You are ready for Data Cloud, which Salesforce now markets as Data 360, when one use case has a named owner. Its source systems must be reachable and its matching identifiers trusted. You also need consent mapped across sources, CRM data clean enough to rely on and people to run the platform after launch. Most teams are partly ready. This checklist shows where the gaps are.
Work through each section with the people who own the data, not only the Salesforce team. A box you cannot tick is not a failure; it is a task to schedule before the build.
Do you have a use case and an owner?
You are ready here when one named person owns one use case with a measurable outcome. Without that, every later decision about sources, rules and refresh schedules has nothing to anchor it.
- The first use case is written in one sentence, such as "show order history on the contact record for service reps."
- It names the activation target: a CRM record, a segment, a flow or an agent.
- A business owner has agreed to judge whether it worked.
- Success has a measure the team already tracks, or can start tracking before launch.
Can you reach the source systems?
You are ready when every source the use case needs has an owner and a confirmed way in. Access requests and security reviews often take longer than the configuration itself.
- Each source system is listed, with a named owner who can approve access.
- The connection method is known: a prebuilt connector, zero-copy access to a warehouse, or a custom integration.
- You know how fresh each source needs to be, and batch is the default unless the decision needs faster.
Have you profiled the data quality?
You are ready when someone has looked at real records in each source, not just the schema. Profiling finds the problems that later cause false merges and wrong metrics.
- Completeness of key fields, such as email, phone and customer number, is measured per source.
- Formats are known, including country codes, date formats and phone layouts.
- Serious problems have an upstream owner and a fix date, rather than a plan to clean them inside Data 360.
Do you know how records will be matched?
You are ready when you have agreed which identifiers link a person or account across systems, and which values win when sources disagree. Identity resolution depends entirely on those choices.
- The shared identifiers are named, such as verified email, customer number or account ID.
- Weak identifiers are identified, including household emails, shared business phones and generic inboxes.
- You know whether you are unifying individuals, accounts or both.
- Reconciliation rules are drafted: which source is trusted for each important field.
- Business users who know customers have agreed to review sample unified profiles.
- Multi-brand or multi-region data has a decision on whether it needs separate data spaces.
Is consent mapped across every source?
You are ready when you know where consent and preferences live in every source, and which one wins when they conflict. Consent has to be mapped at ingestion, not added at activation.
- Every source that holds opt-ins, opt-outs or preferences is on the list.
- A rule decides which consent record is authoritative, such as the most recent explicit choice.
- You know how quickly an opt-out must reach every activation target.
- Legal or privacy has reviewed the use case, especially for consumer or regulated data.
- Real opt-out records are set aside to test suppression before launch.
Is your CRM data healthy enough?
You are ready when the Salesforce org itself is trustworthy. Data 360 unifies what you give it, so a messy CRM produces messy profiles.
- Duplicate accounts and contacts are measured, and the rate is stable or falling.
- Fields the use case depends on are filled consistently and mean the same thing to every team.
- Record ownership and sharing rules are understood, since unified data will appear on these records.
- Stale and inactive records are archived or clearly flagged.
Have you agreed the data model and definitions?
You are ready when key business terms have one written definition and you plan to use standard data model objects wherever they fit. Disagreement about definitions stalls more projects than technology does.
- Terms such as "active customer," "lifetime value" and "churned" are defined in writing.
- Each definition says which system is authoritative and how refunds, cancellations or test records are treated.
- Standard data model objects are the default, with custom objects only where they genuinely do not fit.
- Any calculated insight in the first phase has a business owner who has signed off its definition.
Do you know where the output will be used?
You are ready when the first activation target is chosen and the team that uses it is ready to act. Unified data that nobody sees or uses is an expensive copy.
- One activation target is chosen for the first phase.
- The receiving team knows what will change in their daily work.
- For segments, a campaign with an owner is ready to use the audience.
- For triggered flows, someone is named to act on each alert.
- For Agentforce grounding, the agent's job is defined and its content has owners.
If an agent is part of the plan, work through our Agentforce readiness checklist in parallel.
Do you understand how consumption works?
You are ready when you know which activities your use case will run and how often. Salesforce prices Data 360 largely on consumption, so design choices affect the running bill.
- The activities the use case needs are listed: streaming ingestion, identity resolution, segment refreshes, activation and queries (batch ingestion and zero-copy are free).
- Each refresh schedule is set by what the decision needs, not by the fastest option.
- Ingestion scope is limited to the fields and history the use case uses.
- Your account team has explained how your contract meters these activities and what happens above your commitment.
- Someone will review consumption by feature after the first month.
We do not quote Salesforce prices here. Ask your Salesforce account team for an estimate tied to your first use case.
Do you have the right people?
You are ready when the roles below have names against them, whether internal staff, a partner or both. A strong admin alone is rarely enough for Data 360.
- A business sponsor who can settle definition and priority disputes.
- A Salesforce admin or architect who knows the org and its security model.
- A data owner or engineer for each source, able to explain fields and fix problems upstream.
- A privacy or legal contact available for consent questions.
Who will govern it after go-live?
You are ready when ownership after launch is agreed before the build starts. Source systems change without warning, and unowned profiles degrade quietly.
- A platform owner watches data streams, errors, freshness and consumption.
- A data steward reviews match rules and samples unified profiles on a schedule.
- Each segment, insight and triggered flow has a business owner.
- Source owners have agreed to warn the platform owner before changing fields or retiring feeds.
- A short runbook covers these duties and is written before launch.
How ready are you? A quick score
Rate each area using the signals below. Treat any "not ready" as a task for before the build, and any "partly" as a risk to plan for.
| Area | Ready | Partly ready | Not ready |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use case and ownership | One use case, one owner, one measure | Use case named but no owner or measure | "Unify all our data" is the goal |
| Source systems and access | All sources have owners and confirmed access | Sources known, access still pending | Sources not yet identified |
| Data quality | Sources profiled, problems owned upstream | Some sources profiled | Nobody has looked at the records |
| Identity resolution | Strong shared identifiers agreed | Identifiers exist but coverage is patchy | No common key across systems |
| Consent and privacy | Consent sources mapped, precedence agreed, review done | Consent located but no precedence rule | Consent location unknown |
| CRM data health | Duplicates measured and falling | Known problems, cleanup planned | Duplicates and field use unknown |
| Data model and definitions | Key terms defined in writing | Definitions exist but teams disagree | Each team uses its own numbers |
| Activation targets | One target, with a team ready to act | Target chosen, users not engaged | No target chosen |
| Consumption awareness | Activities and refreshes listed and reviewed with Salesforce | Model understood, no estimate yet | Not discussed |
| Team and skills | Every role has a name | Some roles covered by stretched staff | No one assigned |
| Governance after go-live | Owners and runbook agreed | Owner named, duties unclear | Not discussed |
What should you do if you are not ready yet?
Fix the gaps upstream first, then start with a smaller first phase. Neither step is wasted, because Data 360 would need both anyway.
- Clean the CRM first. Reduce duplicates and standardize the fields your use case depends on.
- Fix source problems at the source. Placeholder values and missing identifiers cost more to handle downstream.
- Settle definitions in writing before anyone builds an insight or segment.
- Locate consent in every system and agree a precedence rule.
- Shrink the first phase to one activation target and the two or three sources it needs.
- Name the owners, even if one person holds several roles at first.
A business lender we worked with shows the value of a phased start. It received 24,000 leads a month and held customer data across a risk engine, a servicing platform and Salesforce. The work produced a Data Cloud architecture and phased roadmap to unify 10 terabytes of data from those systems. It also delivered a lead-prioritization framework the team could use immediately.
