Systems / 1 min read
A source is a relationship.
Understand who creates the information and what they need it to mean.
Look beyond the connection
Connecting to a source is only one part of understanding it. I would also ask who creates the records, what events cause them to change, and which corrections can happen later. Those details explain behavior that a schema alone cannot show.
The relationship needs a way to communicate change. If a definition shifts or a field becomes optional, someone downstream should know before a report quietly changes meaning. I want source ownership and expectations to be visible alongside the technical connection. That gives maintenance a human path as well as a technical one.