How to audit unused CRM customizations when the original builder leaves
When original creators leave and ongoing reviews get neglected, systems accumulate workflows and fields that nobody understands anymore. Because everyone is afraid to touch these ghost automations in case something breaks, the system fills up with unreviewed decisions that teams cannot safely clean up.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Waiting until the system gets bad enough that someone finally forces the issueDid this help you?
- 2Tying the audit cadence to something that already happens like quarterly business reviewsDid this help you?
- 3Pulling all fields and automations to mark what hasn't been used in 6 months and pinging the original requesterDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The person who built the automation may have moved teams, and the admin consequently inherits a system full of decisions they didn't make.”source ↗
“Standalone 'CRM audit' meetings always get deprioritized because nobody's excited to attend them.”source ↗
“the real challenge is when the original requester left the company and nobody knows what the thing does anymore, so everyone is scared to touch it”source ↗
“What about an automation that's still firing in the background but nobody remembers building? Would that be left alone because everyone's scared to touch it, or does someone eventually have to dig in anyway?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to revert unwanted software UI and design updates
- 6How to open old Microsoft Publisher .pub files
- 5How to track down undocumented scripts across inherited systems
- 3How to figure out what M365 or AD groups actually do
- 11Why built-in software AI features don't fit real work
- 16Why pay for an expensive SEO suite when you barely use it?