Build a useful investigation brief
Build a controlled state baseline
Use distinct source identities and record the relevant destination state before preview. Identify expected upload and validation metadata separately. Exercise one action at a time so creations or updates can be attributed to upload, parsing, mapping, validation, or explicit execution rather than a broad multi-step session with ambiguous timing.
Trace operation reuse and triggers
Inspect where preview or validation calls behavior that can persist destination records. Check request methods, navigation transitions, and any execution trigger used by the flow. Record the first domain write with its source identity and state difference, keeping ordinary preview bookkeeping visible but outside the unintended-write hypothesis.
Compare the bounded separation change
Evaluate a correction at the implicated boundary using preview, refresh, and mapping-change controls, then explicitly confirm execution. Verify the corrected preview still produces useful validation while destination state remains at baseline until the documented execution action. Do not treat rolling back a preview transaction as proof if other effects occur outside it.
What to carry forward
Deliver the action sequence, expected bookkeeping, first unintended domain write, and outcome of the bounded comparison. Keep any unobserved effects explicit. A supported fix preserves useful preview behavior and makes execution occur only at its documented boundary, rather than relying on users to cancel quickly after work has already started.
Technical background: Django import-export documentation.
Keep the decision with the work.
Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.
Create an account See the product workflow