Executable checklist

Checks 1–4: ownership, required values and duplicates.

Define eligibility before counting. These checks create a review queue; they do not authorise automatic reassignment, deletion or merging.

The checks are independent. Use the ones that apply to the decision you are auditing.

Check 01

Missing owner

Eligible records: Open leads or deals that require assignment.

Flag when: Owner is blank and no authorised holding queue is recorded.

Evidence: Keep the record reference, intake source and routing inputs.

Acceptance: Close when an active authorised owner is assigned or a named review queue retains the case; retest the affected intake path.

Check 02

Inactive owner

Eligible records: Open records assigned to a user.

Flag when: The owner is inactive according to the authoritative user list.

Evidence: Keep owner ID, user status and open work.

Acceptance: Close after the responsible role approves reassignment and confirms follow-up continuity.

Check 03

Unusable required value

Eligible records: Records entering a decision that requires the field.

Flag when: A required value is absent, a documented placeholder or invalid under the agreed rule.

Evidence: Keep the field value, governing rule and blocked decision.

Acceptance: Close after source-backed correction or an authorised exception, followed by a successful decision check.

Check 04

Suspected duplicate

Eligible records: Records within the documented matching scope.

Flag when: Two records meet the agreed candidate rule, such as the same external identifier or normalised email.

Evidence: Keep both references, matching values and source history.

Acceptance: Close after identity review and an approved merge, separation or exception; verify intended follow-up is not duplicated.

Checks 5–8: stages, dates and handoffs.

Choose timing rules from the workflow. Shared emails, multiple deals and old activity are not errors by themselves. Where an exception is legitimate, retain its authorisation and review condition.

Check 05

Conflicting stage

Eligible records: Records used by a lifecycle or pipeline decision.

Flag when: The current value conflicts with the agreed source or documented stage mapping.

Evidence: Keep both values, timestamps and mapping version.

Acceptance: Close when the CRM owner resolves the conflict and the expected routing or reporting rule passes.

Check 06

Past-due close date

Eligible records: Open opportunities with an expected close date.

Flag when: The close date precedes the audit date in the agreed business time zone.

Evidence: Keep stage, close date and source evidence.

Acceptance: Close after the owner confirms a revised date, closes the opportunity on evidence or records an authorised exception. Do not move dates simply to clear the flag.

Check 07

Missing next action

Eligible records: Records that currently require follow-up.

Flag when: No next action or review date is recorded under the workflow rule.

Evidence: Keep the active obligation, current task and relevant dates.

Acceptance: Close when a responsible owner confirms the next action and date, or documents why no action is due.

Check 08

Handoff disagreement

Eligible records: Records whose documented sync interval has elapsed.

Flag when: Source and destination disagree on a field required by the receiving decision.

Evidence: Keep both values, observation times, source version and operation ID.

Acceptance: Close after confirming the authoritative value and the intended destination state; reconcile the operation before retrying.

Record the finding while you check the data.

Download the blank CSV and open it in a spreadsheet application. Each row records one issue, the evidence behind it and the check that will show whether the repair worked. No sign-up is required.

The completed example uses fictional lead references. Keep real customer data in your approved internal systems; use references in the sheet and do not send confidential exports through the public contact form.

Download the blank findings sheet

CSV · Seven columns for the affected task, record reference, issue, evidence, responsible role, next action and acceptance check.

Download the fictional completed example

CSV · Three findings from the lead-routing example below. These are illustrative findings, not client results.

Keep the count with its scope For each check, record the audit date, selection method, eligible record set, rule version, flagged count and eligible count. In the fictional lead sample, missing-owner check 1 flags 3 of 20 eligible sampled leads: 15% of that sample only. Findings can overlap, so do not add check counts into an overall failure rate. To measure the defined CRM population, run the same check across that full eligible set; do not extrapolate from a diagnostic sample.

Use the checklist

Turn findings into a small repair queue.

01
Choose one decision
Pick a decision that is already being delayed or second-guessed, such as lead ownership or pipeline stage.
02
Inspect the evidence
Record the audit date and selection method, then retain the eligible and flagged counts for each check. Use diagnostic samples to trace causes; measure the full defined population when you need a population rate.
03
Find the failure point
Trace whether the problem begins at intake, during an ownership change, or in an integration or manual update.
04
Assign the repair
Give each high-impact failure an accountable role and choose whether to fix the rule, repair existing records, or both.

Choose one decision
Pick a decision that is already being delayed or second-guessed, such as lead ownership or pipeline stage.
Inspect the evidence
Record the audit date and selection method, then retain the eligible and flagged counts for each check. Use diagnostic samples to trace causes; measure the full defined population when you need a population rate.
Find the failure point
Trace whether the problem begins at intake, during an ownership change, or in an integration or manual update.
Assign the repair
Give each high-impact failure an accountable role and choose whether to fix the rule, repair existing records, or both.

One issue per row Name the task that is affected, add a record reference and describe what you observed. Keep the evidence separate from your suspected cause. Assign the next action to a responsible role, then write the expected result of a repeat check. Leave the cause unresolved when the evidence does not establish it.

Worked audit

Make the finding specific enough to repair.

This synthetic sample contains ten form leads and ten imported leads. The decision is who receives the first follow-up task. These counts illustrate the checklist; they are not client results or a quality benchmark. Findings can overlap.

Finding	Operating consequence	Repair and acceptance check
Check 1 · Three missing owners: two imports, one form lead	The next task cannot be assigned reliably.	The intake owner corrects the routing inputs. Retest both paths: assign an available owner or retain the lead in a named review queue.
Check 5 · Two conflicting stages: one from each source	The workflow may choose the wrong follow-up.	The CRM owner documents the stage mapping and verifies the expected task against each source record.
Check 4 · A repeated import of the same lead	A second task could duplicate the follow-up.	Test the documented matching rule with the same identifier. Confirm one intended task or a visible review case, not an unexplained second action.

When this checklist does not apply This is not a substitute for a security, permissions, retention, or legal-compliance review. Use it to diagnose the quality of the operational evidence that supports live work, then involve the responsible specialists for those other review areas.

Audit the CRM fields that decide what your team does next.