Why Some Data Rules Hurt More Than They Help (And How to Fix Them)

The Rule That Needs to Die: UPPERCASE Customer Names

Let’s talk about a rule I’ve seen way too often (and that I’ve even promoted in the past):

“All customer names must be in UPPERCASE.”

That’s the rule. No context. No nuance. No purpose…at least not anymore.

Where This Rule Came From (And Why It’s Outdated)

Back in the day, many legacy systems couldn’t handle mixed case or didn’t display it well. UPPERCASE was the lowest common denominator. It made everything “consistent.”

In flat files and COBOL programs, that made sense. But that was decades ago. Today, it’s just lazy data governance.

Why It Fails in Modern Data Systems

Here’s why this “uppercase names only” rule falls apart:

• It doesn’t serve the business. People hate seeing their names in all caps. It looks like yelling. It’s harder to read. It feels impersonal.
• It limits flexibility. Once you uppercase everything, you can’t go back. You’ve discarded nuance permanently unless you kept a clean version elsewhere.
• It creates exceptions. What about international names? What about titles or suffixes? Do you also uppercase “van der Meer”? Suddenly, the rule falls apart.

This rule wasn’t built to support business logic. It was built to satisfy an old system’s limits.

Real-World Impact of a Bad Rule

At one company, every customer record in the master data hub was forced to uppercase. That meant:

• Address labels looked robotic.
• Personalized emails were all-caps nightmares.
• The CRM team had to create a second “DisplayName” field and retype thousands of customer names manually.

Why? Because someone insisted on enforcing the uppercase rule for “consistency.”

That’s not governance. That’s damage control.

A Better Way to Handle Name Formatting

If the goal is consistent formatting, then define presentation logic separately from storage logic.

Here’s a better approach:

1. Store names as entered. Respect natural casing and punctuation.
2. Govern the display layer. Let the UI handle…well…the display.

This is more flexible. It preserves the original intent of the data. It lets business users decide how to use it.

How to Rewrite This Rule for Business Value

Original (bad) rule:

All customer names must be in UPPERCASE.

Rewritten (better) rule:

Customer names must be stored as entered by the user. A standard display format (Title Case) may be applied in outputs and UI components.

Now it supports actual business use. Now it’s a real rule.

Bottom Line: Every Rule Should Serve a Purpose

Some data rules are rooted in outdated system limits, not business needs.

If a rule doesn’t help the business, improve the user experience, or support downstream processes, it has no business being a rule.

Start asking: What’s this rule for? What does it serve? Can it change?

That’s how governance gets better…one line of logic at a time.