HubSpot Enterprise Systems Administration & Decommissioning

Actors:

• Technology Department
• Customer Service Representative
• Marketing & Sales Enablement
• Third Party Vendors

Stakeholders:

• Associate VP of Technology
• Technology Manager
• Assistant Director of Information
• Data Governance Team

Pre-Conditions:

• A national Health Association was managing two large, separate HubSpot enterprise systems, each serving unique organizational purposes and user populations.
• The association prepared for a CRM long-term transition to Salesforce and faced department elimination, secure data preservation and system decommissioning became urgent needs.
• They needed the HubSpot systems maintained and stabilized throughout the transition. 

Triggers:

When a key department was dissolved, one of our team members led an initiative to research, document, and implement data governance best practices, ensuring secure and comprehensive data export. This approach enabled the safe decommissioning of one enterprise system while preserving valuable organizational data for future use.

Workflow:

Comprehensive System Audit:

•    Assessed usage patterns, user roles, automations, and system access across both HubSpot instances.
•    Identified excessive super admin access and outdated system processes.

Security and Access Control Optimization:

•    Reduced super admin accounts from 25+ to a lean, vetted group following industry best practices.
•    Removed unauthorized third-party access to mitigate security risks.

Automation and Operations Streamlining:

•    Collaborated with leadership to distinguish essential automations from obsolete ones.
•    Deactivated or documented workflows based on organizational need and compliance review.

Enhanced Reporting and Analytics:

•    Designed new dashboards and analytics to provide leadership with clear insights into system activity, such as annual email volume for 700,000+ contacts.
•    Enabled informed decision-making on future CRM investments.

Facilitated CRM Transition and System Continuity:

•    Maintained and optimized existing HubSpot environments during the ongoing Salesforce migration.
•    Ensured operational stability amid staff turnover.

Data Governance and Secure Decommissioning:

•    Led 8 month research and implementation of data governance best practices.
•    Coordinated with IT security and subject matter experts to export and securely offload all critical data from the decommissioned system.
•    Preserved organizational data for potential future use while minimizing compliance and security risk.
•    Wrote detailed step-by-step process and decision tree summary of the project for historical reference as per best practices
•    Provided an executive summary and review for the stakeholders.

Benefits:

• Business continuity – Maintained and stabilized HubSpot environments during the Salesforce migration, preventing disruption to day-to-day operations.
• Secure data handling – Ensured sensitive organizational data was exported and offloaded safely, minimizing risks of data loss or unauthorized access.
• Compliance and governance – Established data governance best practices, strengthening security, compliance, and accountability across systems.
• Cost savings – Enabled safe decommissioning of an enterprise HubSpot system, reducing unnecessary licensing and maintenance costs.
• Knowledge preservation – Preserved valuable historical and operational data for potential future use, protecting institutional knowledge.
• Cross-functional alignment – Brought together multiple departments to ensure consistent processes and shared ownership of data practices.