Spring 19 - Welcome Back Reports & Dashboards

As a long-standing and founding member of the “Why Is This Missing in Lightning Club”, one of my huge issues has been the frustration around reports and dashboards. Sure, we got some new stuff a few years ago, but since then it seems like we have been running into more and more missing features. However, I think Spring 19 is the great equalizer and here are the top four features that should bring us all back into Lightning Experience.

By the way, there are so many I am not even going to mention Joined Reports. Yup, not going to mention those at all.

Stacked Summaries

There is no denying the power of the Matrix Report (red pill), but in Lightning the bigger they got, with more data elements, the longer and more unreadable the report became. For example, if you were showing four different summary data levels over five years of columns the data was side by side, not stacked like in Classic. Welcome to the club, Stacked Summaries, and thank you for being here. Now in Spring 19, you have a toggle at the bottom to stack up that data and make it easier to read.  

Conditional Highlighting (Beta)

Sure it is a beta, but it is a very colorful beta and looks great so far. Welcome back, ability to Highlight Data Elements with Colors. Bask in the glow of green, red and yellow cells all highlighting important data. This alone will stop me clicking the “Switch to Salesforce Classic” link a few times a week.

This One Goes to 12

Sure, 9 columns was nice. It allowed for a ton more flexibility than Classic dashboards. We could move Lightning Dashboard Components around in different sizes, showing more relevant data and create some stunning visualizations. Salesforce didn’t stop there. Sure, some things go to 11 but these columns go to 12 and now you can bring your Lightning Dashboards to a whole-new-level (drop the mic). Somewhere, Rob Reiner must be happy.

Compact Components

Now that you have all those columns, let’s fill them up with some great data. New in Spring 19 are Compact Components that allow for more “data-dense dashboards.” No, we are not calling your data stupid, but you can now make components as small as a 1x1 column which is great for metrics where you are just showing a single number. In this case, smaller is better.

Have things you love about the Spring 19 release of reports and dashboards? Comment below, in the Salesforce Trailblazer Community, or directly at me @JasonMAwtwood.