Freshness
When did this data last update? A CRM lead score stale by 3 days misleads reps. Track freshness at column-level for critical fields. Alert when stale.
Quality
Completeness (required fields populated), accuracy (values match business rules), uniqueness (no unintended duplicates). Sample and validate continuously. Quality drops silently; monitoring catches it.
Schema Drift
Upstream system adds a column. Pipeline ignores it silently. New data isn’t captured. Schema registry + drift detection prevents silent degradation.
Cost
Data pipelines consume compute. Warehouse bills climb. Attribute cost per pipeline, per team. FinOps for data just like AI.