Patent ID: 8429518

Claim:
A computing device comprising: a database adapted to store customer relationship management (CRM) records containing CRM data; one or more programmable processors adapted to execute a CRM software application and a spreadsheet software application; and a reporting module associated with the CRM software application, wherein the CRM software application accesses one or more report templates, wherein the reporting module associated with the CRM software application is adapted to, in response to a report generation request, access a schema and data structures of the CRM database and access customized settings associated with the CRM application, wherein the reporting module associated with the CRM software application displays a list of the report templates and receives a selection of one of the one or more report templates, wherein the reporting module associated with the CRM software application presents a set of database fields in accordance with the selected report template, receives a selection of one or more of the database fields, and generates a database query in accordance with the selected database fields, wherein the reporting module invokes the spreadsheet software application using an application programming interface (API) of the spreadsheet software application to automatically generate an electronic worksheet viewable within the spreadsheet software application and to automatically generate a pivot table within the electronic worksheet to access the CRM data of the CRM database in accordance with the query, wherein the reporting module is adapted to communicate report parameters from the CRM software application to the spreadsheet software application based on the schema and data structures of the CRM database and the customized settings associated with the CRM application, and wherein, in response, the spreadsheet software application generates the pivot table within the electronic worksheet to present the CRM data in accordance with the report parameters.