A quality rule is a sentence someone can test

Most data-quality programs stall on language. A standard that says customer data should be complete, accurate, and timely gives a team nothing to run on Monday morning. Nobody can fail that test, so nobody can pass it either.

A rule that can be operated is one sentence with four parts. It names the data element. It states the test. It says how a failure is found. It names who closes the break.

Write the sentence

This is a rule:

The ship-to state on an open order is a two-letter code that exists on the state list. The check runs each night. A failure is assigned to the order-management steward and stays visible until that steward closes it or the owner accepts the exception.

Someone can implement that sentence. Someone can also argue with it, which is useful. If the business ships outside the United States, the rule is wrong and should be rewritten. A slogan about accuracy never gets that argument into the open.

One rule for one field

Start with the fields a decision already depends on. If the forecast uses product family, write the rule for product family, not for "the product master." Record the rule on a card the steward can keep: the field, the test, the check, and the path for a break.

A break that is found and then disappears into email is not a governed break. The issue log is part of the rule. Open items stay visible, with an owner, until they are fixed or explicitly accepted. Quality work is that loop. The sentence is just the part that makes the loop possible.