The record source inventory
A printable worksheet that traces each field in an owner list back to its source and to the date it was last confirmed.
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The record source inventory has five parts. Completed, it traces each field of an owner list to where the data came from and records how old it is. Filling it in takes an export of the records, plus the invoice or file behind every data purchase, call log and older system the records passed through.
Four of the parts are tables. The tables in parts one and four open with one example row, marked (made up) in its first cell, and blank rows follow.
Part one, every source
Every place a record or a field came from goes here, including call notes and any older system the list was imported from.
| Source | Kind | Date pulled | Fields it supplied | Terms of use on file | Records from it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County assessor export (made up) | Public record | 2026-06-02 | Owner name, mailing address, parcel number | Yes | 4,812 |
Kinds: public record; data provider or skip trace; purchased list; own calls, forms or notes; imported from an older system.
Part two, each field
Each field gets its sources and two measures from the export. Share blank is the number of empty cells in the column divided by the number of records. The fourth column is yes when every value in the field carries the date it was last confirmed.
| Field | Sources | Share blank | Has a last confirmed date | Format rule written down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner name | ||||
| Company, trust or estate name | ||||
| Mailing address | ||||
| Property address or parcel number | ||||
| Phone 1 | ||||
| Phone 2 | ||||
| Last contact date | ||||
| Stage or status | ||||
| Request to stop contact |
A format rule is one sentence per field, for example "phones are stored as +1 and ten digits" or "addresses follow the postal abbreviations".
Part three, freshness by age
- Group the phone numbers by the time since each was last confirmed.
- Pull up to 50 at random from each group and check each one.
- Repeat on a second copy of this table for mailing addresses.
The guide on how fast records go stale explains the sampling and the range of error around each share.
| Time since last confirmed | Records in group | Sampled | Dead or wrong person | Unknown | Share failed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 months | |||||
| 3 to 6 months | |||||
| 6 to 12 months | |||||
| 12 to 24 months | |||||
| over 24 months | |||||
| never confirmed |
Share failed is dead or wrong person, divided by sampled minus unknown.
Part four, where sources disagree
Each time two sources give different values for the same field on the same owner, the pair goes here before either one is picked.
| Record | Field | Value, source and date A | Value, source and date B | Kept | Rule used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner 1044 (made up) | Mailing address | 12 Oak Rd, county export, 2026-06-02 | 88 Birch Ln, skip trace, 2026-08-15 | Both, B marked current | Newer, and the owner confirmed it on a call |
The rules, in the order they apply:
- A value a person entered after talking to the owner outranks any appended value.
- For who owns a property, the public record wins.
- For how to reach someone, the value with the latest confirmation date wins.
- When none of these settles it, both values stay, neither is marked current, and the record goes on the re-check list.
Part five, twelve checks
Each check is yes or no:
- Every source that feeds the records is listed in part one.
- The terms of use are on file for every purchased or appended source.
- Every record shows which source created it.
- Every phone number and mailing address has a date it was last confirmed.
- Phone numbers are stored in one format.
- Mailing addresses are standardized to postal abbreviations.
- Company, trust and estate names sit in a different field from people's names.
- The duplicate rate was measured in the last three months.
- Merged records keep their originals, and each merge can be undone.
- A request to stop contact on any copy of a person carries to every copy.
- The cost per usable contact is known for each data provider paid.
- Decay by age group was measured in the last three months.
The sheet has no passing score. The noes are fixed in this order. Check 10 comes first, because a request to stop contact has to survive every merge and every import. Checks 4 and 3 follow, since every later measure depends on dates and sources, and check 11 comes before the next data purchase. The guides on finding duplicate records and cost per usable contact cover checks 8, 9 and 11.