Entry 15 from the book: Data Contracts in Practice

"Your article about future trends inspired us"

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1 · The Problem in a Nutshell

Date: February 12, 2024

Manual post-processing is reaching its limits: Even small schema changes from suppliers paralyze the product pipeline and cause marketing campaigns to fail. Without binding Data Contracts with clear fields, formats, and SLAs, every catalog refresh remains a risky blind flight.

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2 · Mini-Solution: The 3-Pillar Model (Bird's-Eye View)

Quick Win from the Field: In one project, 127 customer duplicates were cleaned up – fewer misdirected mailings, more satisfied customers.

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3 · What you can do NOW if you also have this problem

1. Search in your ERP or CRM for a typical entry with an "error message" or a note for correction.

2. Reconstruct the original error: What was the cause?

3. Derive a rule from this that automatically detects this error the next time.

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4 · Cliffhanger

A seemingly small transposed number triggered a domino effect that almost jeopardized a major order. You can read how we stopped this at the last minute in Chapter 3 of the book.

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5 · Want the Whole Story?

• In the book “Garbage In, Business Out? — How Small Businesses Can Fix Their Data and Finally Trust Their Decisions” you’ll read practical examples of how this and many other problems were solved.

• Bonus: Download the exclusive worksheet (5‑page PDF) and other free extras here → https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OevcHwAdZIhyTpXLUq4042cgb4NPjjEv?usp=sharing

• Newsletter: Sign up here to get updates and new tools → https://garbageinbusinessout.hashnode.dev/newsletter

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What information must your supplier finally deliver reliably for your process to run smoothly? Let us know!

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