The 10-minute checklist (run in order)
- Canary record — Where to look: saved CRM list called CANARY-DAILY (create one in HubSpot, Salesforce or your CRM). Healthy result: canary shows latest activity and downstream integrations updated in last hour. Quick remediation: re-run the failing workflow or re-sync the record; if that fixes it, flag the workflow. Who to alert: workflow owner.
- Failed webhooks / API calls — Where to look: integration logs (Zapier/Make logs, middleware dashboard or platform webhooks). Healthy result: zero failures in last 60 minutes or only transient retries. Quick remediation: retry the failed calls, check error message (auth, payload). Who to alert: integrator or tech owner.
- Exception / dead‑letter queue size — Where to look: integration dead‑letter list or CRM exceptions view. Healthy result: zero or one items, none older than 24 hours. Quick remediation: inspect top exception reason, correct data and reprocess. Who to alert: integration owner.
- Duplicate spike — Where to look: saved CRM list of new duplicates or daily delta export in a sheet. Healthy result: duplicates ≤ normal baseline (set a daily tolerance). Quick remediation: merge high‑risk duplicates or tag for review. Who to alert: CRM data steward.
- Recent bulk imports — Where to look: imports log or recent CSV uploads. Healthy result: any import shows expected row count and import summary with no errors. Quick remediation: pause related automations, fix import mapping, backfill or revert bad rows. Who to alert: person who ran the import.
- Outstanding SLA / lead timers — Where to look: CRM SLA dashboard or saved list (unassigned leads, open tasks). Healthy result: zero leads past SLA thresholds. Quick remediation: reassign or escalate using the SLA rule. Who to alert: sales lead or duty cover.
- Consent / unsubscribe anomalies — Where to look: subscription/consent fields or email platform suppressions. Healthy result: consent flags match email platform and no unexpected opt‑ins. Quick remediation: reconcile consent source and pause email sends if mismatched. Who to alert: marketing owner.
- Automation run‑rate vs expected — Where to look: workflow run logs or a simple daily count in a sheet. Healthy result: run count within ±20% of expected. Quick remediation: investigate source volume change (forms, ads) or paused triggers. Who to alert: campaign owner.
- Marketing→Sales smoke test — Where to look: pick one recent qualified lead and follow the handoff through CRM, notification, task and ownership. Healthy result: tasks created, owner assigned, contact recorded in sales queue. Quick remediation: re-run the handoff or create a temporary task for the owner. Who to alert: sales ops or campaign owner.
- One-line daily entry — Where to look: one‑row monitoring sheet (today’s date, pass/fail, short note). Healthy result: an entry each day summarising checks and owner sign‑off. Quick remediation: if a check failed, add an action and due date. Who to alert: rota owner.
Low‑effort tools, saved views and patterns that make this 10 minutes
- Saved CRM lists and filters (HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo/Pardot) for canaries, SLA misses, recent imports and duplicates — reuse these every day.
- One‑row monitoring sheet (date, who ran it, pass/fail, short note, link to right record) so trends show up without extra work. A single sheet acts as your lightweight dashboard.
- Simple alert emails or a single Slack channel where the daily pass/fail is posted automatically by a small workflow. If integrations fail, add one retry then a short human alert.
- Keep one place for integration logs (or a bookmark list) so non‑technical staff can open the same screens; platform examples vary but the operational checks are the same across HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo or Pardot. For extra help with daily automation checks and tuning, see our marketing automation support guide: marketing automation support (Hampshire).
If you spot one or more failures: expand checks on a 4‑week cadence
- Week 1: log every failure in the one‑row sheet and assign an owner with a 48‑hour fix target; track recurrence. Small teams should run the 10‑minute check daily and mark status.
- Week 2: add a second canary or sample more records and capture error reasons as tags (auth, mapping, data quality, duplicate). If the same cause repeats, consider a short remediation sprint (1–2 hours) to fix rules or mappings.
- Week 3–4: if problems persist, add a weekly deep check (30–60 minutes) to review imports, automation sequences and SLA rules; rotate the automation steward so cover shifts don’t become blind spots.
If you’d like a practical hand to set this up for a Fareham or South Coast small team — saved lists, one‑row monitoring sheet and a simple rota — Optira can help get it working in a day.