What this means for your practice
Ask suppliers to explain field meanings, local codes and assumptions for the responsible teams to review. A message can be accepted by software while still giving staff the wrong understanding.
An example to discuss with your team
Use a fictional uncommon code and inspect the receiving interpretation.
Questions to take to your supplier
Send a fictional uncommon code and inspect its interpretation at the destination. Ask what happens when no agreed mapping exists. A visible review item is preferable to an unexplained default. Keep responsibility for meaning with the people who understand the service, supported by the suppliers implementing it.
Agree the working process
Identify the fields whose meaning affects what the receiving team does next. Local service codes, locations or status labels may require explanation even when their format is straightforward. Give each important mapping a business owner who can confirm the interpretation, supported by the suppliers implementing it. Use a short set of fictional examples, including an uncommon value and one with no agreed match. Ask what the system does when the mapping is missing: a default should not silently invent meaning.
Keep unresolved cases in a visible review route and record how approved corrections are applied. Test the receiving screen with staff, because a transfer accepted by software may still be misleading to its users. Review mappings when either organisation changes its local options. The work is not finished once a spreadsheet of codes exists; the value comes from consistent interpretation in the actual workflow and a maintained process for questions that arise later.
How to check the result
Count mappings requiring manual correction after transfer.
Turn reading into a next step
Your action checklist
Work through these checks with your team or supplier. Tick the ones you have resolved and leave unknowns open.
Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.
Use project decisions only, without personal, patient or confidential details. Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Copy or download before leaving; this page does not save your notes.
Further reading
These sources provide background for the topic. The practice examples and checklist are illustrative planning suggestions from Kay & Co.
Related guides
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