In-Form’s Product Strategist and Tester, Emma Fee tells us the different ways you can conduct a health check on your In-Form system to benefit everyday use, and when it’s time to do so.
“Before you think about a health check, it’s important to remember what you can do depends on the access you have and whether you have system administrator access within your organisation.”
When to health check
“There are a few considerations you take to determine if a health check would be beneficial.
“If your processes have changed since you implemented In-Form, some manual processes are creeping back into day-to-day operations, or users are supplementing the system with manual processes, then it may be time for a review.
“If the services you offer have changed, it is a good time to look at how the system is working for your new projects and if there is a better way you can be doing things.
“Also, if your reports and dashboards are looking cluttered or are inaccurate, then it’s time to do a review.”
What to look for in a health check
“There are different ways that you can evaluate your In-Form system and each has its own benefits, from security to data clarity.
“You can conduct some routine maintenance of your In-Form system, which looks at your data and processes.
“It’s also useful to check security settings and usage metrics so you can see who’s gaining access to your system and who is regularly using it.”
What can you review yourself?
“There are a number of checks you can conduct yourselves.”
1. Data integrity
“Firstly, you can look at the integrity of your data. Does your organisation have a process in place to flag and resolve any duplicate or bad data?
“This is a great way to capture expired or old data that is no longer required – and importantly legal to keep – to make sure it’s not clogging up your reports.”
2. User interface
“You can also review the user interface, starting with records.
“Are they easy to fill out? Are you capturing all the information you need, or are there extra unused fields?
“If you’re missing fields, it is of course an issue, but extra fields can also deter users from filling information out. When presented with a long list of information to capture, they may miss sections. So, make sure your fields are appropriate to capture the data.
“Next, evaluate your help text on fields that users may find difficult to fill out. Reflect on whether the text actually helps the user to determine what’s required (or if there is any at all!) On busy days, unclear fields with no help text will be skipped and data missed.
“It’s also a good idea to check your list views. Do they display relevant information to the projects the user is working on? Discuss whether they are useful for teams or if an update is required.”
3. Reporting
“Finally, review your existing reports and dashboards.
“Do they cover the necessary reporting requirements? Consider if there are any missing reports that would be useful for colleagues to have.”
What can you review as an admin?*
“Firstly, examine your sharing model. Have you had any new job roles that may not have a place in the sharing model, or have roles changed that need new access or restrictions? It’s good to review access and permissions periodically to make sure everyone can see what they need to and can’t see what they shouldn’t.
“Next, analyse your objects and field usage. (Objects are the sections of your system, such as contacts, and risk assessments.) Are there any unused fields? Apps such as Field Trip can help you identify unused fields. Once you know which fields aren’t being used, you can investigate why and if they should be. If not, remove them to reduce clutter.
“Finally, evaluate automation on individual objects – there should not be more than one type of automation on any object.”
What can you request from the In-Form team?
“There are a number of things we can help you with. Raise a case from your In-Form system and our support team can help you with the following:
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“Automation – we’ll help to consolidate existing automation and work with you to automate manual tasks.
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“Sharing models – we’ll help you to look at whether you need a sharing model as well as if your current one is fit for purpose.
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“Tools – we have access to tools that can compare profiles and permission sets and that can determine fields that aren’t being used.”
Salesforce security health check
“The final thing you can do to ensure your system is working to its best is from Salesforce.
“Salesforce has a great feature that can determine the security of your setup.
“The ‘Salesforce security health check’ gives you a percentage score for your system’s settings against a baseline that are high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk.
“There is the option to edit individual settings or use the ‘Fix Risks’ button to update the settings in bulk.
“It’s a great way to highlight the risks based on their impact and the attention you need to give them, giving you a workplan.
“However, whilst those of you with admin access can do this, it will often give you results that pose questions, so we recommend you let us know if you’d like to do a Salesforce security check and we can do this together.”
Results of a health check
“After you’ve completed a health check, your In-Form system will have secure and precise data that forms accurate reports and dashboards.
“You’ll also have a better automated system that fits the processes for your current services and projects.
“I would recommend that you conduct a health check at least once a year to maintain the productivity and security of your In-Form system.”
Get in touch
If you’d like to start your health check journey, please raise a case in your In-Form system.
*admin access is only available on Enterprise systems
