itsual Data Contracts
Overview
Data contracts make the expectations between data producers and consumers explicit, testable, and enforceable — similar to API contracts but for data.
When to Use
- Multiple teams depend on shared tables, streams, or files
- Breaking changes in data are causing downstream failures
- Moving toward a more product-oriented data culture
Key Elements of a Contract
- Schema and types
- Ownership and SLAs (freshness, quality)
- Compatibility / change policy
- Quality checks and monitoring
- Semantics and business meaning of fields
Principles
- Treat important datasets as products with interfaces
- Prefer explicit contracts over tribal knowledge
- Enforce contracts with tests and monitoring, not just documentation
Verification
- Consumers can rely on documented guarantees
- Breaking changes follow a defined process
- Quality and freshness are monitored against the contract