Data Validation
Data validation checks whether each value meets defined rules — format, range, presence, referential integrity — and rejects or flags the ones that don't before they corrupt downstream systems.
What is data validation?
Data validation is the gate that runs before data lands in a destination: does this email parse correctly, is this phone in a valid country format, is this picklist value one of the allowed options, is this required field present? Records that fail are rejected, quarantined, or flagged for review.
Why it matters
- Cheaper to reject bad data at the door than to clean it after it's polluted everything
- Required for compliance (consent fields must be present, age must be > 16, etc.)
- Reduces support load — invalid input never produces a downstream error
Validation tiers
- Format — email looks like an email, phone is digits-only
- Range — revenue is positive, dates are within reasonable bounds
- Referential — account ID exists, owner ID is an active user
- Business rule — opt-in present for cold outreach, NDA flag set for enterprise
How TexAu helps
Define per-step validation rules inside a workflow — bad records are quarantined to a separate table for review while clean records flow through.
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