5 Salesforce Quick Wins to Clean Up a Messy Org

In this guide, we'll walk you through five practical, admin-friendly quick wins that deliver immediate impact. These strategies focus on low-hanging fruit: areas where targeted cleanup efforts yield the most significant results in data quality, system performance, and user adoption.

1. Field and Page Layout Cleanup

Custom fields are easy to create but rarely removed once they've served their purpose. Over time, this leads to page layout bloat, slower load times, and confused users who can't distinguish between relevant and obsolete fields.

Why This Matters

According to Salesforce research, the average org has hundreds of custom fields, but users actively engage with only a fraction of them. Cluttered page layouts lead to:

• Decreased user adoption and satisfaction
• Slower page load times, especially on mobile devices
• Increased data entry errors from confusion
• Higher training costs for new team members

Action Steps

1. Identify unused fields: Use the Field Trip Analyzer (available in Setup) or run a Field Usage Report to identify fields that haven't been populated in 90+ days.
2. Survey your users: Ask sales and service teams which fields they actually use. You'll often find that fields created for one-time projects are still cluttering layouts.
3. Archive systematically: Don't delete fields immediately. First, remove them from page layouts and mark them as deprecated in the field description. Monitor for 30 days before deletion.
4. Optimize page layouts: Organize remaining fields into logical sections using field-level security and page layout assignments tailored to different user profiles.

2. Duplicate Management

Duplicate records are one of the most common - and frustrating - issues in any CRM. They lead to inaccurate reporting, confused sales reps, and embarrassing customer experiences where the same contact receives multiple outreach attempts.

The Cost of Duplicates

Studies show that duplicates waste approximately 10-20% of sales rep productivity as they work to identify the "real" record, merge information manually, or worse - give up and create yet another duplicate.

Action Steps

1. Enable Salesforce Duplicate Management: Use the built-in duplicate rules for Accounts, Contacts, and Leads. Configure matching rules based on email, company name, and phone number.
2. Run a duplicate audit: Use tools like Salesforce's Duplicate Record Sets or third-party apps like DemandTools to identify and merge existing duplicates.
3. Prevent future duplicates: Enforce duplicate rules at the point of entry. Enable blocking rules for web-to-lead forms and require sales reps to search before creating new records.
4. Establish a cleanup cadence: Schedule quarterly duplicate audits and assign ownership to a dedicated admin or operations team member.

3. Simplify Reports and Dashboards

Reports and dashboards multiply quickly. Business users create them for specific projects, then abandon them when priorities shift. The result? A Reports folder filled with hundreds of outdated, confusing, and duplicate reports.

Why Clean Reports Matter

A cluttered report environment leads to:

• Decision paralysis as users struggle to find the right report
• Reliance on outdated metrics and KPIs
• Wasted storage and slower system performance
• Duplicate effort as multiple teams create the same reports

Action Steps

1. Audit report usage: Review the "Last Run Date" and "Unique Users" columns in your Reports list. Archive reports that haven't been accessed in 90+ days.
2. Organize with folders: Create a logical folder structure by department, function, or business process. Use naming conventions (e.g., "SALES - Pipeline Report - Weekly").
3. Sunset outdated dashboards: Check dashboard component sources for broken or deprecated report references. Update or remove broken component s.
4. Create a report library: Establish a "Report Templates" folder with well-documented, approved reports that teams can clone and customize.

4. Automation and Flow Review

Workflow rules, process builders, and flows are powerful tools - but they can also become a tangled mess of outdated logic, duplicate processes, and conflicting automation. This is especially common in orgs that have undergone multiple migrations or admin changes.

The Automation Audit Challenge

Many admins inherit orgs with:

• Workflow rules created years ago with no documentation
• Multiple process builders doing similar (or conflicting) things
• Dead flows that are inactive but still consuming metadata limits
• Email alerts pointing to deactivated users or outdated templates

Action Steps

1. Inventory all automation: Create a spreadsheet documenting every workflow rule, process builder, and flow. Note the trigger object, criteria, and actions.
2. Test in sandbox: Deactivate suspected obsolete automation in a sandbox and test critical business processes to confirm nothing breaks.
3. Consolidate where possible: Salesforce recommends using Flows over Process Builder and Workflow Rules. Consider migrating legacy automation to a single, well-documented Flow.
4. Document everything: Add descriptions to each automated process explaining its purpose, owner, and last review date.

5. Quick Governance and Documentation Wins

Governance isn't just for enterprise-level orgs. Even small teams benefit from basic documentation and change management practices. The key is starting simple and building sustainable habits.

Why Documentation Matters

Knowledge transfer risk is real: when a Salesforce admin leaves without proper documentation, organizations often lose months (or years) of institutional knowledge about why certain customizations exist and how they work.

Action Steps

1. Create a change log: Start a simple Google Doc or Spreadsheet tracking major changes, including date, admin, change description, and business rationale.
2. Document naming conventions: Establish and document standards for custom objects, fields, flows, and reports. Include prefixes by department (e.g., SALES_Lead_Score__c).
3. Implement a sandbox strategy: Even if you can't afford a full sandbox, use a free Developer Edition org to test major changes before deploying to production.
4. Schedule regular reviews: Put quarterly "org health checkups" on your calendar. Dedicate 2-3 hours to reviewing new customizations, cleaning up unused items, and updating documentation.

Measuring Your Success

How do you know if your cleanup efforts are working? Track these key metrics before and after implementation:

• User login frequency: Improved usability often leads to increased daily active users
• Page load times: Use Salesforce Optimizer to measure performance improvements
• Data quality scores: Track field population rates and duplicate record counts
• Support ticket volume: Fewer "I can't find X" or "Why is there a duplicate?" tickets
• Training time for new hires: A cleaner org means faster onboarding

Building Sustainable Habits

These quick wins deliver immediate value, but the real magic happens when you build ongoing maintenance into your routine:

• Schedule monthly "cleanup hours" in your calendar
• Create a user feedback channel for reporting confusing fields or outdated processes
• Assign cleanup tasks as part of your quarterly business reviews
• Celebrate wins with your team when you remove 50 unused fields or merge 1,000 duplicates

Conclusion

Cleaning up a messy Salesforce org doesn't have to be overwhelming. By focusing on these five high-impact areas - field cleanup, duplicate management, report organization, automation review, and basic documentation - you can significantly improve system performance, data quality, and user satisfaction in just a few focused work sessions.

Remember: perfection isn't the goal. Progress is. Start with the area causing your team the most pain, knock out a quick win, and build momentum from there. Your future self (and your users) will thank you.