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:
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.