Section 17 · Pipeline Hygiene — Stop Losing Money to Messy CRM

17.3Find missing next steps

Built in the POC

What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.32

Every serious opportunity should have an owner and a next action.

Why it matters to DMA: Basic pipeline discipline: cheap to build and it prevents real leakage.

In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 32.

A rule checks every open deal for an open task (a next step with no completion date). No open task means a missing next step.
Severity is high for late-stage deals and low otherwise, so the list starts with the deals closest to money.
Where the AI already knows a next step (a promise found in a call summary, section 20), it prepares the task for one-click approval instead of just flagging.
The rules run with every audit of the CRM (and again after each sync). They only detect and explain; nothing is changed in Nutshell by a flag, so a person stays in charge of the fix.

It plays on its own while it's on screen; hover or use the controls to pause or step through.

Step 1 of 4

An open deal

"Pinecrest Clinics — SEO", proposal sent.

The same six stages on every page. Nothing reaches Nutshell except through the write gate.

1Nutshell
Source
Deals, contacts, tasks, activities, notes and users.
2Sync
Copies Nutshell changes into the bridge database
Keeps the mirror current, so the rules see today's state.
3Bridge database
A copy of the CRM data, plus what the AI works out
One open flag per record and problem, with its details and the rule version.
4AI
Claude models, only through DMA's own gateway
Not needed for most flags: they are rules. The audit adds what only the notes say.
5Write gate
The only way back into Nutshell: checked, approved when needed, sent once
Flags don't write to Nutshell; fixes happen there, by people (or through the write gate where a field rule allows it).
6Nutshell
The system of record
Reps fix the record; the flag closes on the next run.

Drawn from the POC's database catalogue: structure only, no data.

PK primary keyFK reference the database enforces (solid line)ID reference kept by id (dashed line)

Table	What it holds	Columns
ai.hygiene_flags	One open flag per record and problem (stuck deal, missing next step, former owner, bad email, duplicate), with severity, details and the rule version.	10
crm.tasks	Tasks mirrored from Nutshell; the AI's own tasks are marked.	18

Synthetic demo data: every name, business and number is made up.

1 / 2

What you see

1.The filter

Pipeline hygiene, filtered to deals with no next step.

localhost:13301/hygiene?hyg_flag=missing_next_step

What happens in the system

Bridge databaseai.hygiene_flags · crm.tasks
The rule found no open task on these open deals in the mirrored task list.

Missing next steps the rule found in the POC today (live counts, synthetic sample).

Severity	Deals	Why
High	45	Late-stage deal with no open task
Low	79	Earlier-stage deal with no open task

localhost:13301/hygiene?hyg_flag=missing_next_step

Pipeline hygiene, filtered to deals with no next step.

Dashboard · Pipeline hygiene, deals with no next step. Captured from the running POC on September 25, 2026; synthetic data.

Opens the exact screen in the running POC, in a new tab.

Open	Where	What to try
Pipeline hygiene: no next step	DMA AI dashboard	Open deals with no open task.

Built in the POC

Built in the POC. This capability runs in the POC today, on synthetic data, end to end.