I was working with a client recently on helping them adopt new business rules for managing the customer relationship management (CRM) aspect of their association. The project includes reviewing how staff throughout the organization interact with members and customers, and included discussion of what type of data should be captured, how staff should capture it, what the reporting would look like, and so on. It's a large project with a lot of moving parts.

During a recent discussion reviewing where we are in the process, one of the participants observed: "There is value in just going through this exercise."

And he's absolutely right.

By looking at all of the ways the organization interacts with its members and customers, they are getting good insight into all the different processes and business rules currently in place. This, in turn, gives them an opportunity to start asking questions like "Does that process make sense?" or "Do these business rules really apply any more?"

Every business rule and every process we establish in our organizations probably made sense at the time it was created. (Sometimes it doesn't, but go with me here!) But as time goes on, what made sense then may not make sense now. But inertia and competing priorities cause us to allow these rules and processes to linger long past their "best when used by" date.

So when you're working on any new data management project, keep an eye out for the "added value" that project may bring.