# Tagging Use Cases & Best Practices

This document highlights common and recommended uses of tagging across the platform.

## Traceability

Tags can link platform records back to external systems.


```json
{
  "sourceSystem": "legacy-sis",
  "externalRecordId": "ENR-552991"
}
```

Used for:

- Support investigations
- Data reconciliation
- Migration validation


## Auditing & Compliance

Tags provide lightweight audit context without schema changes.

Examples:

- Migration batch identifiers
- Operational flags
- Processing channels


## Reporting & Analytics

Tags allow segmentation and filtering in reports without hardcoding fields.

Examples:

- Program codes
- Regions
- Partner identifiers


## Operational Debugging

Tags help explain *why* something happened, not just *what* happened.

Example:


```json
{
  "pricingRule": "promo-2026",
  "overrideReason": "manual-adjustment"
}
```

## Best Practices

- Use consistent key naming conventions
- Avoid storing PII in tags
- Treat tags as immutable facts, not state
- Prefer many small tags over large encoded values


## Summary

- Tags add business context everywhere
- They reduce coupling between services
- They enable powerful reporting and traceability