Report Formulas in Salesforce can be very tricky, but with a little practice and a simple scenario to grasp the concept they can be a great tool in your Salesforce Admin repertoire.
Put simply report formulas are a way to create a new column on a report using the data you already have.
So this could create a faux field to show new data only on the report and dashboards using that source report.
Report Formula Example
A simple example could be a formula used to show the projected commission from a deal.
This doesn’t necessarily need to be it’s own field on the opportunity. However, this could be a column on a report to motivate our salespeople.
For this, you would take the anticipated revenue field and multiply it by the percent of commission.
To make things easy let’s say that commission was 2% of the anticipated revenue.
So in the report formula builder it would look something like this:
anticipated_revenue*0.02
If the revenue is 100,000 the outcome of the report formula should be 2,000.
Youtube Video
Here is a video on how to create the report formula if that is more your jam.
Keep scrolling and I will add step-by-step screenshots.
Report Formulas Step-By-Step
First, start off by going to the Reports tab and clicking ‘new report’.
From here you will choose the report type. From the example above you will want to choose the opportunities report type.
Then you will set up the opportunity. I like to clean out any empty data fields, or data I don’t need. Have the report update automatically.
Once you’ve done that make sure you are on the outline tab.
Then create a grouping. This helps with allowing us to segment the data based upon another field.
Also, you cannot create a report field without a grouping. Stage is a very common one for this type of report.
Next, click show fields!
Next click create formula.
From there you’ll be taken to the editor to create a new formula field. Give it a name that is indicative of the column you are creating.
Then you will select the base field for the report formula. I chose expected revenue and selected insert.
Then you will create the rest of your formula and click validate to make sure there are no errors.
Finally click apply!
You should be able to see the new report formula field at the end of your columns!
You can move this around and don’t hesitate to play around with the settings!
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