In this guide 6 sections
Staff type a full stop into a mandatory field because the screen demands an answer they do not have, so the fault is the field’s, not the person’s. Make it optional, give it a default, or collect it later at the step where the answer finally exists, whichever suits the field. Pick one per field.
Read the placeholders as a signal
Sort the export by frequency. A full stop, NA, 000, 9999999999 or “test” repeating hundreds of times is a pattern with a cause, so check the oldest records for a day-one habit.
Count placeholders per field and per user. If one field holds the junk across every user, the form is at fault, and if one user holds it, a short conversation at their desk will do. A shop logging forty invoices a day under one fake mobile number has a form problem, and the repair rarely takes more than a morning of configuration work.
Hold the warning email. Scolding a counter clerk for typing a full stop teaches nothing, because the screen refused to move on without it and nobody explained why the field existed. Ask first.
- Phone number fields filled with repeated digits
- Email fields holding a full stop or a shop address
- Date of birth set to the first of January
- Reference number fields reading NA or a dash
Find the field that was added at configuration
Most of these fields were marked mandatory during setup by someone who wanted clean reports, so ask who requested each one and which report depends on it. Often nobody knows. Its sponsor left years ago.
Stand at the desk and watch the moment of entry, because a walk-in customer rarely knows a tax registration number, a vehicle chassis number or a second contact. The clerk has a queue behind them. The invoice will not save.
The placeholder is a sensible reaction to a form that asks too early, so write down what the clerk knows at that moment and what only arrives later. Sometimes the answer is plain: nobody. Then the field can go.
Choose between optional, default and capture later
Three fixes cover every troublesome field. Make it optional when no report truly needs it, or give it a default when most answers match, such as a branch code from the user’s login. Simple.
Capture it later when the answer does not exist yet, like a chassis number that is read off the vehicle only once it reaches the bay. The front desk saves the job. The technician fills the field at inspection.
Ask who knows, and when. Then move it there. One test settles it: can the person at this screen answer truthfully right now, and if not, should the field sit on another screen?
- Optional: nothing downstream reads the field
- Default: the same answer fits most records
- Capture later: a different role knows it later
- Remove: the field duplicates another one
Clean what is already in the system
Old records stay dirty. Filter each field for the placeholder values and mark them unknown, because a messaging tool will happily try to dial a fake phone number left in place. Triage first.
Decide which records matter. Active customers and open jobs deserve a call or a visit to fill the gap, while closed work from three years ago can carry the unknown flag.
Keep dummy values out of every bulk message until they are cleared, because one export with a thousand identical phone numbers can text a stranger a thousand times. Check the opt-in lists first. They do the most damage.
Stop it returning
Add checks that catch the lazy answer without blocking the work: a phone field can reject ten identical digits, and an email field can require an at sign. A dropdown with an honest option like “not provided” beats a free text box that invites a full stop, and honesty then costs the clerk one click.
Rerun the count monthly. A rising number means someone added a new mandatory field, or a new branch started with a different habit, so treat the trend as an early warning.
This week, pick the one field with the most junk, ask three users what they know when they reach it, and move or loosen it. Begin with that single field.
Mandatory field review sheet
One line per mandatory field. Columns cover the field name, who asked for it, the report that reads it, the placeholder values found, the record count and who really knows the true answer. A decision box is ticked for optional, default, capture later or remove, with an owner and a review date beside it for the follow-up.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should we just make every field optional?
No. Fields that billing, safety or legal records rely on stay required, and only those staff cannot answer at entry move to the step where the answer exists.
How do we spot dummy data in a large export?
Group by value, sort by count. Any single value that repeats far more than chance allows, such as one phone number or a lone full stop, is a placeholder rather than a real answer.
Is it a training problem or a software problem?
Check the field first. If every user types the same placeholder, the form is asking too much too early, but if only one person does, a short coaching chat is enough.
Can the software block fake values automatically?
Partly. It can reject repeated digits, missing at signs and values outside a range, but it cannot know a true answer, so give staff an honest unknown option too.