Fix information problems that stop useful work

What this means for your practice

Prioritise checks according to their effect on the actual workflow. Make exceptions actionable and avoid treating every formatting difference as equally important.

Questions to take to your supplier

Create a fictional record with one cosmetic issue and one missing essential value. Does the review list make the important problem obvious? Agree who can correct it and how resolution is checked. The useful measure is work unblocked, not simply the number of fields changed.

Agree the working process

Ask the receiving team which information problems prevent the next useful action. A missing required reference may stop a handover, while an inconsistent capital letter may be only a minor presentation issue. Use those consequences to prioritise checks and explain their severity in staff-facing language. Agree who can correct each type of problem and where the main record should be updated. The exception list should provide enough context to act without copying unnecessary information into another tool.

Test a fictional record containing both a blocking issue and a cosmetic difference. The important problem should be prominent, with the lesser warning handled proportionately. Review repeated errors with the source team: clearer entry instructions or field choices may prevent them more effectively than correcting records after transfer. Measure the work that remains blocked and the age of unresolved issues, alongside correction activity. A high number of changes is not necessarily progress if staff are tidying low-impact formatting while essential handovers still wait.

How to check the result

Measure unresolved information errors that prevent the team completing the intended task.