Data Model and Integration Readiness Review (Delivery)
A checklist with 7 steps: Freeze the entity list before anyone drags a component onto a canvas.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
What are the steps?
Data Model and Integration Readiness Review (Delivery)
- 01
Freeze the entity list before anyone drags a component onto a canvas
Write out every table, its primary key, and its relationships in a plain document. A client portal built on Noloco or a tracker built on Airtable inherits whatever schema you commit to on day one, and renaming a field after 40 records exist costs more than the original build.
- 02
Name the system of record for each field and refuse duplicates
Decide whether the client's CRM, a spreadsheet, or the app database owns each value. Two-way sync between a HubSpot pipeline and an app table produces silent overwrites that surface as wrong numbers in a client review.
- 03
Test the integration path with real client credentials, not a sandbox
Pull 200 live records through the connector and check field mapping, date formats, and null handling. Sandbox data rarely contains the blank phone numbers and mixed timezones that break a production sync.
- 04
Set the record ceiling and document what happens past it
Confirm the plan tier's row or API-call limit against projected 12-month volume. A portal that works at 5,000 rows and degrades at 50,000 is a retainer-ending conversation, not a support ticket.
- 05
Define role permissions before the first external user is invited
Map which client staff see which records, then verify the platform enforces it at the API layer, not just the interface. Client-side hiding is not access control.
- 06
Write the migration and exit path into the delivery doc
Record how data leaves the platform in a usable format and what a conventional rebuild would require. Ownership and migration terms belong in the statement of work, not discovered at renewal.
- 07
Log the readiness review as a signed artifact in the project file
Date it, name the reviewer, and attach the entity list. When scope disputes arise mid-build, this document is the reference point for what was agreed.