How to Share a Report in Salesforce is a fundamental skill that every Salesforce user should learn; this helps in making data-driven decisions for your business. Not only this, but it also offers multiple other benefits, like teams tracking performance, analyzing trends, and monitoring key business metrics, but their true value lies in how effectively they are shared with the right people.
In addition to that, a well-built report by Salesforce helps stakeholders to understand what’s going on in the business and what urgent steps the company needs to take. As we all know, Businesses using salesforce customization services can further tailor report access, visibility, and security controls based on unique organizational workflows. On the other hand, “share report Salesforce” can improve team visibility, enable faster decision-making, maintain data security, and boost team collaboration.
If you also want to take all these benefits for your business, then you must give this blog a deep read. Here, we are going to discuss every notable point about “how to share Salesforce report.” In addition to that, we will also cover the fundamentals of report access, common sharing challenges, and best practices to ensure your reports reach the intended audience securely and efficiently.
Basics of Sharing Salesforce Report
Understanding “How To Share a Report in Salesforce” is essential before you can take action on any of the steps involved in sharing reports. Salesforce has a unique way of sharing its reports: they cannot be shared on an individual basis unless otherwise noted, but rather, report sharing is managed through folders.
The folders assigned to reports dictate who has view/edit/manage access to the data contained in the folders. This approach allows great visibility into which users can access the reports folder and protects against sensitive data exposure.
Salesforce takes into account role hierarchy, profile, permission set, and folder permission simultaneously to decide whether the reports are visible or not. Thus, in a case where the users have access to the information, they still need to be granted access to the reporting folder to identify whether the user is able to see the report. Through this multi-level security model, Salesforce can help businesses to protect their sensitive data safely and also work together where the need arises.
The share report Salesforce with teams is also important to ensure that permission levels on report folders are well checked. The users have to be granted specific permission (Viewer, Editor, or Manager) levels to make sure they can access and modify the reports according to the role they have, which in turn keeps reporting processes in the stream and safe.
Now, in this section, you have gained the knowledge of why understanding and sharing reports in Salesforce is required for a successful company. This could be the right time to discuss the steps to share the Salesforce report.
Key Steps to Share a Report in Salesforce
In this section, let’s learn the Salesforce report sharing settings so that you can seamlessly share the report with the needed person. We have deeply dug and curated a step-by-step guide so that you don’t face any problem while sharing the crucial resources with your management. In case you get stuck anywhere or want expert guidance, you can Hire Salesforce Consultant to ensure report sharing is configured correctly and securely, and they will help you out in no time.
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Step 1: Navigate to the Reports Tab
To begin, log in to your Salesforce account using your valid user credentials. Once successfully logged in, access all reports by selecting “Reports” from the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the screen. If the Reports option doesn’t appear in the navigation bar, click on “App Launcher” at the top right corner of the screen and type “Reports” into the search box. The available Reports section will show reports available to you based on your current permissions; therefore, please ensure you have the correct permissions before proceeding.
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Step 2: Locate and Review the Report Folder
Salesforce controls report visibility by using folders instead of saving reports separately. Locate which folder your report is located in and determine if this folder is private or shared. Personal folders do not permit the sharing of reports; therefore, if the report is in a personal folder, you must transfer it to a shared or public folder. It is advisable to review the folder structures to ensure that your organization’s users will not have access problems in the future.
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Step 3: Access Folder Sharing Settings
To open the folder sharing settings, first, click the dropdown arrow next to the report folder name. When you open the folder sharing settings panel, you will see the user permissions option. It is important for you to set the folder sharing options correctly. If you misconfigure any of the folder-level permissions for a report, then that particular report, regardless of whether the user has the data permissions required for the report, will not be visible to the user.
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Step 4: Choose Users, Roles, or Public Groups
You can add users, roles with subordinates, or public groups in the sharing window. Best Practice is to use Roles or Public Groups for Access Management, as when a team member comes in and goes away from the team, it is easier to manage Salesforce report access. Using this method makes it easy to manage access consistently without having to update sharing settings frequently.
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Step 5: Define the Correct Access Level
Based on the user’s responsibilities, the access level can be set to Viewer, Editor, or Manager. Users with a viewer-level account can view and run reports. Users with editor-level accounts can modify and save their changes to reports. Users with manager-level access have full access to reports (including the ability to share/modify permissions). Providing the appropriate access level to users helps protect against unauthorized changes and maintains the integrity of reports.
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Step 6: Save Changes and Verify Access
Once you have entered users and permissions, remember to save your sharing settings. The recipients are also expected to refresh Salesforce or sign out and sign in after receiving access to use the reports. Ensuring that users can be accessed immediately will enable you to identify and rectify any access problems earlier rather than later so that users can easily access reports that their colleagues or management have shared with them without any hitches.
So, these were the simplest ways to share a Salesforce report. You can try them out and enjoy the benefits of sharing the report. As discussed, sharing reports in Salesforce could be the best way to update your upper management about what is going on in the business. In addition to that, this resort will also help them in making future-oriented, result-driven decisions through real-time insights.
Common Report Sharing Challenges and Their Solutions
Now, while sharing a Salesforce report, you may encounter some challenges, but don’t worry; we have curated another useful section for you. Where we will discuss all the possible challenges that one can face while sharing the report, and we have also written down the simplest solution for each challenge in this next section.
- Reports saved in personal folders cannot be accessed by other users, solution: Report sharing is also not possible in Salesforce when they are stored in individual folders, and this, in most cases, becomes confusing when a team member is not able to access the report. To address this, the report must be transferred to a shared or public folder where folder-level permission can be used. This will make the report visible to the authorized people in the teams.
- Users receive access errors even after the folder is shared, solution: Folder sharing is not a guarantee of access when users are not allowed into the objects or fields stored in the report. When this happens, check the profile and sets of permissions of a user to ensure that the user has access to all the required data and is not denied it. The protection of data permissions with the permissions of folders solves the majority of visibility problems.
- Incorrect access level assigned to users; solution: Giving an inappropriate access level may either limit the user without reason or make undesirable edits. Check the sharing of folders and give Viewer, Editor, or Manager permissions depending on the role of the individual user and the scope of reporting. Adequate access controls are useful in ensuring accountability and accuracy of reports.
- Too many users have edit or manager access, solution: Unreasonable editing approvals make it more likely that there is an accidental change, deletion, or misconfiguration of reports. To avoid this, grant Editor and Manager access to a small pool of trusted users and grant Viewer access to the majority of the stakeholders. This practice will be a compromise between teamwork and privacy.
- Shared reports are difficult for users to locate solutions: Users can fail to locate the report in Salesforce even when sharing is properly set up. Make sure that the report is stored in the intelligible shared folder, and instruct the users to open the shared folder in the Reports tab, and the refresh of the session, or the log out and the re-entry, may also facilitate the visibility.
Best Practices for Sharing Reports in Salesforce
To share the reports in Salesforce, it is better to follow best practices and ensure the data security, enhance the usability, and minimize the issues linked with the access. Shared folders are one of the most significant practices that should be used instead of personal folders. It is also easier to organize the reports in well-labeled folders so the user can find reports and know the purpose of the report.
The other best practice is that access levels should be assigned in a sensible manner. The majority of users can get only Viewer access to execute and process reports, and only report owners or administrators should have Editor or Manager access. This will reduce chances of erroneous edits and increase the accuracy of the report in the long run.
Turning the sharing of folders on and off should also be regularly checked. With the expanding or altering teams, the old set of permissions may result in limited access or unnecessary distribution of sensitive information. Regular audits will be used to maintain the access of reports in accordance with the existing business functions and the compliance.
How to Manage and Update Shared Report Access
Not just sharing reports but managing them is equally important. Hence, we have curated this section where we tell you some of the simplest ways to manage and update report access.
- Periodically check report access: Access to shared reports is determined by business roles, team structures, and data requirements, which keep evolving over time; therefore, one should periodically check access to shared reports to verify that users have access to the information they require.
- Change the settings of sharing updates: In the report folder, open the sharing settings and include new users, roles, or public groups. You can also change the existing access levels or delete users who are not needed anymore.
- Keep visibility in check: The access should be adjusted with the business needs at hand, and this will make sure that only the right people have access to the reports without any unwarranted exposure.
- Detect and mitigate security threats: Periodic audits will assist in the detection of inactive accounts or high-level unnecessary access. The deletion or limitation of these minimizes the possibility of unauthorized modification or unintentional editing.
- Provide reliable and secure reporting: There should be consistent management of shared access to reports to keep them up-to-date, secure, and in line with organizational objectives to assist in making accurate decisions.
Conclusion
In this blog on “How To Share a Report in Salesforce,” we have covered all the notable points that you should know before sharing a report through Salesforce. In addition to that, we have curated the simplest 6 steps where you can learn how to share reports with Salesforce.
Along with that, to become collaborative, use Salesforce more effectively, and make better decisions, it is imperative to share reports and ensure the protection of data. Knowledge of folder structures, permission levels, and user roles helps organizations to ensure that the right individuals access the right information at the right time.
Adhering to the best practices (shared folders, assigning the proper access levels, and periodically reviewing the sharing settings) can prevent the most frequent errors in the field of work (access errors, over-sharing, or unintentional edits).
You will be able to distribute reports to Salesforce teams in an efficient way with the help of the appropriate approach and deliver insights in a secure and reliable manner to all stakeholders. Frequent checkups and upgrades also ensure that access to reports is not out of place with the changing business requirements, giving an uninterrupted reporting process by all concerned.
