Salesforce: Creating a Custom Report Type

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Your Salesforce admin can now also install the Salesforce Example Reports Managed Package which will create some example reports and custom report types to begin interacting with Skilljar data.

Using Skilljar's Salesforce integration, many Skilljar customers leverage the Skilljar data to create custom reports in Salesforce. In Salesforce, reports are based on Report Types. In order to create a customized report, we need to develop a new Custom Report Type. Think of this Custom Report Type as the blueprint for your report - you can enable users to create reports from the predefined objects, object relationships, and fields that you specify.

When you're ready to create this new Custom Report Type, we recommend thinking about the end goal of the report. What do you want the report to demonstrate? What data do you want to include? Reviewing the Custom Objects and Their Fields list is helpful, as you can see which Fields fall under the various Custom Objects. The Custom Report Type will be built using Custom Objects. 

Prior to getting started, please confirm that the necessary Skilljar Objects have been updated to allow for reporting (steps provided here). 

Please note: Every implementation of Salesforce varies greatly from company to company. The examples shown in this article reflect Skilljar's own environment for demo purposes and your organization's implementation may differ from what is displayed below. This portion of the set-up might need to be completed by your organization's Salesforce Admin. 

In the below example, we will be creating a Custom Report Type for Student Course Progress. 

Lightning Experience:

  1. Begin by searching for "Report Types" within the Set-up Panel and select it from the search results dropdown. This selection will lead you to: Set-up -> Platform Tools -> Feature Settings -> Reports & Dashboards -> Report Types                                                                                                                                                                  Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_11.15.56_AM.png
  2. Select "New Custom Report Type"
  3. On this page:
    1. Define the Custom Report Type.
    2. Select the Primary Object you would like to use for this report type. We selected Published Courses. 
    3. Complete the required fields in the Identification section. These include: Report Type Label, Description, and the location where the report type should be saved. 
    4. In the Deployment section, select Deployed
    5. Select Next Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_11.36.48_AM.png
  4. On this page:
    1. Define Report Records Set.
    2. This view begins with the Published Courses Skilljar Object as A - Primary Object, based on what was selected on the prior page. 
    3. Select the box below A to pull in a related object. 
    4. In this example, we have selected: Course Progresses for B (changing the A to B relationship to: "A" records may or may not have related "B" records), Lesson Progresses for C, and VILT Session Registrations for D. Please note, at this point, we have reached out Object Limit. You can associate up to four objects to a custom report type. 
    5. Save Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_3.01.26_PM.png
  5. We have successfully made a new Custom Report Type. There is another step that allows us to pull even more fields into this report, based on the four objects we have selected (Published Courses, Course Progresses, Lesson Progresses and Vilt Session Registrations). The below image shows a total of 75 fields that are currently related to these Source Objects.Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_11.53.11_AM.png
  6. To increase the number of selected fields, select Edit Layout.
    1. From the View Panel along the right-hand side, Select Published Courses Fields from the dropdown menu and select Add fields related via lookup.
    2. Next, select Course and Select All fields, and then select OK. The below image shows all of the fields that are now related to the Published Course Object, the magnifying glass on certain fields indicates which ones are pulled in through the related lookup exercise. Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_12.03.38_PM.png
    3. Repeat this exercise for the other three Objects used in the report type:
      • View >> Select Course Progresses Fields >> Select Student >> Select All >> Click OK
      • View >> Select Lesson Progresses Fields >> Select Lesson >> Select All >> Click OK
      • View >> Select VILT Session Registrations Fields >> Select VILT Session >> Select All >> Select OK.
    4. Save
    5. When you return to the Custom Report Type overview page, you will see that there are now 122 fields: Screen_Shot_2019-05-31_at_12.08.00_PM.png
  7. This new Custom Report Type can now be used to make a report. Please feel free to adjust the selected Objects to fit the needs of your end-desired report. Please see this help article for how to create the report, based on this new Custom Report Type. 

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