How to Use the HubSpot Data Quality Command Center

HubSpot Operations Hub got a ton of exciting new features this year. One of the most exciting is the new Data Quality Command Center, which is currently available for Operations Hub Professional and Enterprise users. 

Related: Do You Really Need HubSpot Operations Hub?

Here's what you need to know:

What is the Data Quality Command Center? 

The HubSpot Data Quality Command Center is a feature of HubSpot Operations Hub. 

On the surface, it's essentially a dashboard, with cards that display various graphs and metrics related to the health of the data in your HubSpot CRM. These cards currently include:

• Properties – shows you issues with contact and company properties
• Records – shows you issues with contact and company records
• Data Sync – shows you issues with connected apps
• Workflows - shows you workflows with issues or that are unused

By clicking into different sections of the dashboard, users can access detailed reports about individual data quality issues. There are also quick links to other parts of Operations Hub, such as data quality automation tools. 

The Data Quality Command Center Dashboard. Source: HubSpot

How do I access my Data Quality Command Center?

The Data Quality Command Center is a feature of Operations Hub for Professional tier and above. 

To access the dashboard, first ensure the following:

1. You're a super admin of your HubSpot account or have been provided data quality tools access
2. You're subscribed to Operations Hub Professional or Enterprise (see instructions for checking)

Once you've verified the above, you should be able to access your Data Quality Command Center by navigating to Reports > Data Management > Data Quality in your HubSpot portal. 

How should I use the Data Quality Command Center?

The Data Quality Command Center gives you a new window into the health and hygiene of your CRM. Once you have access, take a look around to get a general impression of the general quality of your contact and company records. 

After you've familiarized yourself with the dashboard, you might be asking What next?

There are two main ways we recommend using the Data Quality Command Center:

1. As a base of operations for identifying and executing data quality initiatives (one-time)
2. As a dashboard for at-a-glance check-ins on CRM data health (ongoing)

Let's break down each of these approaches, and give you some examples of actions you might choose to take.

Identify and execute data quality initiatives (one-time)

The first time you access your Data Quality Command Center, you might be surprised by some of the issues HubSpot has identified. While you may have been aware of individual problems, there was no easy way to see the extent of these issues before this feature rolled out. 

We recommend using this tool to identify issues with your CRM data and create action plans for remedying them. Luckily, HubSpot offers some automated tools for mitigating data quality issues, and has made them accessible from this dashboard. 

Suggestions:

• Use the Data Sync card to identify syncing failures with connected apps. Follow the instructions in HubSpot to resolve outstanding issues.
• Use the Data Sync card to identify apps with no active data syncs. If it's an older integration no longer being used by your organization, remove it. 
• Use the Properties card to identify duplicate properties. Confirm if they are truly duplicates. If they are, begin the process of consolidating them (you might need assistance from a HubSpot partner to consolidate properties). 

Related: Is it worth it to hire a HubSpot Partner?

• Use the Properties card to identify properties which are unused (not being leveraged by any HubSpot tools). Consider removing unused properties, or if the property is valuable, explore ways to leverage it in workflows, lists, or reports. 
• Use the Properties card to identify properties with low fill rates. This may indicate the the property is not useful or is named incorrectly. On the other hand, it may indicate that your HubSpot users need more training on filling out records. 
• Use the Records card to see how many of your records have formatting issues. Use HubSpot's automated tools to fix formatting issues and set up automations so they don't occur in the future. 
• Use the Records card to see how many of your records are duplicates. Use HubSpot's automated tools to deduplicate records.
• Use the Workflows card to see how many of your workflows are unused or have issues that require review. 

Some of these suggestions can be actioned right away. Others will take some time to complete. Some initiatives might even spur on new strategic innovations, such as changing the properties you use on your contact and company records and how you leverage them for marketing and sales automation. 

Check the health of your CRM data at a glance (ongoing)

Once you've gotten a handle on your CRM data quality issues, the Data Quality Command Center can become more of a true dashboard, providing a birds-eye-view for operations professionals. 

This is when you'll find the charts on each card in the command center start to come in handy. These charts display the number of issues over time, enabling you to see data health trends, track progress, and check whether your team is following good data management habits. 

For example, it's possible that some of your data quality projects, such as record deduplication, will take time to complete. Monitoring the records graph will show you the progress you've made toward your goals. 

We recommend accessing your data quality command center on a weekly or biweekly basis to check on the progress of your initiatives, fix minor outstanding issues, and catch negative trends before they spiral. 

Why do you need a Data Quality Command Center?

It's difficult to overstate the importance of a clean CRM. As we've said again and again, when it comes to data for marketing and sales, quality is almost always more important than quantity. 

HubSpot has been introducing data quality tools for a while, but the Data Quality Command Center is an important element that ties them all together. It will help you clean up old issues once and for all, then keep your CRM clean into the future, so you can maximize the potential of your strategic initiatives.