Editorial draft available to read. Factual and language review is pending. Examples are illustrative.
Decision and method
Define the purpose, scope, filters, columns, format and owner before exporting. Include stable identifiers and an extraction date so the file remains interpretable later. Distinguish visible data from relationships needed to reconstruct it: contacts, companies and opportunities should not be linked only through names that happen to look similar.
Illustrative example
Illustrative example: an export of open opportunities contains 120 rows. A manifest records filters, currency and excluded columns. Contacts appear in another file linked by identifier. An opportunity with several contacts is represented explicitly so importing the export does not duplicate the opportunity while rebuilding its associated contact relationships.
Acceptance check
Compare counts, relevant totals and a sample of relationships with the source. Check characters, dates, empty fields and opening in the receiving tool. Accept when another person can reproduce the scope and explain known differences. Store the result according to the access and retention process already agreed for these records.
Key takeaways
- A useful export preserves context, relationships and a reproducible reconciliation against its source.