Changes and data contracts
Silent change
A new enrolment status reaches the data overnight, and each side of the university saw only half of the change.
A sharper sketch: when a data model needs more precision
Two trusted numbers disagree. Check the simple sketch against a reference model, and sharpen it one question at a time.
Builds on The Inner Life of Data · The sketch
Watch the film
Press Play, or pick a chapter.
Download the videoCaption filesRead the script
How to read the film
The sketch is the university's conceptual model, in blue ink. The reference model, TCSI, is drawn in warm ink on tracing paper. Blue pins mark what the sketch adopts from the reference; amber pins mark what the university adds. The comparison in the corner closes as the model sharpens. The narration is a synthetic voice.
Where next?
You've seen the sketch get sharper. Now sharpen it yourself.
Next
Sharpen the model yourself →
Six hands-on labs: count at different grains, place details on the right box, join through a course admission, slide through the semester, choose a reference model, and run a fit check.
Go further
Start here
The Inner Life of Data
Follow one enrolment from a tap on a phone to a decision, through Databricks and dbt.
From words to data: seven films
What's in a word
Four offices, four numbers, one word. Before you can count anything, you have to agree what it is.