> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.parley.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Guardrails

> The practices that keep a bulk operation reviewable and reversible.

A bulk run does exactly what you tell it to, across every row. These are the habits that make that safe.

## Before an import

**Use a dry run before every significant import.** Not just unfamiliar ones — a mapping that was correct last quarter may not be correct against this quarter's export.

**Use a stable natural key** that is genuinely unique within the data you can access. A key that's unique in your spreadsheet but not in the workspace will match the wrong records.

**Keep the original CSV, matching key, mapping, and progress log together.** These four things are what make a rerun safe. Losing any one of them turns recovery into a manual reconciliation.

**Don't treat a rerun as a substitute for review.** Rerunning resolves ambiguous matches and unresolved links the same wrong way it did the first time.

## Destructive operations

Destructive operations require explicit confirmation.

**Prefer unlinking over deleting** when the goal is simply to separate records. A Contact wrongly attached to an Account needs the link removed, not the Contact destroyed — the record carries history across every matter the person appears on.

## Put things where they belong

This one is less about safety and more about whether the workspace stays useful. Parley has four distinct places for information, and they aren't interchangeable:

| What it is           | Where it goes   |
| -------------------- | --------------- |
| Source material      | Files           |
| Operational context  | Notes           |
| Reportable facts     | Resource fields |
| Entity relationships | Native links    |

A case fact buried in a note can be found by chat but can't be reported on. A relationship recorded as a text field instead of a link doesn't pull the Account's letterhead into the matter. See [Where information belongs](/self-driving/where-information-belongs).

## Before changing existing data

Inspect the relevant Project, Account, or Contact first. Where more than one record could be the intended match, stop and resolve the ambiguity rather than guessing.