Is Address Best Practices

Guidelines for getting reliable signal from Is Address checks while keeping the noise (and the maintenance) low.

Require only the parts your process depends on

Every part you add makes the rule stricter and the anomaly queue longer. Start from what the consumer needs (a carrier needs a post code; a tax report may only need a country) rather than from the most complete address you can imagine.

Scope by country when formats differ

Requiring state across a table that holds addresses from countries without states guarantees noise. Use a filter per country, or split the rule into one check per region with the parts that region actually uses.

Treat it as a completeness gate, not verification

The check confirms the parts are present, not that the address is deliverable. Use it upstream of a real verification service, so that service only receives addresses that are structurally complete.

Pair with Not Null when the address is mandatory

NULL values pass. The rule asserts that present values carry the required parts; it does not require the field to be populated. Add Not Null on the same field when presence is part of the rule.

Keep coverage at 100% unless a known backlog exists

At 100% coverage every failing row is reported as a Record Anomaly, which tells you exactly which rows break the rule. Below 100% the check reports a single Shape Anomaly only when the failing fraction crosses the tolerance, and no per-row detail is produced. Lower coverage only while a known set of legacy rows is being cleaned up.

Scope with a filter instead of loosening coverage

When the rule only applies to part of the table (one segment, one channel, one period), express that with a filter clause rather than by lowering coverage. The filter removes the out-of-scope rows from evaluation entirely, and the expression is echoed in every anomaly message.

Route the anomalies to the right people

A failure usually points at the system that produced the value, not at the warehouse. Set an Anomaly Assignee from the team that owns that producer, and tag the check so related checks are easy to find.