Extract preparation
Every exclusion applied and recorded.
The opening move is to find out whether the audience exists at all. Location fields are made consistent before any comparison runs. Columns without a written meaning are left out rather than shipped undocumented.
Recency statement
Saying how old each part of a file is, so decisions about what to use are made with that in view.
Mailbox shape
Distinguishing an individual's address from a shared or departmental one before either is used.
Sample inspection
Reading a handful of records as a person would, not as a script would.