# Duplicate management and sales data quality

*Agentforce Sales Consultant Study Guide · Data Management · Last updated October 15, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/agentforce-sales-consultant/data-management/duplicate-management-and-sales-data-quality*

Measure sales data quality on six dimensions, write a data management plan, enforce it with required fields, validation rules, picklists, field types, flows and enrichment, and prevent and clean duplicates with matching rules, duplicate rules, the Potential Duplicates component and duplicate jobs.

- Certification: Salesforce Agentforce Sales Consultant
- Exam section: Data Management
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/agentforce-sales-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Discuss approaches for managing sales data quality in Salesforce.

## What the exam expects

- Assess sales data before fixing it: profile it against age, completeness, accuracy, consistency, duplication and usage.
- Write a data management plan (naming, formatting, workflow, quality, ownership, security, monitoring) that outlasts the project team.
- Enforce the plan in Agentforce Sales (formerly Sales Cloud): required fields, validation rules, field types, state and country/territory picklists, flows, page layouts, data quality dashboards and enrichment apps.
- Prevent duplicates with matching and duplicate rules, let reps see and merge them, and clean historical duplicates with duplicate jobs or AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) apps, knowing the edition and permission limits.

Key terms: **matching rule** (defines how records are compared); **duplicate rule** (decides what happens when a matching rule finds a match: alert, block or report); **duplicate job** (an org-wide scan for existing duplicates); **data profiling** (statistical analysis of critical data elements); **data enrichment** (adding or refreshing data points from a trusted source).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Six quality dimensions | Age, completeness, accuracy, consistency, duplication, usage | [Assess the Quality of Data (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_assess_your_data) |
| Age measure | Percentage of records with a recent Last Modified Date | [Assess the Quality of Data (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_assess_your_data) |
| Accuracy measure | Match against a trusted source with an AgentExchange app | [Assess the Quality of Data (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_assess_your_data) |
| Plan standards | Naming, formatting, workflow, quality, ownership, security, monitoring | [Improve Data Quality (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_improve_quality) |
| Standard duplicate rules | Active by default for business accounts, contacts and leads | [Stop Users from Creating Duplicate Records](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.duplicate_prevention.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Rule permissions | View Setup and Configuration to view; Customize Application to change | [Manage Duplicate Records](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.managing_duplicates_overview.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Duplicate jobs editions | Performance and Unlimited only | [Find Duplicates Across Your Org Using Duplicate Jobs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.duplicate_jobs.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Duplicate jobs permissions | Customize Application and View All Data | [Find Duplicates Across Your Org Using Duplicate Jobs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.duplicate_jobs.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Validation rule scope | New and updated records, even fields not on the layout or API call; not records created with Quick Create | [Validation Rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.fields_about_field_validation.htm&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why profile data before approving a remediation budget?
- When should a consultant recommend duplicate jobs over duplicate rules?
- Which permissions does a user need to run duplicate jobs?
- How do standard matching rules catch duplicates keyed on a custom Utility Account Number?

## Sources

- [Manage Duplicate Records](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.managing_duplicates_overview.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Stop Users from Creating Duplicate Records](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.duplicate_prevention.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Find Duplicates Across Your Org Using Duplicate Jobs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.duplicate_jobs.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Assess the Quality of Data (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_assess_your_data)
- [Improve Data Quality (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality/data_quality_improve_quality)
- [Ensure Reliable Data Quality (Trailhead)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data-management-fundamentals/ensure-data-quality)
- [Validation Rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.fields_about_field_validation.htm&type=5)
- [Data Quality (Trailhead module)](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_quality)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 15 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Agentforce Sales Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams