Capture Status/Stage Changes in Metrics

Salesforce's primary building blocks are Objects and Fields.

Objects are used to organize and compartmentalize relevant information.
Contacts, Leads, Opportunities, Accounts, etc.

Fields are attached to Objects and provide relevant detail.
Created Date, Status, Name, Type, etc.

It's often desirable to track when a Field changes from A to B. For example you would like to know exactly when an employee transitions a Lead from status "New" to status "Contacted" or an Opportunity from stage "Contracting" to stage "Commit".

Unfortunately Salesforce does not provide this level of field-level tracking by default.

Solution = Create Custom Date Field + Workflow Rule

Create Custom Date Field

You will first need to create a custom Field on the relevant Object that will store the date at which the Field changed from A to B.

1. From within Salesforce click Setup > Customize and then the Object you will be working with.
2. Click Fields > scroll to the Custom Fields section > click New.
3. For Data Type select "Date/Time" and then name it something explicit like "LeadStatusContactedDate".
4. Save the new Field and then based on preference ensure that it is either hidden or visible within the Object's user-facing page layout.

Establish Workflow Rule to Populate Date Field

Next you will create a Workflow Rule that will populate the above field with the date at which the Field changed from A to B.

1. From within Salesforce click Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals > Workflow Rules
2. Click New Rule > select the relevant Object.
3. Name this rule something explicit like "Set LeadStatusContactedDate Rule".
4. Set Evaluation Criteria to "Created, and Any Time It's Edited to Subsequently Meet Criteria".
5. Set Rule Criteria to reflect the state at which your Object has changed from A to B.

For example, if you are wanting to track when employees transition Opportunities from stage "Contracting" to stage "Commit" then your Rule Criteria would be:

Rule Criteria

Field: Opportunity Stage
Operator: Equals
Value: Commit

6. Save this Workflow Rule.
7. Click the newly created Workflow Rule and then in the Workflow Actions section click Edit.
8. Click Add Workflow Action and then click New Field Update.
9. Name this action something explicit like "Set LeadStatusContactedDate Action".
10. Set Field to Update to the new field that you created above.
11. Under Date Options select "Use a Formula to Set the New Value".
12. Set Formula to "NOW()"
13. Save this Workflow Action.

14. You can now create metrics within Ambition based around Field changes, within the Metric Builder form set the Date Field to your newly created field and you should be good to go!