Get Acquainted with Actionable Analytics
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Identify the key benefits and importance of using actionable analytics in driving business decisions.
- Describe best practices for applying insights from quarterly business reviews.
- Explain the process of confirming and updating key performance indicators following business reviews and stakeholder meetings.
- Demonstrate how to update, communicate, and optimize Salesforce reports and dashboards using analytics tools like Tableau and Data Cloud.
Learn Actionable Analytics
Why are actionable analytics so important? Simply put, businesses aim to influence results. Leaders rely on data to guide decisions, and managers and individual contributors need data to assess whether their tactics are effective. In the business world, nearly every action generates data. By aggregating and analyzing this data, you can identify trends and patterns, better understand where to invest your efforts, and ultimately drive business outcomes.
For example, imagine working in a customer support call center. How do you know if you’re keeping customers satisfied or resolving their issues? You analyze key metrics like call duration, customer satisfaction scores, the number of cases agents handle, their assigned channels, case escalations, refunds, and cross-selling or upselling benefits. As an admin, you help drive business decisions by using Salesforce data.
In the past, these analytics were created entirely with core platform Salesforce report and dashboard features. Today, you can be using a broader suite of tools like Tableau, Tableau CRM, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Intelligence, or even integrated third-party analytics solutions. The best practices you learn about in this unit apply to any of these tools. Best practices aren’t tied to products; they represent a way of working and a mindset.
Attend Quarterly Business Reviews
A quarterly business review (QBR) is a meeting during which business leaders and contributors discuss goals and progress. For example, in a national sales organization divided into territories, a territory manager meets with sales reps each quarter to assess performance against their quotas. QBRs allow businesses to analyze progress and take action toward goals.
As a Salesforce admin, you aren’t organizing these meetings. Instead, ask to observe QBRs. Each business handles QBRs differently, so feel free to adapt this best practice to suit your organization. While observing, pay attention when Salesforce is used or mentioned, taking notes on complaints or wins. During breaks or lunch, check in with stakeholders and users to gather feedback.
Business leaders might outline strategies or initiatives during QBRs. Note how well your org supports these goals and any new initiatives or dates. Prepare questions for follow-up with stakeholders. If it’s your first QBR, thank your sponsor afterward. QBRs typically require several hours each quarter. Adjust your calendar to fit the business’ schedule.
Confirm and Update KPIs
Confirm and update key performance indicators (KPIs). This is a natural step to take after a quarterly business review. Compile your notes, compare them with current reports, and pay close attention to the KPIs. Schedule one-on-one or small-group meetings with business leaders to discuss your findings, ask questions, and evaluate the current reports. Unlike QBRs, KPI reviews are more focused and involve direct discussions with leadership.
It’s crucial for admins to confirm and update KPIs because it helps the business drive results and make informed decisions based on data, aligning with organizational goals. You are the best-suited person at your organization to ensure that the data is reliable and that reporting out of Salesforce is accurate.
Review the KPIs at all organizational levels. For instance, sales reps might focus on new leads, while the VP of Sales may be more concerned with monthly closed business, summarized by rep. Plan to spend about an hour each quarter on confirming and updating KPIs, scheduling this task after your QBR to maximize time efficiency. These reviews can help you identify areas where users are struggling, allowing you to make the necessary changes to the Salesforce configuration to improve their effectiveness.
Review and Update Key Reports and Dashboards
Finally, update your reports and dashboards to ensure your organization is using the most relevant data to make informed decisions. Use your unique Salesforce insights to adjust analytics, removing outdated reports and creating new ones if needed for the following quarter. This isn’t just about making changes and moving on. Communication is key. Inform the business of changes to reports and dashboards thoughtfully—this not only keeps users in the loop, but also builds trust that actionable analytics are coming out of Salesforce for the business to make data driven decisions. Consider using multiple communication channels like Slack, email, or other means to ensure the message reaches everyone.
Include changes to key reports, reasons for those changes, and any related business initiatives. Be clear if KPIs have changed, as users are accountable for these metrics; they want to know what you are looking for in the data. Highlight any pain points you remove and share these wins with your users. Make your contact information readily available, and remain open and supportive of questions. This is a great chance to identify super-users and deepen business relationships.
Allocate a few hours each quarter to update key reports and dashboards, scheduling it after confirming your KPIs.
Aligning with the business through quarterly reviews, confirming KPIs, and updating key reports and dashboards builds trust, reduces the risk of outdated reports, and boosts user productivity. By taking these steps, you can ensure that your organization’s reports and dashboards are accurate, up to date, and aligned with the organization’s goals. Think of yourself as the bridge between your users and the metrics driving your business.
AI and Emerging Technologies
As a Salesforce admin, you have a unique opportunity to use emerging technologies to influence data-driven decision-making and implement analytics best practices across your organization. Use Data Cloud to unify customer data—whether it’s within Salesforce or from external systems—into a single, real-time source of truth. With this comprehensive customer profile, you can use Salesforce Flow, now integrated with Data Cloud objects, to build more intelligent data workflows. Think calculated insights, identity resolution, segmentation, and activations—all automated and tailored to your business’ specific needs through Flow capabilities. This opens the door to more dynamic, powerful analytics tailored precisely to what’s needed.
The right tools can amplify this impact. Tableau offers robust visual analytics to help you create insightful dashboards and reports that reveal key trends like user behavior and adoption patterns. Pulse for Salesforce complements this by bringing AI-powered insights directly into Salesforce CRM, offering out-of-the-box metrics and AI-generated trend summaries—all without users needing to navigate away. Embedding insights right where work happens keeps everyone in the loop and ready to act. And with AI, like Einstein, woven into analytics tools such as Pulse and Data Cloud, you can use generative AI to automatically surface analytics, create plain-language explanations, and alert stakeholders to performance changes. The result? A more intuitive and accessible analytics experience for everyone, making data more actionable and impactful for all users.
By using these tools, you can create a more intuitive and accessible analytics experience, making data more actionable and impactful for all users. As a Salesforce admin, you’re responsible for delivering actionable analytics, and these tools can help you drive data-driven decision-making and implement best practices in analytics. You can also use these tools to better understand user behavior and enable you to improve your organization’s Salesforce instance. Customizing your Salesforce instance, including the integration of AI-powered tools like Agentforce to address business problems, and then using analytics to measure the success of these changes, is a key part of your role.
Emerging tech isn’t just about new tools for admins. It’s about making data more meaningful and actionable for everyone involved—stakeholders, users, and customers.