Cleaning up Data in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365
It is important to clean up data in our CRM solution regularly. One of the main reasons is that unwanted data can lead to performance issues. Performance issues include taking too much time for the form load, saving records, random SQL timeouts etc.
When working with applications like , one of the most predominant concerns is, “how do we keep our data clean?” With any enterprise application, this is always a challenge and should be at the top of the list during the implementation plan. There can be a significant impact to the organization if there are no preventative and remedial measures in place related to data that is being used to manage the business.
It is extremely important to have a data management process at hand especially in Production instances where the data could get large. Data cleanup can be done in a variety of ways.
Background:
Let’s say there is a Sales organization that imports leads from a third -party source, weekly. The users of the system follow up with these leads as soon as they are imported and qualify/disqualify them after talking to the leads. Users no longer need the leads which are disqualified and they can be deleted.
Method:
The above lead cleanup can be done through the CRM user interface.
Go to the Data Management page in CRM.
Select the Bulk Record Deletion. Click on New. Click on Next in the newly opened window. You will be directed to define the Search criteria. The search criteria for our example is “Leads which are disqualified”.
Depending upon your needs, you can make the criteria a lot more complex if needed. For example, if you want to keep the historic data for 6 months, you can filter by using the Out-of-the-box “Created On” field in Dynamics CRM. You can add a condition stating “Created on Older than X months” and mention the months as 6.
Once the parameter has been defined, you can click on Next. The window will look like the following:
Here, you can specify the conditions related to when it needs to run. You can run the job immediately or you can schedule it for a later time. You can also specify if it needs to be run periodically like every two weeks, one month, etc. You also have the option to be notified via email once the job is complete.
Once you have verified all the details, click on Submit.
It’s very easy to ignore the data cleanup activity in your CRM and silently allowing it to cause severe damage to your business, but with a little planning and by having the right processes in order, you can turn your Dynamics 365 into your company’s financial heartbeat. Nobody is perfect but it is important to remain vigilant while implementing a scalable CRM to keep the momentum intact.
It’s good to remember that consistency in our data provides a consistent experience to our customers, which leads to a higher customer satisfaction. Happy customers are typically inclined to revisit and purchase more which directly impacts the bottom line. Using an application like Microsoft Dynamics 365 enables this process in an easy to use and collaborate manner within an enterprise.
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