.
- Step 3: Defining Prompts (Optional)
Add prompts that allow users to specify filter values when they run the report.
- Step 4: Reviewing Reports
View the report results before you save it.
To begin creating a custom report
- Click the Reports tab at the top of your page.
- On the Reports Homepage, in the Custom Reports and Analyses section, click the Design Analyses Link.
Siebel CRM On Demand Answers appears in a separate page, independent of the other Siebel CRM On Demand pages. It contains these sections:
- Create New Analysis
Allows you to create new analyses by first selecting a subject area to target the scope of your analysis. You can create real-time or historical analyses. The main area categorizes the custom reports under the Create New Analysis Area, according to how often their data is refreshed:
- Analytics. These reports are historical and trend analyses based on data that is refreshed nightly. For more information, see About Reports.
- Reporting. These reports are up-to-the-second data analyses and real-time reports. For a list of the reports, see About Reports.
- Open Existing Analysis
Allows you to edit the criteria and change the layout of existing analyses.
- Manage Analyses
Allows you to rename or delete saved analyses.
- Do one of the following:
- To build a completely new report, click the relevant subject area in the Create New Analysis section.
On the Build and View Analysis page, the Action bar on the left displays the folders and columns that are available for your selection.
- To build a new report based on an existing one, click Open Analysis in the Open Existing Analysis section.
In the Open Analysis window, select an existing analysis. On the Build and View Analysis page, the Action bar on the left displays the folders and columns that are available for your selection.
NOTE: When you build a report based on an existing one, the original report remains intact, and the one you are creating becomes a new custom report.
To save your custom report
- Above the title bar, click the Save button.
- Select the folder where you want to save the report.
TIP: Save the report as a private one first, in My Folders. After checking the setup, if you want to allow others to use it, you can save it in Shared Folders, and then delete it from My Folders. Reports saved in Shared Folders appear in the Shared Custom Analyses folder on the Reports Homepage.
- Enter a name for your report.
TIP: Use a consistent naming convention that all users will recognize. Avoid using extra blank spaces, or symbols such as apostrophes, when naming reports.
- Enter a short description of the report. The information you enter for both the name and description appears on the employees' Reports Homepage exactly as you enter it.
TIP: Use the description to let users know if the report contains historical or real-time data.
- Click OK to save the report.
Your custom report is saved and appears in the folder you specified. It can also be accessed later using the Open Analysis button.
To delete reports you have created
- Click the Reports tab.
- On the Reports Homepage, in the Custom Reports and Analyses section, click the Design Analyses link.
- On the Siebel CRM On Demand Answers page, in the Manage Analyses section, click the Manage Analyses button.
- In the Manage Analyses window, select the folder containing the report you want to delete.
- In the report row, click the Delete link, and then confirm the delete by selecting Yes.
- Click the Getting Started link at the top of the page to return to the Getting Started With Answers page.
To rename reports you have created
- Click the Reports tab.
- On the Reports Homepage, in the Custom Reports and Analyses section, click the Design Analyses link.
- On the Siebel CRM On Demand Answers page, in the Manage Analyses section, click the Manage Analyses button.
- In the Manage Analyses window, select the folder containing the report you want to rename.
- In the report row, click the Rename link.
- Update the Name field.
- If necessary, update the Description field.
Remember that if your report is a public one, the text for both the Name and Description fields shows up on the employee's Reports Homepage exactly as you enter it.
- Click Rename.
- Click the Getting Started link at the top of the page to return to the Getting Started With Answers page.
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