Fix inconsistent state right away or lazily when data is requested

Our users go through several steps of workflow - the further they go the more objects we create. We also allow users to go back to Step#1 and change one of the existing objects. Which may cause inconsistencies so we must update/delete some of the objects at Step#2. I see 2 options:

1. Update/delete objects from Step#2 right away. This leads to:

   • Operation that's supposed to be a simple PATCH of an entity field becomes complicated. And it's a shared object between multiple workflows - so we'll have to add if-statements and do different things depending on the workflow.
   • Circular dependencies. Operations on Step#1 have to know about objects/operations on Step#2.
   • Many actions on Step#1 may need fixing state at Step#2. So we have to ensure we don't forget anything today and in the future.

2. Fix Step#2 lazily - when user goes there (our current approach). Step#2 will recognize that objects are inconsistent and fix them. Which leads to just 1 place where we need to care, but:

   • Until user opens Step#2 - DB will contain inconsistent objects. This hasn't resulted in any problems so far. But I can imagine it may complicate future SQL migrations.
   • We update DB state on GET request. This one doesn't seem like that big of a deal since GET stays idempotent anyway. But still it feels awkward.

Anyone knows better approaches? Or maybe improvements to these two?