How to handle data that comes from outside your company
To handle external data safely, validation has to happen at the boundary. Data arriving from clients, suppliers or partners has not been through your rules, and once it is inside your records, correcting it is far more expensive than rejecting it was.
Why external data corrupts internal records
Someone outside your company fills a form with their own conventions. Dates in a different format, names spelled differently, values with unexpected units.
Imported without validation, that becomes part of your registry, and every report built on it inherits the inconsistency.
Where external data enters:
- Public forms completed by clients or candidates
- Spreadsheets sent by suppliers
- Integrations with partner systems
- Documents read by OCR
- Data entered by anyone outside your process
Controls at the boundary
| Control | What it prevents |
|---|---|
| Field types | Dates and numbers stored as text |
| Connected fields | Invented values for known entities |
| Required fields | Incomplete records entering |
| Validation rules | Values outside a plausible range |
| A staging stage | Unreviewed data reaching the registry |
| Update links | Duplicates from repeat submissions |
Step by step to protect your data
- Use the correct field types on every externally facing form.
- Replace free text with connected fields wherever the value exists internally.
- Require the fields you would chase if they were missing.
- Add plausibility rules, catching impossible values.
- Land external data in a staging stage before it reaches the registry.
- Validate OCR output before it advances.
- Use update links rather than forms where a record already exists.
Why a staging stage is worth the extra step
Validating at the form catches format problems. It cannot catch a supplier registering under a name that already exists with a different spelling. A short review stage before data joins the registry catches exactly that class of problem, which is the expensive one.
Why choose Jestor
In Jestor, public forms enforce field types and required fields, connected fields prevent invented values, update links write to existing records rather than creating duplicates, OCR output can require validation, and a staging stage is simply another phase in the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should external data be validated?
At the boundary, before it joins your registries. See jestor.com.
What does a staging stage catch?
Near duplicates and anything needing judgment, which field validation cannot detect.
How do I avoid duplicates from repeat submissions?
Use update links, which write to the existing record.
Video Tutorial: Step by Step
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