Glossary

The words people use when data moves into a CRM

54 terms, defined as they are actually used. Operelio is the layer between a spreadsheet and your CRM, so these are the ones that come up every day: what they mean, and where they bite.

Working with spreadsheet files

CSV: A plain text file where each line is a row and a delimiter separates the values. Almost every CRM imports it. It carries no formatting, formulas or second sheet, which is why an Excel workbook has to be converted before it goes in.; Convert Excel to CSV
XLSX: The Excel workbook format, which holds several sheets, cell formatting and formulas. A CRM import reads none of those, so what reaches the CRM is the values only.; Convert CSV to Excel
Header row: The first row of a file, naming each column. An import matches these names against CRM fields, so a missing, blank or repeated header makes the mapping ambiguous before any value is read.; Clean headers
Delimiter: The character that separates values on a line, usually a comma, sometimes a semicolon or a tab. A value containing the delimiter has to be quoted, and a file that quotes inconsistently is the usual cause of columns sliding out of line.
Character encodingalso UTF-8: How text is stored as bytes, which decides whether accented names and symbols survive the trip into a CRM. UTF-8 is the standard. A file saved in a different encoding shows accented names, currency symbols and dashes as unreadable characters once it is imported.
Date format: How a date is written, which decides whether the CRM reads it as the day you meant. 03/04 is the third of April in most of the world and the fourth of March in the United States. Nothing errors, so a wrong date is only noticed when someone follows up a month late.
VLOOKUP: The spreadsheet function that pulls a value out of a second table by matching on a shared column. It is how most people join two exports together, and it is the step that most often silently returns the wrong row when the key is not clean.; Match two files on a shared column
Transpose: Turning rows into columns and columns into rows, so a table laid out sideways can be read the normal way.; Transpose or unpivot a file
Unpivot: Turning a wide table into a long one, so each row holds a single record instead of twelve monthly columns. A CRM import wants one row per record, which is why a report laid out for a human usually has to be unpivoted first.; Transpose or unpivot a file

Moving data into a CRM

Field mappingalso Column mapping: Deciding which column in your file fills which field in the CRM. A mapping is the whole set of those decisions for one export and one CRM object. Saving it means the next file from the same source does not have to be mapped again.; Field mapping templates Column mapping guide
CRM import: Loading records from a file into a CRM, by matching the columns in the file to the fields on a CRM object. An import fails, or quietly drops part of the data, when a required field has no column behind it or a value is in a form the CRM will not accept.; The CRM import problem
Required field: A CRM field that must hold a value before the record will save. Salesforce leads require a last name and a company. An export with no such column cannot import until the gap is filled, which is why a mapping is worth checking before the file goes in rather than after.; Salesforce field reference
API name: The internal identifier a CRM uses for a field, as opposed to the label shown in its interface. HubSpot shows "First Name" and stores it as firstname. Imports and API calls address the API name, so that is what a mapping has to target.; HubSpot field reference
Picklist: A CRM field that accepts only values from a fixed list. A value outside the list is rejected, which is a common reason a load stops partway through with most of the file already in.
Record type: Which object a row becomes in the CRM: a lead, a contact, a company or a deal. The same export maps differently depending on which one you are creating, because the fields on each object differ.
Custom fieldalso Standard field: A field added to a CRM beyond the ones it ships with, as opposed to a standard field. Its API name is fixed when someone creates it and often does not match the label, so a mapping built against the label alone can miss it.
Lifecycle stage: The CRM field recording how far along a contact is, from subscriber through lead to customer. It is a picklist, so an import carrying a stage name the CRM does not hold is rejected rather than corrected.; HubSpot field reference
CRM migration: Moving records out of one CRM and into another. The move itself is the easy half. What travels is whatever the export happened to contain, and nothing checks it on the way in.; Migrate between CRMs The hidden gap in migrating CRM data
OAuth: Connecting one app to another without handing over a password. You approve a named set of permissions and the app holds a token instead of a credential. You can revoke it from the CRM at any time, and nobody has to share a login.
Upsert: An import that updates a record when a match already exists and creates one when it does not. It is what stops a second import of the same list doubling the data.
Duplicate record: Two or more records that describe the same person or company. Duplicates split a history in two, so activity, owner and deal value are spread across records that each look incomplete.
Deduplicationalso Dedupe: Removing duplicate rows so each person or company appears once. Exact deduplication matches identical values. Fuzzy matching also catches near misses, which is where most real duplicates sit.; Deduplicate a file
Fuzzy matching: Treating two values as the same when they differ only in ways that do not change the meaning. Spacing, punctuation, capitalization and common misspellings are the usual differences.
Golden record: The version of a record a business treats as correct when several systems hold different versions of the same person or company.
Data normalization: Putting values into one consistent form so they compare, group and sort correctly. One phone format, one country name, one capitalization for job titles. Reporting is only as good as the consistency underneath it.
Data validation: Checking a value against a rule before it moves, such as whether an email is well formed or a required field is filled. Validation reports the problem. It does not decide what to do about it, which is a separate choice.
Data hygiene: The ongoing work of keeping records accurate, current and free of duplicates, rather than a single cleanup.; What cleaning data means
Lead routing: Deciding which person or team each new lead goes to once it reaches the CRM.
Data enrichment: Adding fields to a record from an outside source, such as company size, industry or headcount.

Checking contact data

Email verification: Checking whether an address can actually receive mail, before you send to it or load it into a CRM.; Verify emails
MX record: The DNS record naming the mail server for a domain. A domain with no MX record cannot receive mail at all, so every address on it is undeliverable whatever the mailbox name.
Catch-all domain: A domain that accepts mail to any address, whether or not that mailbox exists. A server check cannot confirm one specific address on a catch-all domain, so the honest verdict is uncertain rather than valid.
Role-based address: An address belonging to a function rather than a named person, such as info@ or sales@. It usually reaches a shared inbox, so it is deliverable but a poor target for anything personal.
Disposable address: A temporary address from a throwaway provider, normally created to get past a signup form.
Hard bounce: A permanent delivery failure, usually because the address does not exist. Repeated hard bounces damage the sending domain's reputation, which is what makes verifying a list before sending worth the step.
Soft bounce: A temporary delivery failure, such as a full mailbox or a server refusing mail for a while.
Suppression listalso Do Not Contact list, DNC list: A list of people who must not be contacted. Screening a file against it before the import keeps those records out of the CRM, rather than relying on everyone downstream remembering.; Do Not Contact lists
GDPR: The European regulation governing how personal data is collected, stored and used. For a contact list it is mainly about having a reason to hold the data, keeping it accurate, and being able to remove someone on request.; Data Processing Agreement

Operelio terms

Trail: A trail watches a folder, and every file that lands there is cleaned and checked automatically, then pushed to your CRM or held for your approval.; Trails What a trail is
Run: One pass of a trail over one file, from picking the file up to pushing it or holding it for approval. A scheduled check that finds no new files is also a run, so the history shows that the trail looked as well as what it moved.; A trail's runs
Dry run: Running a trail over a real file to see what the cleaning steps do, without pushing anything. A dry run is free. A test run goes further and does everything except the push.; Test a trail
Sandbox: The tab on a trail's canvas where you try it on a real file before it goes live. Both a dry run and a test run happen here, so a trail can be proved against your own data without touching the CRM.; Test a trail
Job: One unit of work: one tool applied to one file. Jobs are what a plan's monthly allowance is counted in.
Watched folder: A place in Files where files arrive, which a trail can be pointed at. You can add a file yourself, send one from your library, email one to the folder's own address, or upload one through the API.; Watched folders
Bridgeant: The AI helper built into Operelio, which reads a file and tells you what is wrong with it. In Advisor mode it is free on every plan, including Free: upload a file and it says what is wrong with it and which tool to use.; Bridgeant
CRM Formatter: Maps your spreadsheet columns to CRM fields and validates every row before you export or push. Each error names the row, the column and the reason it failed, so the fix is a specific one rather than a re-upload.; CRM Formatter
Health Check: A quality score on a file, with every issue listed and the common ones fixable in one click.; Health Check
Company Active Check: Checks whether a company is still reachable, using DNS, mail and reachability, and puts an active score on every row.; Company Active Check
Workflow Builder: Chains up to 8 tools into one pipeline, so one upload produces one finished file. Each step feeds the next instead of being downloaded and re-uploaded between tools.; Workflow Builder
Batch processing: Runs the same tool against up to 50 files in one operation.; Batch processing
Template: A ready-made field mapping from one named export to one CRM object, with 168 built in.; Template library
Saved mapping: A column mapping you keep and load again, for a source you will see more than once. Worth saving for a weekly or monthly export, where the columns are the same every time.; Saved mappings
Workspace: The account that files, jobs and trails belong to. Data is separated by workspace, and on the Agency plan each client workspace is separated from every other.
Verify credit: What a deep email verification spends, one credit per address checked. Starter includes 1,000 a month, Pro 4,000 shared across the workspace, and Agency 12,000 shared.; Verify emails Pricing

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