> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dqlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Use Cases

> Real-world Lookup metric examples in Prizm — product catalog integrity, ISO country code validation, and cross-source customer ID checks.

<script type="application/ld+json">
  {`{
            "@context": "https://schema.org",
            "@type": "TechArticle",
            "headline": "Lookup Metric Use Cases",
            "description": "Real-world Lookup metric examples in Prizm - product catalog integrity, ISO country code validation, and cross-source customer ID checks.",
            "url": "https://docs.dqlabs.ai/architecture/metrics/lookup/usecases",
            "publisher": {
              "@type": "Organization",
              "name": "DQLabs Inc",
              "logo": "https://media.brand.dev/332adc35-5bc4-4d2b-bf78-256aa4a5e414.svg"
            }
            }`}
</script>

## Example use cases

**Product catalog integrity:** The `orders.product_id` column should reference only valid products in the `products` table. A Lookup metric with 100% pass criteria alerts the moment any order references a non-existent product — catching orphaned records from a failed product sync before they break pricing and fulfillment.

**ISO country code validation:** A CRM stores `country_code` for every customer. A Lookup metric validates each value against a static Reference File of valid ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. When a data entry team begins entering full country names instead of codes (`"United States"` instead of `"US"`), the match rate drops and Prizm alerts — surfacing a process breakdown before it corrupts segmentation reports.

**Cross-source customer ID validation:** A fact table's `customer_id` column is validated against a CRM API. New IDs appearing in the fact table that don't exist in the CRM surface orphaned records from a failed sync or a test data leak into production.

<Tip>
  Use Lookup metrics for any column that represents a foreign key relationship not enforced at the database level — product codes, account IDs, country codes, status values drawn from a master data table. These violations are common in warehouses and lakehouses where FK constraints are disabled for performance.
</Tip>
