Governance · Data contracts
One contract per field, before the flow is automated.
A data contract states what a field means, who owns it, which system is the source of truth, how fresh it must be, and what it must never be used for. It takes half a day per flow and removes the most common reason an agent gets it wrong.
Last updated 2026-09-03.
| Contract row | Question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name and purpose | What is the field called, and what is it used for? | customer_status, controls which messages a customer gets. |
| Definition | How do two different people arrive at the same value? | Active = purchase in the last twelve months, else dormant. |
| Owner | Who decides what the field means? | A named person, not a department. |
| Source | Which system is truth when systems disagree? | CRM over spreadsheet, always. |
| Freshness | How old can the value be before it can't be used? | Updated daily, at most seven days old. |
| Quality metric | What is measured, and what level counts as passing? | Field-completion rate above 95 percent. |
| Access | Who can read and write, and is it logged? | Agent reads, only CRM writes, all access logged. |
| Must not be used for | Where is the line? | No automated pricing without human approval. |
How it's used
A working document, not a file in a binder.
- Write the contract with whoever actually reviews the output, not just with IT.
- A field without a named owner isn't done. A department can't own a field.
- The freshness rule decides whether the agent may answer at all. Too stale, and the flow should stop itself.
- The row on what a field must never be used for matters most in an audit.
Source: Empley's data contract template, used in delivery. Examples are illustrative and get replaced by your own definitions.
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