Break the curse of bad data in your Salesforce org by verifying incoming addresses, contact details, and identifying duplicates directly in the flow of work.
Highlights
- Confirm the validity of any email, phone number, and address across all Salesforce records.
- Enjoy a duplicate-free database through the use of Smart Contextual Matching, granular matching rules, and automated merging.
- Verify records at all times with real-time validation or scheduled jobs.
- Easily analyze the processed records with Reports and Dashboards.
Data quality in Salesforce has always been, and will continue to be, an ongoing discussion in any Salesforce implementation. Regardless of the amount of records and their sources, ensuring that the information is not only entered (which can easily be done through validation rules for example) but that the information is also correct can be a near-impossible task using only out-of-the-box functionality. Considering the cost and negative impact bad data can have on your customer experience, processes, and communication, wouldn’t it be great to have a way to confirm its accuracy?
DQE One aims to mitigate all these risks, through its ability to manage the full cycle of your data. Whether you’d like to prevent inaccurate information from being saved on your Accounts, Leads, and Contacts through real-time data verification at the point of entry or to review and clean up your entire database, there surely is a module to satisfy your needs. On top of this, the solution is native to Salesforce and fully compliant with local regulations, including GDPR in Europe and CCPA in the United States.
This in-depth review will showcase the main features of DQE One, ideal use cases, and setup effort, as well as how fast your users can (and will) adopt this new data source.
Features
DQE One is a comprehensive product suite composed of multiple modules that can be used together to achieve a seamless end-to-end data quality process. There are two main ranges the modules are grouped in: DataQ and Unify. For both of these, there is also a backend version for larger data volumes spanning millions of records which connect with any cloud solution such as AWS, Azure, GCP, Heroku, and Alibaba.
- DataQ: Includes all modules related to data validation on Salesforce records, which can be Accounts, Leads, Contacts, and even custom objects.
- Unify: Is focused on record matching and deduplication, including functionality that ensures that no duplicates are left unidentified and allows you to choose how, and if, automatic merging is performed.
Data Validation with DataQ
Following the package installation and setup steps, you can make use of the validation functionalities across Salesforce records through custom Lightning Components provided by DQE. The first one that you should set up to ensure new records are not created without the correct, key information you need is the DQE Create Record, which is used to overwrite the New standard button across Accounts, Leads, and Contacts.
This Lightning component will still be using the Page Layout you have already created and customized, but it will have enhanced functionality on the Address, Phone, and Email fields.
Once this step is done, the input details will be immediately checked for accuracy. For Accounts in France only, an additional functionality is available that can automatically populate data, such as Account Name, Address, and SIC code.
Additional Lightning Components
To further enhance the experience and ensure that the Contact and Address information is checked even when a record is being edited, you can create a new action to replace the out-of-the-box edit page with a Lightning Component that includes the DQE fields and validations.
If you’re using Dynamic Actions and would like to have the DQE Edit for users but keep the standard Edit button for admins, this can be done and you can filter as needed. Otherwise, you can simply replace the component on the Page Layout.
Another way users can edit records is within the Record Detail section on the Record Page instead of the edit button. In this case, you can simply replace the Record Detail component with the custom DQE – Record Detail one directly on the Record Page. If your organization is already using Dynamic Forms, some fields are also available as standalone components to be added above or under the Field Sections, such as the DQE – Email Field and DQE – Phone Field, where you can choose either your standard or custom fields to be displayed.
However, the individual field DQE components can be used even without enabling Dynamic Forms, so, for example, you can have them towards the top of the page if required. As Record Page real estate is limited, it’s up to you to design a version that works best for your org.
Address Check
Before working with the Address validation, make sure that State and Country/Territory Picklists are enabled in your organization, as this is a prerequisite to ensure the functionality works as expected. If you have already added the custom components mentioned above, then it’s a matter of testing out how DQE can automatically complete Address fields based on the address you choose in the lookup field, or let you know if the address you input directly on the record is not correct.
While the above screen is ideal when records are being edited one by one, you can conduct bulk operations to easily review all of your data as soon as you start using DataQ modules. To process existing records in bulk, you can create custom processes on target records via the Processes tab within the DQE One Lightning App. You can use a custom Mapping created in the Mapping tab, or simply choose the Billing, Shipping, or Custom fields from the Account (in this example). To filter the records, you simply have to select an already existing List View or create a new one.
Within the Advanced Options widget, you can select various processes’ specific attributes such as the batch size, and also choose another Process to run, in case you would like to chain any of the cleanup exercises you will be doing. Note that when it comes to Data Sources, you can choose Salesforce or Data Cloud Objects, but the output will be sent back to the same Object’s records.
Once done, you can either “Save” the Process or “Save and Run” it, after which you can easily go through the results in a List View directly on the results page.
Email and Phone Check
Ensuring the Contact information your customers and prospects share is up to date may prove to be quite challenging, especially if it is being input manually in different locations. The DQE Email and Phone modules can help your teams get back the time spent reaching invalid emails or wrongfully formatted phone numbers.
How nice would it be to say goodbye to all those typos across your Leads and Contacts’ email addresses? Be it in real-time or by batch processing on your existing data, you can pick and choose how DQE will flag the records with unreliable email addresses, and also if saving the record will be prevented until a certain error is resolved. This is done within the DQE Email Setup Custom Settings, where you will also have to input the API Names of the fields that the results of the verification should be stored in.
Similar to how the Address verification process is set up, Verify Emails is another option in the Data Quality Process picklist. Once again you can choose to chain other Processes if needed, complete the Source and desired mapping, and select the List View containing the records to be processed.
If you choose to “Save and Run”, the process will start executing and you will be able to follow the progress in real-time, through the path component. Once the run is complete, you can select and customize a List View to review the details provided by DQE as well as the error codes.
For new records, we will once again return to the DQE – Create Record Lightning Component, this time for Leads, Contacts, or even Person Accounts if you have them enabled. The component can suggest email addresses as the First and Last Names are completed – these are just suggestions though, and you can select the correct one as it comes up. The Address will still be validated prior to saving the record.
In the situation that the email is invalid based on the error codes you chose, saving will be prevented (as per the Custom Settings) and you will get an error message very similar to that of a validation rule. You won’t be allowed to proceed unless a valid email address is entered.
While there’s no question that email addresses can nowadays be the preferred way of getting in touch with customers at scale, Sales Managers, Business Development Reps, and even Support Agents may still heavily rely on phone numbers to quickly get in touch with customers. The Phone module within DataQ can easily verify all phone number formats including their prefix as soon as the fields are completed.
As you would expect, these processes can also be run for Address checks, and they can be set up for Phone fields as well, on whichever Salesforce object you need them verified.
Scheduled Jobs
There are situations in which you would prefer the processes you set up to run automatically, and that is an option within the DQE One app, under the Jobs tab. Simply select the process to be triggered, the Start Date and Time, and the frequency – you can choose for the process to run as often as every hour if need be.
Jobs can be set up for any type of process, be they data validation or deduplication.
Additionally, every time a job is processed, the results will be available under the Runs tab, so even if the process is scheduled or not, you can always go back and review the outcome. In case you would also like to take a look over the runs while the records are still being processed, you will be able to, as the run record will keep being updated.
Achieve Customer 360 With Unify
While DataQ focused on the data verification aspects, Unify is the product range tailored specifically for duplicate management, and to help your organization achieve a unified customer view. With these modules, you can ensure that no compromises are being made when data is altered or merged, as any criteria and logic can easily be supported.
Record Deduplication
Identifying duplicates in Salesforce can be done in a myriad of ways, with each company having its own definition of what a duplicate really is. Whether you’re looking at Standard or Custom Object records, successfully identifying duplicates and spending the time to merge, transfer data, and delete records manually is not feasible or scalable long term.
The deduplication process in DQE starts with a well-defined Rule Set which can be used in a process to evaluate existing records. Rules for Leads, Accounts, and Contacts are provided out of the box, so you can get started in no time. The Advanced Options change significantly for deduplication jobs in comparison to other types, as you will be able to pick and choose how and if the merging is done, what threshold should be considered, and also if records are to be deleted.
Regardless of what rule set you choose, if multiple steps are available you can easily turn them on and off within the job, without altering the steps within the Rule Manager.
If the the out-of-the-box Rule Sets provided for Leads, Accounts, and Contacts are not sufficient for your use cases, you can either close one of them and update it, or start from scratch with a new Rule Set.
- Matching Rules: Any number of criteria which will run in parallel to base the identification on, such as email Address, Account Name, First Name/Last Name. There isn’t a hard limit to how many fields can be used.
- Parent Rules: Once potential duplicates are identified, these criteria will help identify the surviving record. By default, the oldest record is taken, but you can further filter as needed.
- Merge Rules: Include the data mapping and what value is going to be populated in specific fields. For example, the value can be taken from the newest record but if it’s empty it will be taken from the parent.
DQE’s proprietary Smart Contextual Matching provides readily available algorithms to ensure an accurate match, on top of the simple exact or fuzzy matching that can usually be done. As long as you choose the correct data type, the results are sure to exceed your expectations.
Once the Process run is completed, you will be presented with the results, and you can choose to start a merging process manually, or even flush the results. Flushing the results will only delete the DQE field values, not any of your Salesforce data which was used for the matching.
Insightful Analytics
As you could have already guessed after seeing the functionality, the DQE One activity can be seamlessly monitored through the use of Salesforce Reports and Dashboards, as all of the details are stored on either Standard or Custom Object records. While you can create your own Reports and, for example, embed some of them on the DQE One Home page such as below, you can also quickly generate custom reports directly from each Process run by clicking the analytics icon.
Regardless of the preference or tool that you use for reporting, all the information is accessible either through Reports and Dashboards, List Views, or even queries if needed.
Use Cases
As there are always data quality challenges and potential issues that you would like to prevent within your organization, there are as many use cases for the entire DQE One platform. Regardless of the industry your company belongs to, when working with data, being proactive about quality is a much better choice than cleaning up afterward.
The main use case of ensuring that the Contact information, such as email and phone numbers, is up to date is crucial for any Sales efforts as well as Marketing campaigns. Saying goodbye to invalid information has the potential to increase the conversion rate, ensure that Business Development Reps do not spend precious time sending emails that will bounce, and help to confirm that email campaigns are properly delivered in a timely manner.
Additionally, the ability to offer a native Salesforce experience to your users, whether end users or Data Stewards, can easily drive adoption and uncover processes that you may have not yet considered due to the cumbersome manual process. On top of that, the ability of your organization to define the rules rather than relying on anything out of the box will surely make a difference, especially when working with large amounts of data that cannot realistically be manually checked.
Impact
With international coverage and multiple connectors to choose from, including Salesforce, DQE One is a platform that can fundamentally change how your organization evaluates and reports on the quality of the information in your CRM. From checking Contact details to avoid email bouncing or reps wasting time calling bad numbers, to postal address verification and duplicate management, both DataQ and Unify are sure to help you make the most out of your Salesforce data, without the worrying of user error.
Setup
The first step is for you to install the DQE managed package from the AppExchange into the Salesforce org of your choice. The DQE team will provide you with your license key, and after the package is in, you should navigate to the DQE One Lightning App.
You will have to complete the installation on the dedicated Installer tab, then navigate to Named Credentials and Custom Settings to finalize the setup and mapping for the processes which will be conducted by the DQE Modules. The package also comes with a dedicated DQE Admin permission set which you can assign as needed.
Support
Even though the setup is quite straightforward to complete by reviewing the components included in the managed package, there is also DQE’s extensive knowledge base for the Salesforce implementation to help with any queries you may have. This includes written step-by-step instructions as well as video demonstrations for all Salesforce-related functionality so that you can get started in no time.
Of course, if you have a specific question you cannot find the answer for, their support team is more than happy to assist if you submit a support request.
Pricing
The DQE pricing is usage-based and can also be adapted to your organization’s needs, considering the modules you’re looking forward to purchasing as well as the data volume you’ll need to process. You can email salesforce@dqe-software.com for more pricing details.
As of now, there is available pricing for each of the modules of DataQ, respectively Email, Postal Address, and Mobile.
For Unify on the other hand, a 30-day trial is also available for you to test the matching and deduplication capabilities prior to committing to a purchase. Once again depending on the data volume you’re looking forward to handling, the pricing starts at €2500.
Summary
Taking steps to ensure your CRM data is correct and complete for your Salesforce users to easily conduct their processes will remain a fundamental task for Salesforce Admins, but DQE One is a product that can help keep your data accurate, unified, and up-to-date. Be it addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, or end-to-end duplicate management, there is a module to assist with each of your data quality needs!
To evaluate DQE products, download the free trial version here.
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