This article will walk you through how to create a report containing tasks and the resources they are assigned to.
This article contains instructions on how to build the report in the Salesforce Lightning environment. If you are new to reporting in Salesforce Lightning and would like to learn more, please visit Salesforce Help: Build a Report in Lightning Experience.
Let's begin by understanding how Project Tasks relate to resources. This will help you have a better idea of how to create your report and what information to include.
When a project task is assigned to a resource (user or contact), a corresponding Salesforce Task is created. It is the Salesforce Task that contains the assignment information and not the Project Task. Therefore, if you are looking to create a report containing both tasks and the resources they are assigned to, the best report type to use is "Resource Utilization". This report type allows you to include information from the Salesforce Task, the related Inspire Project Task, related Project and any other objects that the Project has a lookup to (i.e. Accounts, Opportunity, etc.)
When a project task is assigned to a user, the "Assigned To" field on the corresponding Salesforce Task is populated with the name of the user the task is assigned to.
The "Resource Type" field also indicates the task is assigned to a user.
When a project task is assigned to a contact, the "Assigned To" field on the corresponding Salesforce Task is populated with the name of the project owner since Salesforce Tasks require a Salesforce user in this field. The assigned contact appears in the "Name" field instead.
The "Resource Type" field also indicates the task is assigned to a contact.
For ease of reporting on the assigned resource, we've added a field called "Resource Name" in Salesforce Tasks. The Resource Name field automatically populates with the user's name (if the task is assigned to a user) or the contact's name (if the task is assigned to a contact). When used in conjunction with the Resource Type field, you can easily tell if the assigned resource is a user or a contact.
In the example below, the task is assigned to a user. Notice that the Resource Name field contains the user that is in the Assigned To field and the Resource Type is "User".
In the example below, the task is assigned to a contact. Notice that the Resource Name field contains the contact that is in the Name field and the Resource Type is "Contact".
Helpful hint: Therefore, when creating a report containing assigned resources, it is best to include the "Resource Name" field since it will either contain the assigned user or contact. Including the "Resource Type" field would also be helpful as this tells you whether the task is assigned to a user or a contact. You may also use these fields as filters to limit tasks on the report to ones that are assigned to either just users or just contacts.
If you do not see "Resource Name" as an available field within the "Resource Utilization" report type, we recommend cloning the Resource Utilization report type and then adding the Resource Name field to it. To learn more about Salesforce Custom Report Types, please visit: Salesforce - Set Up a Custom Report Type
Besides the Salesforce Task containing the assignment information, it also includes the related Inspire Project Task, Parent Task and Project so you can include these in your report as well.
Now that you understand the relationship between Project Tasks, Salesforce Tasks and Resources, you are better equipped to build your report.
Reports are created within the Reports tab.
Helpful hint: Before creating a new report, it is always best practice to search within all reports first to see if the report you need already exists. Simply select All Reports in the menu on the left and enter your keyword in the search box on top of the list.
If the report you need does not exist, then click on New Report to create a new report.
The report type you choose determines which records and fields appear in your report. To create a report containing tasks and the resources they are assigned to, use the report type called "Resource Utilization". This is a custom report type available with Inspire Planner.
Enter "resource" in the search box and click on Resource Utilization to select it. Then click on Continue.
You will now see the Salesforce Report builder on screen. Let's familiarize ourselves with the different areas/options we see.
Fields (click to expand if the pane is closed) contains all the fields you can include in your report. You can scroll through the list to look for the field you need or you can also enter the field name in the search box on top of the list.
Here is a list of fields you may want to include:
You may also choose to include duration, % complete or any other information you wish to see on the report.
Outline contains the fields that appear as columns on the report. You may also choose to group rows within this area.
To add a field to the report, simply drag the field from the list of fields on the left to the area under Columns. Alternatively, you may also type in the field name in the search box under Columns and click on it to add.
You will notice that as you add fields to the report, it displays the field as a column in the Preview pane.
To re-order the columns on the report, simply drag and drop the fields according to your desired order under Columns. Alternatively, you may also drag and drop the column headings within the Preview pane.
You may also choose to group rows together to make it easier to read the report. For example, you may want the tasks that belong to same parent task and/or project to be grouped together. You can specify groupings by adding a group under the Groups section.
To group tasks that belong to the same project together, drag the Project Name field under Group Rows. You will notice that the tasks that belong to the same project now appear together in the preview pane.
If you would like to further group tasks together so that they are grouped by both project and parent task, then drag the Parent Task field below the Project Name under Group Rows. This will group the tasks by Project Name first and then by the Parent Task.
If preferred, you may further group tasks together by Status. Simply drag the Status field below the Parent Task under Group Rows. This means that the tasks will be grouped by Project Name, then by Parent Task, then by Status.
Once you've added all the fields you need on the report and have grouped them accordingly, you can then adjust and define Filters.
Filters allow you to pare down your report so that it only shows the data that you want. To view and specify Filters, click on the Filters Tab.
For more information on using Filters within Salesforce Reports, visit Salesforce Help: Filter Your Report
By default, the report only contains activities (tasks) that are assigned to you as a user. To include all activities assigned to all users and/or contacts, click on My activities. A window containing options will open. Select All activities and click on Done.
Next, you would need to specify the date range of tasks that need to be included in the report. Click on the existing range. A window will open where you can then select the Date and Range you wish to use and click on Apply.
In this example, we are using the date the task is created as the date criteria and then choosing "All Time" which means that we are including all tasks created regardless when it was created.
If preferred, you may further pare down the data included in the report by adding more filters. For example, if you would like the report to only contain the projects owned by a specific user, then you may want to add the project owner as a filter (see example below):
You may also choose to pare down the tasks included in the report based on who tasks are assigned to (use Assigned To field for tasks assigned to Salesforce users and use Name field for tasks assigned to contacts).
Helpful hint: The preview pane only shows you a limited number of records and may not necessarily contain all of the data. To see all data on the report, you would need to run the report by clicking on Run.
Once you are finished configuring the report, you can then save and run the report by clicking on Save & Run at the top right corner.
Enter a report name, a description (optional) and choose a report folder to save it in. Then click on Save.
Helpful hint: Reports saved in Private reports are only accessible to you while reports saved in Public Folders are accessible to all users who have access to reports.
The report will now be saved and will also run.
If you need to go back to the report builder to make further adjustments, click on Edit at the top right corner. Remember to click on save again to save any changes you make to the report.