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

17.2Find stuck deals

Built in the POC

What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.31

Spot opportunities that have sat in a stage too long with no next activity.

Why it matters to DMA: A simple, high-value check that stops the pipeline quietly decaying.

In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 31.

A rule looks at every open deal: no activity, note or contact for 60 days or more makes it a stuck deal. The last touch is the latest of the deal's activities, notes and last-contacted date.
Severity is high when the deal is in a late stage (proposal, negotiation), medium otherwise, and the flag records the stage and the number of idle days.
Stuck deals lower the account's standing in the priority list and feed the revenue-at-risk view (16.3).
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

"Summit Legal — PPC", in Negotiation.

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.leads	Open deals with stage, next activity and value.	26
crm.activities	Calls, meetings and emails mirrored from Nutshell.	21

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

1 / 3

What you see

1.The filter

Pipeline hygiene, filtered to stuck deals, with the count.

localhost:13301/hygiene?hyg_flag=stuck_deal

What happens in the system

Bridge databaseai.hygiene_flags
One open "stuck deal" flag per deal, read as the signed-in user (a rep sees only their own book).

Stuck deals the rule found in the POC today, on the synthetic sample (live counts and real rule details).

Severity	Deals	Why
High	45	Late stage (proposal, negotiation) and 60+ days idle
Medium	119	Earlier stage and 60+ days idle

Stage	Days idle
Negotiation	363
Proposal sent	296

localhost:13301/hygiene?hyg_flag=stuck_deal

1 / 2Pipeline hygiene, filtered to stuck deals.

Dashboard · Pipeline hygiene, stuck deals. 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: stuck deals	DMA AI dashboard	Every stuck deal, highest severity first.

Built in the POC

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