Sales Tax Data Mapping

Data mapping can be a requirement as part of managing your sales tax process.

 Data mapping involves creating a specification that shows how data from one system maps to data from another system. 

• This can be due to a system data migration where data is moved from one database to another. 
• It can also be due to an integration where data from one database is regularly moved to another database.

Data mapping may be as simple as adding jurisdiction specific codes to your sales tax data or as complex as mapping tax codes or jurisdiction codes. 

1. When reviewing your data you will need to analyze the data on a field by field basis to determine what the key data elements and attributes are in the source data and the corresponding elements in the target system.

2. Be sure to include translation rules such as default values, combined fields or mapping between two different values.

Solid analysis of your data sources prior to completing the mapping exercise will help prevent potential issues and reduce the need for data cleanup after the fact.