Reporting on Calculated Insights Using Lightning Reports

In the last release, we went GA with reporting on DMOs. As we forge ahead with the development of our data cloud roadmap, we are delighted to introduce reporting on Calculated Insights.

So first things first, what is a Calculated Insight?

A Calculated Insight (CI) allows you to define and compute multidimensional metrics. For instance, you can assess performance at the channel level or leverage product metrics to gain insights into purchasing and browsing behavior, such as ranking customers by spending or engagement scores.

Example 1

Let’s start with a simple example, consider a CI that has one aggregatable measure – Lifetime Value (LTV). If I go to the Data Cloud interface and select Calculated Insights, I can see the list of CIs and choose one to further see the list of fields and query behind it.

Let’s see how reporting on this would work.

To do this, simply:

• Go to the Reports tab in your Data Cloud instance
• Click on “New Reports”
• Choose the category “Data Cloud”
• You should see all the data cloud report types. Search for the one you would like to create a report on. In this case “LTV”.

Click on that report type and select “Start Report”.

You will see a new report open up with the following dimensions and measures.

• By default, we bring in all the dimensions of the CIs as groupings and the measures as columns and the report is opened as a summary report.
• What happens to CI with more than 3 dimensions?
  • Right now reports can only support up to 3 groupings, so for CIs with more than 3 dimensions, we will bring in the first 3 in the report. You can always choose to replace one dimension with another. Also, we’re looking at extending this limit in the future.
  • In the case above, the report picks up the first 3 dimensions (brand, customer id, and product category) into a summary report.

Example 2

Now, consider the Calculated Insight, which comprises of the following:

• Three aggregatable metrics (Total Employees, Highest Employee Count, Lowest Employee Count)
• Three non-aggregatable metrics (Rank by Employee Count, Rank by Lowest Revenue Amount, Rank by Highest Revenue Amount)
• A measure is non-aggregatable when you can’t sum it up. Let’s say I want to sum rank for 10 customers, it doesn’t make sense to sum it up. I can only add functions such as min/ max on it.

Now, let’s delve into how reporting will function for this Calculated Insight.

• By default, we bring in all the dimensions of the CIs as groupings and the measures as columns, and the report is opened as a summary report.
• In order to display a non-aggregatable measure, all the groupings need to be there to show the right values. I.e. Rank cannot be calculated without both the dimensions such as Lead Source and Stage. It’s important to mention that the report will always ensure the integrity of the data. i.e., if one of the dimensions is removed, all non-aggregatable measures will also be removed
• You can add charts on CI reporting and will have the same restrictions as in Lightning reports today.

Now, let’s talk about some more use cases.

Use Case 1

Imagine you want to channel your marketing efforts effectively by creating a report on a Calculated Insight that ranks web traffic sources and provides a breakdown for each product category. Here, rank will be a non-aggregatable Calculated Insight, while Probability will be an aggregatable Calculated Insight.

Use Case 2

Develop a report on a unified patient profile Calculated Insight and group patients by age group and health score. For patients below the ideal health score, send targeted emails with available next steps suitable for their age group, such as health screenings or wellness visits.

Use Case 3

Generate a report by grouping records in your customer lifetime value Calculated Insight report by marketing channels and region. Identify the most effective channels for each region and determine where additional effort is required.

Note: For more details on reporting on CIs please refer to the help doc here.

So, that concludes our discussion on reporting on Calculated Insights. This feature is set to go GA in Spring ’24. Additionally, we are actively working on DMO – CI reporting in the future and CI – CI reporting. We’re looking for more feedback on our features, so please reach out to us.

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