Blog · Data quality and reconciliation
Every report on this site rests on an identity, a sum that must hold before any measure is read, and the sum is different on every desk: revenue to the ledger, TEU to booked TEU, seats to contracted seats, controls to the register, rental days to invoiced revenue. This hub gives, for twelve industries, the identity, the exports it joins, the failure it most often catches, and the guide where it is used.
Every measure on this site is read only after its identity holds. The identity is the sum that ties the analysis to the desk's ledger of record, and it differs by desk. This hub gives, for twelve industries, the identity, what it joins, what it most often catches, and where it is used.
Σ at every level of the hierarchy = the ledger of record, for the period every row belongs to exactly one parent at each level
| Industry | Identity | Joins | Most often catches | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General B2B sales | Σ region = Σ team = Σ person = Σ account = ledger | Ledger, assignments | An account under two reps | Roll-up hierarchy |
| Shipping and logistics | Booked = invoiced, per mode, in the mode's unit | Bookings, invoices | A mode mislabelled; TEU added to kilograms | TEU and chargeable weight |
| SaaS | Contracted seats × price = ARR; cohorts sum to the bridge | Contract register, subscription ledger | A customer in two cohorts | Net revenue retention by cohort |
| Compliance | Obligations = mapped + in progress + unmapped; controls = on cadence + slipped + never tested | Registers, testing log | A control mapped to a retired obligation | Testing cadence |
| Oilfield services | Rental days × rate = invoiced rental revenue | Rental ledger, fleet register | A contract with no invoice | Rental fleet utilisation |
| Healthcare supplies | Σ systems = Σ facilities = Σ ship-tos = revenue, dated | Ship-to, facility masters, orders | A hospital under two systems after an acquisition | Facility identifiers |
| Foodservice | Chain delivered = Σ sites; order lines = on-guide + off-guide | Delivery ledger, site master, guide file | A delivered site not in the master | Chain versus site |
| Freight brokerage | Σ loads' margin = ledger gross margin; loads per lane = Σ carriers | Load ledger | A load not yet settled | Margin per load |
| Sports | Σ delivered units ≤ capacity per asset per fixture; seats used ≤ seats held | Sales ledger, delivery log, access control | An asset oversold; a pass shared | Inventory utilisation per fixture |
| Professional services | Σ practices' supply hours = firm hours; billed fees = Σ partners = Σ clients | Roster, time entries, bills | A person in two practices | Sold work against the bench |
| Procurement | Total spend = on contract + approved + unmanaged; committed = ordered + shortfall | Payables, contracts, approved list | An uncategorised invoice | Spend under management |
| Finance and sales together | Bookings = Σ billings = Σ revenue over a contract's term | Contracts, invoices, revenue schedule | A schedule never built | Bookings, billings and revenue |
| Failure | Looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A duplicate | One entity under two parents; a total above the ledger | A dated mapping; a merge confirmed by a person |
| A missing mapping | Revenue with no owner; a site with no system; a claim with no policy | The mapping row, dated |
| A period cut wrong | Ledger on the month; activities on the last 30 days | Re-export on the same cut |
Identity not checked. The measure is computed on a sum that does not hold.
Failure adjusted silently. The number is patched; the source is not fixed.
One identity where there are two. The ledger reconciles; the register does not.
Checked once. The identity is checked on every upload, or it is not checked.
Covirage checks the desk's identity on every upload, before any measure, and lists failures by row. The reconciliation term has the short definition, and the validation report guide covers where the identity line sits among the six.
Because a measure computed on a roll-up that does not sum is wrong in a way no downstream check can find. A coverage figure on an account list with duplicates, a share on a ledger missing a day: both look fine and both are wrong. The identity is the one check that tests the whole.
A list of rows: the account under two owners, the container with no events, the invoice with no contract price, the control mapped to a retired obligation. Never a silent adjustment. The person who dropped the file sees the rows and fixes the source.
Every desk has a ledger of record, and the analysis has to sum to it. Where a desk has two, the ledger and a register, there are two identities, and the hub shows both where they apply.