Editorial draft available to read. Factual and language review is pending. Examples are illustrative.
Decision and method
Document the meaning of the exchange before coding field mappings. Include the entity, identifiers, types, units, allowed values, required fields and treatment of absence. Specify who originates changes, when acceptance occurs and how the contract evolves. Accompany a valid example with examples the receiving system is expected to reject.
Illustrative example
Illustrative example: sales sends an order with an amount, currency and requested date. The contract says the amount excludes tax and the date represents a local delivery day rather than a UTC instant. The receiver rejects a missing currency instead of silently assuming its own default configuration applies to the order.
Acceptance check
Validate examples at both ends and preserve expected errors. Test extra fields, missing values and unfamiliar categories. Accept the contract when sender and receiver interpret each datum consistently and a procedure exists for incompatible changes. Matching column names alone does not demonstrate agreement about the underlying business meaning of the exchange.
Key takeaways
- A data contract agrees on meaning and behavior as well as payload format.