Data Cleaning Checklist Before Any Analysis (Excel, Shopify, QuickBooks)

Most reporting problems come from the same issues. Fix these first and everything becomes easier.

The checklist (quick wins)

1) Remove duplicates

• Duplicate invoices, orders, or customer records cause inflated revenue.

2) Standardize dates

• One format for all sources (and confirm timezone if online sales).

3) Normalize names

• “Acme Co.” vs “ACME” should be the same customer.

4) Separate categories

• Don’t mix product names with category names in one column.

5) Validate totals

• Compare your cleaned total revenue against the source export.

6) Handle missing values

• Decide: fill, remove, or mark as “Unknown” (be consistent).

7) Create a stable ID

• CustomerID, ProductID, OrderID—so joins don’t break later.

Why this matters

Clean data prevents false trends—and saves you money by avoiding wrong decisions.

CTA: Want your data cleaned + turned into a dashboard? VividVista Studio can deliver a clean dataset + report package. 

Data Insights Audit – Clean, Analyze & Summarize (Starter Package) – VividVista Studio