A bulk operation that fails at item 437 is not exceptional. Networks break, sessions expire, and flows time out.
The dangerous design is a process that cannot be restarted safely. Run it again and it creates duplicates, sends duplicate notifications, or advances records twice.
Idempotence means the same operation can be applied again without changing the final result after the first successful application. In practice, that requires stable business keys, explicit processing states, and writes that can recognize work already completed.
The retry strategy should be designed before the first CSV import or mass transition. A progress log should distinguish pending, completed, and failed items, with enough detail to resume only what is necessary.
“Just run it again” is a safe instruction only when idempotence has been designed deliberately.
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