• Outcome:

The outcome of this use case is a streamlined and optimized account management system within Zoho CRM, where duplicate accounts are identified, merged, and eliminated to ensure data accuracy. This process will improve data consistency, minimize redundancy, and enhance decision-making capabilities for sales, support, and management teams by maintaining a clean and reliable account database.

• Use case Implimentation Steps:

Implementation Stage 1: Define Deduplication Criteria

Description: Establish clear criteria to identify duplicate accounts. This includes choosing key fields (e.g., account name, contact information, email address) to match duplicates and setting rules for merging or deleting records.

Steps:

• Log in to Zoho CRM as an Administrator.

• Navigate to the Settings page and go to Data Administration > Deduplication Rules.

• Define the fields to be used for deduplication (e.g., account name, email, phone number).

• Set up rules for matching records, such as exact matches or fuzzy matches based on predefined thresholds.

Input:

• List of account fields for deduplication (account name, email, phone, etc.).

• Criteria for defining duplicates (exact match or fuzzy match).

Output:

• Defined deduplication criteria.

• Confirmation message for successful rule setup.

Implementation Stage 2: Configure Deduplication Workflow

Description: Configure the deduplication workflow to automatically identify and flag duplicate accounts based on the criteria defined in Stage 1. This workflow will notify the users about possible duplicates and provide options to merge or delete records.

Steps:

• Navigate to Zoho CRM and go to the Data Administration section.

• Enable the deduplication feature for account records.

• Set up notifications for duplicate accounts and define actions (e.g., merge, delete, or review duplicates).

• Test the deduplication process by running it on a subset of records to ensure accuracy.

Input:

• Notification settings for flagging duplicate accounts.

• Action settings for handling duplicates.

Output:

• Automated deduplication workflow.

• Notification settings for identified duplicates.

Implementation Stage 3: Review and Merge Duplicates  

Description: Once duplicates are flagged, administrators or relevant users will review the flagged accounts and decide whether to merge or delete them. This process ensures that no valuable data is lost and that the CRM remains organized.

Steps:

1. Log in as an Administrator or user with permissions to merge records.

2. Review the list of duplicate accounts identified by the system.

3. Merge duplicates by choosing the primary record and consolidating the data from duplicate records.

4. Delete unnecessary or irrelevant duplicate records.

5. Ensure that no data is lost in the process and that the merged records are updated correctly.

Input:

• List of identified duplicate accounts.

• Primary record for merging and the details to be retained.

Output:

• Merged and cleaned account records.

• Confirmation message for successful merge or deletion.

Implementation Stage 4: Monitor and Refine Deduplication Process  

Description: After the initial deduplication process, it’s essential to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the deduplication rules and workflows. This helps in identifying areas of improvement and refining the process to prevent future data redundancy.

Steps:

1. Monitor CRM records periodically for new duplicates.

2. Collect feedback from users about the deduplication process.

3. Refine deduplication rules based on feedback or changing data structures.

4. Ensure that new records are checked for duplicates during the data entry phase.

Input:

• User feedback and monitoring data.

• Analytics on CRM data integrity.

Output:

• Refined deduplication rules and workflows.

• Improved deduplication accuracy and efficiency.

Target Audience:  

• Administrators: Responsible for configuring deduplication rules, managing workflow setups, and overseeing the merging of duplicate accounts.

• Sales Team: Uses the clean, deduplicated data to work with accurate and reliable account information, improving sales outreach and customer relationship management.

• Support Team: Relies on accurate account data to provide efficient and personalized customer support.

• Users:

• Sales Team: Uses the data which are deduplication and easy to access.

• Supervisors/Managers: Oversee the data without dupliated and can get the result for candiadate at one page.

Tool Permission Required:  

• Zoho CRM Administrator: Required to configure deduplication rules, review duplicate records, and merge or delete duplicates.

• Sales/Support Teams: Can be granted permissions to view and work with cleaned data, but not to configure deduplication rules.

• Flow Chart:

• Tool Permission Required:

    Zoho Desk

• Link Required:

      Flow Chart