When do you need to do it?
If your charity ever buys in data, no matter how clean the
salesman says it is, clean your data. If you do end up using
unclean data, you can not only waste your charity’s money on contact the
wrong people, but it can also lead to some really negative publicity.
Another time to get your data processes in order is when
you’re moving your charity onto a new CRM system. Over time, it’s natural that
data picks up rough edges as people enter things slightly wrongly, or if it
simply becomes obsolete due to people moving addresses or changing phone
numbers. Trust us – it’ll save you a lot of time and pain in the long
run if you consolidate your data before you migrate your systems.
1. Apply a unique ID
Applying an individual ID to each record is essential for
managing data accurately including and tracking any changes. It’s often called
a unique reference number (URN), and an example would be the ‘record ID’ if
you use Salesforce.org.
A unique ID is the one thing that you should never
change. So, for example, imagine that someone changes their name by deed poll
and then change their email address to suit. If you have a unique ID set to
them, then you can still see it’s the same person as before after changing all
of their details, whereas you wouldn’t be able to if you were using their email
address or name as the core value.
2. Ensure accurate data capture and input
This is really important to consider when you’re thinking of
taking up a new CRM system.
Create a guideline for data capture to improve basic data
quality, ensuring that all required data fields are made mandatory, e.g.
postcodes. Then, keep standards the same – Road or Rd, Limited or Ltd. This
improves data cleaning accuracy and makes the processing time more efficient.
3. Check your supplier and give them time
If you’ve bought data, you’ll need to find a data cleaning
bureau as they’ll have the external data resources required (i.e. deceaseds,
gone-aways, etc.) that can be matched to your data to identify what records
need updating or suppressing.
Take the time to investigate different data cleaning
routines and choose the supplier who meets your needs – evidenced through case
studies and testimonials. Then give them plenty of time to do the necessary
checks to ensure it’s done properly. This is an area where it’s definitely a
case of ‘more haste, less speed’.
4. Keep data secure
This isn’t just a consideration but an absolute requirement.
Your supplier should provide you with a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and a
secure method of transferring your data. You should also encrypt your data.
5. Little and often
Don’t leave yourself with a large data-cleaning bill
annually when you can run monthly or quarterly cleans. Cleaning data more
frequently cuts mailing costs and reduces wastage.
Article From: www.technology-trust.org
