Getting Started with Salesforce Data Deduplication
Ask any System Administrator: data maintenance is one of their biggest ongoing challenges to manage. How do you maintain data quality for thousands of records on a monthly, daily and hourly basis?
The answer: use business rules, best practices and to help win the war against duplicate data.
Below are 3 ways to get started with data deduplication in Salesforce:
- Pick a De Duplication Tool –Even if you do have all the time in the world and want to manually de-dupe your database…there still is room for human error. Eliminate the potential for any mistakes and use a tool to dedupe your data set.
- DemandTools by CRMfusion Inc. is a great tool for PC users with a suite of solutions that standardizes, dedupes and verifies data. ($$$)
- Cloudingo enables admins to monitor data integrity with a real-time dashboard to review duplicates based on custom filters, then drill into those filters to de dupe records. ($$)
- Prevent duplicate leads, contacts and accounts from being added using DupeCatcher by Symphonic Source. This tool blocks duplicates from being added and merges duplicates already in the system. (Free)
- Back Up Your Data – This is simply a best practice. Your organization should have weekly backups scheduled, and always backup before removing duplicates. If there is ever a mistake, you will have the ability to resolve it quickly.
- Define Your Winning Business Rules – Before deduping, have a clear understanding of what determines a winning record for each object. For example, the “winning account” will be the account with the most won opportunities. If there are no won opportunities, go with the account with the most opportunities likely to win, etc. An example of this is the winning account will have the most won opportunities. Note: DemandTools allows users to add a score to each condition to auto-select winners.
Deduplication processes take planning, tools and organization-wide commitment. However, once they are in place your system and processes will be much more efficient with accurate data.
For additional advice on data best practices and building a successful Salesforce system, check out Three Keys to Your Salesforce System Success.
