The following is excerpted from a blog by Spark451, a Jenzabar Company.
Given that one misconfigured rule, field, export, or tag can quietly break or influence critical downstream processes in unexpected ways, it’s no wonder so many in higher ed don’t exactly have full faith in the data their CRMs are providing. When one seemingly innocuous click can be the difference between reliable and unreliable data, it’s no surprise that we may find skepticism, workarounds, and ultimately lost confidence in the system that’s meant to be your single source of truth.
So how do we fix it? With intention.
Below are some of the most common reasons enrollment data becomes unreliable — and what you can do to repair trust in your CRM.
Duplicate Records
What They Are: Multiple entries in your CRM for a single student — often under slight variations of their name, email address, or submission source.
Why They’re a Problem: Duplicates inflate report counts, fragment communication history, and confuse staff who aren’t sure which record is “the right one.” Worse, they often trigger incorrect or redundant messaging sent to students.
Picture It: An applicant is accepted, but still receives an application deadline reminder because they exist in your database both as Jon and Jonathan, each with a different email address. The student is confused, the counselor apologizes, and trust erodes.
How To Fix It:
- Implement consistent matching and deduplication criteria (email, date of birth, external IDs).
- Schedule routine duplicate audits (put them on your calendar), not just one-time cleanups.
- Train staff and partners on proper data submission standards before data ever hits your CRM.
- Empower one team or owner to resolve duplicates consistently, instead of relying on guesswork.
If managing duplicates feels overwhelming, Spark451 can help. We’ll work with you to streamline and reduce your records to a much more manageable level.
For more insights into fixing data trust issues, you can read the full blog here.
