What is the recommended approach to cleansing data before migrating to Salesforce?

• A. Cleansing within Salesforce is best.
• B. Load and cleanse using the Salesforce data loader.
• C. Cleanse the data outside of Salesforce and then migrate.
• D. Do not cleanse; duplicates will be handled later.

Answer: (C)

Cleansing the data outside Salesforce and then migrating is the best approach because it lets you apply consistent quality rules, standardize formats, resolve duplicates, and validate relationships in a controlled staging environment before any records enter Salesforce. This reduces the risk of import errors, simplifies mapping to Salesforce fields, and minimizes the need for extensive post-migration cleanup.

Cleansing inside Salesforce can be slower, limited by UI and record-by-record processing, and may complicate the migration workflow. Relying on after-the-fact deduping or cleanup lets bad data propagate, creating bigger problems to fix later. Performing cleansing beforehand ensures you load a clean, well-structured dataset, and you can then load with confidence using standard import tools.