Get your data into shape

When you want to get in shape, you come up with a plan. You get the right equipment (gym membership, yoga mat, dumbbells), aim for consistency, and track your progress.

The same goes for your data. What does that mean, practically speaking? There is no one-size-fits-all fitness plan for getting your data into shape – just like there is no one-size-fits-all fitness plan for people. Designing the right maintenance program for your data depends on your strategic goals.

We'll explore how the data trainers at CKC keep data strong and healthy, offering practical insights and tips for developing a customized plan to get your data in tip-top shape.

Step one: Have a plan

You wouldn't just walk into a gym and start randomly picking up weights. You also want to make sure you have a plan in place for strengthening and conditioning your data. The first thing to keep in mind when you’re creating your data fitness plan is that you should always back up your data before you make any changes. Even the most competent of users will make mistakes. Second, communicate your data plan clearly. All progress will be lost if nobody knows how and why you are entering or maintaining data.

How do you customize a data fitness plan for your firm?

When deciding what data needs conditioning and which reports to run, first define what you are trying to achieve. Your data maintenance plan should go hand in hand with your firm’s strategic plan.

Example: Senior leadership is looking to expand into a new market or location and looking at opportunity data to drive their decision-making. A complete data set is critical, as you do not want them to make decisions with only half the information. You want to make sure the necessary fields - market sector, location, dollars, dates, etc. - are populated in all opportunity records. Run reports to look for missing data to ensure decisions are based on complete data sets.

Similarly, deciding on which data to back up depends on what is vital to you and your firm. What backups will ensure you have the data you need when you need it? 

Example: On your dashboard, you have a widget that displays all your open opportunities. If that’s the case, it's a good idea also to have a backup report that also shows your open opportunities. If something looks off with the dashboard, you can quickly check it against the report and find if someone accidentally filtered the data.

Step two: Get the right equipment

Just like finding the right running shoes can make your morning jog easier, the right tools can help you stay on track with your data fitness routine. For example, using a dedicated software program can make cleaning, preparing, and reviewing data more efficient - and a lot less painful. Finding duplicates, cross-checking data between spreadsheets, or eliminating spaces can cut hours off your data work.

How do you choose the right maintenance reports for your firm?

You pick up weights to build muscle and hop on your bike to go for a ride - the same principle applies to choosing maintenance reports for your data conditioning. Choose your maintenance reports based on the content that’s most critical for you to maintain.

• Example: You want to prioritize project data, so identify the most important fields for users to populate. First, we recommend those fields be required, but we understand that might not be possible depending on your system and/or process. If you can’t require the data, regularly run reports to look for project records missing that vital data.
• Example: When your focus is on opportunities, the statuses of your opportunities will be important. You’d want to run reports to see how old opportunities are and what stage some might be stuck in. Have they been at the lead stage for a long time? Are they still valid leads? Have any opportunities been static for three months or longer?
• Example: You have established workflows to boost efficiency and effectiveness. You'll want to check in regularly to make sure they are working. Create reports to check the workflows and make sure everything is operating the way that it should. The same goes for integrations - running reports to verify the data is flowing between systems protects your hard work.

Step three: Be consistent

By now we've all heard that consistency is key to staying fit and strong. And as we like to say at CKC, “Data is not a diet!" Consistent habits keep your data healthy. Some ideas to keep in mind:

• What structures can you put in place to influence consistency in the data? You can set up the fields in your spreadsheet or CRM to encourage people to respond consistently.
• How often do you review your data? Scrambling to collect, clean, import and review data for a big project is incredibly stressful. But when data is a lifestyle and you work consistently to maintain your data, you can lose that stress. Schedule regular maintenance reports and stay on top of that precious business asset.

What is the right data maintenance schedule for your firm?

Some data maintenance should be performed quarterly, some monthly, some weekly. How often is enough? Determining the right cadence for reviewing data depends on a few factors: your workload and bandwidth, how much data there is to check, and how often you need to use the data.

• Example: Your firm sends out an email campaign monthly - you don't want to run a report looking for missing emails once a quarter. Once a month would be better, or, if you don't want to deal with a stack of emails every month, run the report weekly or even twice a week. The right cadence depends on how often you use your email list and how much time you want to spend per week or month populating missing email addresses.
• Example: New employee records get pushed into your firm's CRM system and they are often missing key information such as previous project experience or professional designations. Run a report to look for empty fields quarterly - or more often, if you find you are regularly trying to track down missing information for proposals at the last minute.
• Example: Keeping resume information up to date can be a real task. But some employees are only included on a proposal occasionally. Maybe for those people, checking their resume annually is sufficient. For someone who shows up in every proposal, you might want to check their information quarterly or even monthly.

Step four: Track your progress

If you were working towards a goal of 50 pushups, you would want to remember that you started at five pushups. Keeping track of the status of your data - what you received, what you imported and on what date - is going to keep you oriented and on target. 

What progress should you track at your firm?

Remember that your data maintenance plan should align with your strategic goals - your progress tracking should do the same. Reports, analytics, and dashboards can be set up to quickly and easily show whether your data maintenance efforts are successful and how close you are to your target.

• Example: Your goal is to store all marketing data in your CRM system. You've been working hard to fill in missing information. You can set up a dashboard in your CRM that is full of reports looking for empty fields. When the dashboard is empty, the data is up to date. 
• Example: Your strategic objective is to grow your market in a specific geographic area. To do that, you must track and tag all your clients and prospects with a region. When you can segment your audience based on region, you can quickly see how your data maintenance efforts are progressing.

Having a plan, choosing the right tools, maintaining consistency, and tracking progress are the keys to healthy data. While there is no template for a data fitness plan, you can customize your data maintenance to align with your business goals, allowing you to harness the power of the valuable business asset of data. So, lace up your data sneakers and take the first step towards fitter, healthier data.

Owner of CKearney Consulting, Courtney Kearney, CPSM leads a firm of approachable data nerds that offers evaluation, implementation, on-call support, and training to maintain and improve firms’ CRM and data systems as well as their proposal automation, data analytics, and so much more. Known for her love of data, Courtney is a thought leader, public speaker, and co-author of the book, CRM or Die: Manage Your Client Relationships or Perish.

Erica Curtis is the marketing and communications manager at CKearney Consulting. A background in journalism and business communications has honed Erica’s dedication to clear, effective writing and design. She brings a passion for language and storytelling to every project she leads.