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data entry representative

title: Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Data Entry Representative
salary: $28,000 - $45,000 (USD, typical range)
categories: [Data Entry, Administrative Support, Operations, Records Management]
description: A comprehensive overview of the key responsibilities, required technical skills and professional background for the role of a Data Entry Representative.
The Data Entry Representative is responsible for accurate, timely and compliant entry, validation, and maintenance of structured and unstructured data across CRMs, ERPs, spreadsheets and proprietary systems. This role emphasizes data quality, security, and process efficiency and is ideal for candidates with strong typing skills, advanced Excel knowledge, and proven attention to detail. SEO keywords: Data Entry Representative, data accuracy, Excel, CRM, data validation, data cleansing, records management, database entry.

🎯 Role Definition

The Data Entry Representative performs high-volume data capture, verification, and updating tasks to maintain reliable organizational records. This position requires excellent keyboarding speed, familiarity with core data tools (Excel, Google Sheets, CRM systems), strict adherence to data security and privacy policies, and willingness to support process improvement and audit activities. The role is often situated within operations, finance, sales support, or health information teams and supports timely, accurate data-driven decisions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Administrative Assistant with strong data handling responsibilities.
  • Customer Service Representative who managed CRM records.
  • Retail or logistics associate with order-entry experience.

Advancement To:

  • Data Coordinator / Data Quality Analyst
  • Senior Data Entry Specialist or Team Lead
  • Operations Analyst or Business Operations Specialist
  • Billing Specialist / Accounts Receivable Associate

Lateral Moves:

  • Records Clerk / Document Control Specialist
  • Customer Success Operations or Sales Operations Support
  • Inventory Control Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Accurately enter high volumes of transactional data (orders, invoices, customer records, inventory counts) into the company’s CRM, ERP, or proprietary databases while meeting daily throughput and quality targets.
  • Validate incoming data for completeness and consistency by cross-referencing source documents (PDFs, scanned forms, emails, EHR/EMR entries) and applying predefined business rules before posting to production systems.
  • Perform ongoing data cleansing: identify duplicates, outliers, and conflicting records, execute merges or deletions according to SOPs, and document changes in audit logs to preserve traceability.
  • Reconcile discrepancies between digital records and physical or third-party source documents (shipping manifests, purchase orders, vendor portals) and escalate unresolved issues to supervisors or cross-functional partners.
  • Maintain and update customer and product master data (contact info, billing addresses, SKU attributes, pricing tiers) to ensure consistency across CRM, accounting, and order management systems.
  • Execute bulk data uploads and downloads using CSV/XLS templates, import/export tools, or ETL utilities; verify successful imports and remediate failed records according to error reports.
  • Use advanced spreadsheet functions (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, PivotTables, conditional formatting) to clean, transform, validate and prepare datasets for downstream reporting or system integration.
  • Scan, index, and tag physical documents and digital images using OCR and document management tools; correct OCR errors and verify metadata to support rapid retrieval and compliance.
  • Adhere to data security, privacy and regulatory standards (GDPR, HIPAA where applicable) by following encryption, access control, and anonymization procedures when handling sensitive information.
  • Monitor daily KPIs (accuracy rates, entries per hour, processing time, backlog volume) and optimize workflows to meet or exceed SLA commitments; proactively suggest improvements to reduce errors and bottlenecks.
  • Communicate with internal stakeholders (sales, billing, procurement, clinical teams) to clarify ambiguous entries, obtain missing information, and ensure records reflect current business state.
  • Maintain a clean, auditable trail of edits and corrections in line with internal control frameworks and support internal and external audits by preparing extract files and responding to audit queries.
  • Prepare and distribute periodic and ad-hoc reports summarizing data quality issues, throughput, and exception trends to managers and process owners.
  • Follow and help refine SOPs and data-entry guidelines; contribute to creating knowledge base articles and training materials for new hires and cross-trained team members.
  • Operate and maintain data entry equipment (scanners, label printers, dual monitors) and communicate technical issues to IT support to minimize downtime.
  • Manage time-sensitive tasks such as order confirmations, returns processing, or claims entry to meet customer SLAs and minimize operational impact.
  • Tag and categorize unstructured data entries (notes, comments, attachments) with consistent taxonomy and keywords to improve downstream searchability and LLM/AI usage.
  • Conduct sample-based quality assurance checks and peer reviews to detect systemic errors and coach colleagues on best practices for accuracy and efficiency.
  • Participate in periodic system migrations, data conversions, and testing cycles by validating pre- and post-migration datasets and reporting integrity issues.
  • Maintain productivity while ensuring a high level of accuracy (target metrics often set at 98–99.9% depending on business need) and adhere to performance improvement plans if necessary.
  • Track and resolve returned or rejected transactions from EDI/vender feeds, working with external partners to correct source data and resubmit.
  • Support billing and collections by accurately entering billing codes, invoice numbers, and payment postings into accounting or billing systems, ensuring financial records align with customer accounts.
  • Ensure proper versioning and archival of historical records in accordance with retention policies and legal requirements.
  • Validate and enter metadata and tagging to support data governance, business intelligence, and AI/ML readiness initiatives.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist in small-scale data projects such as master data cleanup initiatives and taxonomy standardization efforts.
  • Cross-train on adjacent processes (billing, fulfillment, customer support) to provide coverage during high-volume periods or absences.
  • Document escalation paths and data quality rules and recommend tooling improvements (validation scripts, macros, automated checks) to reduce manual rework.
  • Provide input on data ingestion templates and test cases for automation pilots.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • High typing speed and accuracy (typically 50–80+ WPM) with strong keyboarding technique and data entry stamina.
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, PivotTables, macros/basic VBA) and Google Sheets expertise for data manipulation and validation.
  • Practical experience with CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot), ERPs (SAP, NetSuite, Oracle), or order management systems for record updates and reconciliations.
  • Familiarity with database and data handling basics (CSV/XLS formats, import/export procedures, basic SQL queries for lookups and validation).
  • Experience using OCR/scanning tools, document management systems, and image cleanup to ensure accurate capture of paper-based data.
  • Experience with data quality and cleansing tools (OpenRefine, Trifacta, or purpose-built data prep utilities) or demonstrated ability to perform manual cleanses at scale.
  • Knowledge of EDI, FTP/SFTP workflows and batch processing for receiving and submitting data feeds.
  • Proven ability to perform bulk imports/exports and troubleshoot common parsing or encoding issues.
  • Understanding of data governance, retention policies, and regulatory requirements (GDPR, HIPAA when relevant) and secure handling of sensitive data.
  • Familiarity with basic scripting or automation tools (Power Automate, Zapier, macros) to accelerate repetitive tasks and reduce errors.
  • Proficient with standard office software: Microsoft Office Suite, G Suite, and web-based portals; comfortable with multi-monitor setups and remote desktop tools.
  • Experience generating standard and ad-hoc reports and preparing data extracts for audit and analytics consumption.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and a commitment to data accuracy and consistency.
  • Strong time management and organizational skills; able to prioritize competing tasks under SLA constraints.
  • Clear written and verbal communication skills for clarifying entries and documenting exceptions.
  • High level of confidentiality, integrity and ethical handling of private information.
  • Problem-solving orientation with the ability to triage and escalate data anomalies appropriately.
  • Adaptability and willingness to learn new systems, templates and automation tools.
  • Team player mentality; comfortable collaborating with cross-functional partners and participating in process improvement.
  • Dependability and consistency in meeting productivity and quality targets.
  • Patience and resilience when working with repetitive tasks or large, messy datasets.
  • Attention to process and the ability to follow and improve SOPs and checklists.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent (required).

Preferred Education:

  • Associate degree or certificate in Business Administration, Office Technology, Data Management, or related field.
  • Coursework or certification in Excel, data entry best practices, or records management is advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Information Management / Data Management
  • Health Information Management (when working in healthcare)
  • Office Technology / Administrative Support
  • Computer Science fundamentals (basic scripting / databases)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 0–3 years of data entry or administrative data handling experience for entry-level roles; 2–5 years for mid-level positions.

Preferred:

  • 1–3+ years of experience with CRM/ERP data entry, reconciliation, and reporting.
  • Prior exposure to regulated environments (healthcare, finance, government) or large-scale data processing operations.
  • Demonstrated track record of meeting accuracy and throughput KPIs, experience creating or improving SOPs, and familiarity with basic data quality tooling.
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