Data Quality Helper | Data Validation, Dupe Resolution, Storage Mgmt

Without that commitment, users may not achieve, initiatives may fail, and the Admin may need to answer some difficult questions. With it, possibilities open up for the business and the Admin’s career—here’s how.

In every job, there are tasks that are more fulfilling than others. No role is without its chores. However, the key is to ensure that the positives outweigh the negatives by a significant margin.
This principle holds true for Salesforce^® Admins as well. They fulfill a crucial role that spans various business functions, including customer relationship management, revenue generation, strategy formulation, decision making, and internal operations. A skilled Admin becomes a valuable partner to multiple facets of a successful enterprise.

It Starts with the Mastery of Salesforce

One of the primary responsibilities of an Admin is to maintain the health of the Salesforce platform and provide assistance to its users. They play a vital role in enhancing Salesforce usability, training users to be efficient and effective, and driving innovation and transformative projects. In essence, they extend the capabilities of Salesforce and justify the ongoing investment in the platform.

However, all of these activities, as well as the productivity of the platform's users, rely on high-quality data. Without it, the impact of the platform and its users becomes ineffective at best and potentially damaging at worst. In the long run, the future of the business could be at stake, and in the short term, the Admin's career prospects at that company could be in jeopardy.

Undoubtedly, improving data quality may not be the most desirable task for Admins. While it is undeniably important for the aforementioned reasons, the time spent cleaning and resolving data issues can take away from other impactful duties that could drive business advancement. Additionally, this seemingly thankless task offers little glory and may not contribute to personal career growth (although neglecting it would be damaging for an Admin’s career).

Plan for Quality, Have a Quality Plan

To address this challenge, Admins should develop a comprehensive data quality plan that identifies the root causes of poor data creation. Once these sources are known, an action plan can be implemented to improve data quality over time. However, it is crucial to gain buy-in from all the relevant stakeholders for the plan to succeed.

Admins should not tackle this issue alone. Improving data quality requires a team effort, and it makes sense to delegate certain tasks to Salesforce users. They are the ones closest to the data, creating and utilizing records as part of their daily responsibilities. They are in the best position to identify what constitutes good data.

As part of the plan, Admins should focus on three key areas:

1. Establishing formal guidelines for new data creation to ensure consistency among Salesforce users. Users may be adding new records regularly, which can impact data quality, and they may have different approaches to doing so.
2. Implementing a plan for the repair and maintenance of existing records. Change is constant, and data can quickly become invalid, fragmented, or stale due to incompleteness or duplication.
3. Addressing the full data lifecycle end-to-end. This includes developing a governance strategy for timely data deletion and storage management, keeping the org’s data streamlined and efficient for its users productivity needs.

Enlisting the Right Solution for Taking Action

Fortunately, there is a solution that can help Admins implement a data improvement plan more effectively. The free Salesforce-native app called Data Quality Helper, developed by Passage Technology, assists Admins in achieving their data quality goals for both new and existing records as well as active and archived records. This app offers the following solutions:

• Enhanced Validation Rules — Admins can customize special data validation rules for users when creating or updating records. This allows for the implementation of more uniform processes to achieve higher data quality. Unlike Salesforce's default functionality, which lacks flexibility and customizability, the Data Quality Helper app empowers Admins to determine the triggering criteria, the timing of rule execution, and the customized notifications displayed to users when rules are not followed. This ensures that users adhere to the Admin-established guidelines and understand how to fix problems while creating or updating records.
• Duplicate Data Identification and Resolution — The app simplifies the identification, elimination, and merging of potential duplicate records. With a cleaner dataset, users can leverage the data without confusion or errors. Once again, the Data Quality Helper app surpasses Salesforce's default duplication resolution function, offering greater customization options for Admins. They can adjust the sensitivity matching and criteria for identifying duplicates. The app's interface then guides users in selecting and merging the correct data from duplicates into a single record of higher quality.
• Sound Record Deletion and Data Storage Management — Customizable data cleanup rules help keep the org free of unwanted data and safely free up costly data storage. Admins can automatically or manually mass delete records on any object through a scheduled or ad hoc basis. Before deletion, affected records can be previewed; after deletion, records can be easily restored. As available data storage shrinks, an Admin’s predefined storage limit threshold will trigger alerts to take action. In addition, storage analytics are measured, identifying monthly storage usage trends and the top data consumers.

To facilitate the execution of a data improvement plan, Admins can set up a Lightning Web Component that provides all users with an organization-wide view of identified data problems to address.

More Than Ever, Future Success Depends on Being Proactive

More and more businesses are turning to AI solutions (including Salesforce’s tools) to drive their operations. But AI outcomes are only as good as the quality of the data inputs. So Admins can play an important role in transitioning their companies to better use of AI—if they drive better data enhancements within the business and Salesforce. It’s a great career opportunity to step up and stand out. In addition, it boosts ROI on the business’s use of Salesforce.

Ultimately, the typical Admin faces numerous challenges in managing an organization's Salesforce capabilities. Poor data quality only exacerbates these challenges and may reflect negatively on the Admin. While they may not be responsible for the initial data problems, they have the power to rectify them. The Data Quality Helper app is available free on the Salesforce AppExchange.

How long can you let the issue of poor data quality persist unaddressed? The solution is at hand. Learn more about Data Quality Helper or schedule a demo/consultation today.