Observation

Submission Key joins occurrence and membership; the reply workflow upserts by this key. Editing in Slack updates the same row, its value, note and observation date, while retaining existing evidence. This differs from the table description that says readings are never overwritten. Processing means persistence or evidence transfer is underway; Recorded means collection completed; Failed means a saved record needs recovery. These states are not performance grades.

Use and boundaries

Field names below are the current product labels. * and ° are UI markers, not database constraints. A preferred single-record selection is not a global cardinality constraint either. The related guide explains operational rules.

Related guide · All entities

Observation in the Data view CEO - Reported results.

Fields

Field	Storage	Source, options or boundary
Observation #	Auto number	Generated by Airtable.
Variable Measured*	Linked records	Metric
Period*	Text	Stored value.
Recurrence Configuration°	Linked records	Recurrence Configuration
Observation About (Membership)*	Linked records	Membership (mirror)
Company	Lookup	Observation About (Membership)* / Business Unit. Preserves the Organization link; read-only membership company, not a historical snapshot.
Observation About (Membership) - OLD	Text	Historical; do not fill.
Observation About (Team)	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Observation About (Department)	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Observation About (Organization)	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Organizational Scope (Team)	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Organizational Scope (Department)	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Value*	Number	Stored value.
Unit Text*	Text	Stored value.
Unit Code	Text	Stored value.
Observation Date*	Date and time	Stored value.
Evidence°	Text	Text reference; not a linked record.
Evaluations	Linked records	Evaluation
Task	Linked records	Task
Occurrence Key	Text	Stored value.
Observation About (Name)	Lookup	Observation About (Membership)* / Member Display Name
Note°	Long text	Stored value.
Evidence Files°	Attachments	Stored value.
Submission Key	Text	Stored value.
Collection Status*	Single select	Processing, Recorded, Failed
Slack File IDs	Long text	Stored value.
Collection Error	Long text	Stored value.
Intake Check	Formula	Computed; see formulas below.
Created	Created time	Generated by Airtable.
Intake Step	Formula	Computed; see formulas below.
Tags	Linked records	op:tags · optional labels from the Core Tags catalog; classification only.

Current formulas

Internal references are rendered as readable field names. These expressions describe current configuration, including its limitations.

Intake Check

IF({Variable Measured*} = BLANK(), "⚠ Choose the metric. ", "") & IF({Observation About (Membership)*} = BLANK(), "⚠ Choose the reporting membership. ", "") & IF(LEN({Value*} & "") = 0, "⚠ Enter the measured value. ", "") & IF({Period*} = BLANK(), "⚠ Enter the period. ", "") & IF({Observation Date*} = BLANK(), "⚠ Enter the observation date. ", "") & IF({Unit Text*} = BLANK(), "⚠ Enter the unit. ", "")

Intake Step

IF(AND({Submission Key}=BLANK(),OR({Collection Status*}=BLANK(),{Collection Status*}="Processing")),IF(OR({Variable Measured*}=BLANK(),{Observation About (Membership)*}=BLANK(),{Period*}=BLANK()),"Collect - 1",IF(OR(LEN({Value*}&"")=0,{Unit Text*}=BLANK(),{Observation Date*}=BLANK()),"Collect - 2","Collect - 3")),"")

Example and maintenance

Illustrative example: 12 reports for period 2026-10-27, Recorded, linked to the schedule that asked for it. Editing that Slack item later updates this same reading. On 2026-10-28 the table held one observation.

Use the existing fictitious records to inspect relationships in the guide. Before changing fields, check lookups, formulas, intakes and workflow contracts. This page documents structure; a field does not prove that an integration populates it.