--- title: "A Data-Cleaning Strategy for Today’s Times" id: "61460" type: "post" slug: "a-data-cleaning-strategy-for-todays-times" published_at: "2022-03-14T18:37:54+00:00" modified_at: "2026-07-11T18:08:37+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/a-data-cleaning-strategy-for-todays-times/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/a-data-cleaning-strategy-for-todays-times.md" excerpt: "For Natasha Rocheleau, associate director of operations at the Society of American Military Engineers, the early stage of the pandemic was an opportunity for some spring data cleaning. Over the years, SAME’s database had become cluttered with outdated or at..." taxonomy_category: - "Operations" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Associations Now" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Director" - "Manager" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » A Data-Cleaning Strategy for Today’s Times Part of the Deep Dive[Tech2022](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/tech2022-from-now-to-next/) For Natasha Rocheleau, associate director of operations at the Society of American Military Engineers, the early stage of the pandemic was an opportunity for some spring data cleaning. Over the years, SAME’s database had become cluttered with outdated or at best marginally useful member data (do you golf?). Worse, nearly a fifth of the member entries were duplicates. Bad data practices and an inconsistent approach to data management had caught up with the association. “Somebody would go online to do something, but they couldn’t remember their password, and they would just create a new account,” she said. “Over the years, we just accumulated a hot mess.” Data cleanup is nothing new, but the pandemic has added some new wrinkles to pay attention to—and perhaps some new opportunities. The most obvious change is that members’ shift to remote work means address fields require updates. But because “update my association’s contact information” isn’t top-of-mind for many people, a nudge is probably in order. “On the member side, it might be a good time to ask people if they can log on and look at their information, because people from home probably have a little more time or are a little less distracted,” said Wes Trochlil, president of Effective Database Management. “From the staff perspective, there might be a little more down time where they can actually go into the database to clean things up.” ### Getting to Work That’s what SAME staff did early in the pandemic. It took an all-hands-on-deck approach, asking staffers to take a chunk of the responsibility of excising the approximately 6,000 duplicate member database files. “It took a significant number of hours, but we parceled it out so people were doing it while they were watching football or doing other things,” Rocheleau said. Cleaning the database and getting correct addresses in place had a meaningful financial impact. Because of bad addresses, the association was receiving (and paying for) returns on approximately 1,000 pieces of mail monthly. “We’ve gotten that down to about 100,” said Rocheleau. [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#Associations Now](https://associationsnow.com/tag/associations-now/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## More in this Deep Dive - [Make Your IT Team Your Business Partner](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/make-your-it-team-your-business-partner/) - [Rethinking Data for the Pandemic Era](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/rethinking-data-for-the-pandemic-era/) - [How Tech Tools and Data Can Advance Equity and Inclusion](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/how-tech-tools-and-data-can-advance-equity-and-inclusion/) - [Nimble Technology Strategy Flows With Association Goals](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/nimble-technology-strategy-flows-with-association-goals/) - [Fundamentals for Building a Tech Budget in Uncertain Times](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/fundamentals-for-building-a-tech-budget-in-uncertain-times/) - [Better Member Engagement With Zero-Party Data](https://associationsnow.com/2022/03/14/better-member-engagement-with-zero-party-data/) [View the full Deep Dive →](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/tech2022-from-now-to-next/) ## You Might Like - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [PodcastAssociations NOW Presents: Industry Partner Edition-Helping Associations Thrive in the Age of AIJuly 16, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/16/associations-now-presents-industry-partner-edition-helping-associations-thrive-in-the-age-of-ai/) - [VideoSkip the Search. 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