diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 51cbc490..3e7021bc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ dynamic=["version"]
 dependencies = [
     'pandas',
     'numpy<=1.23.5',
-    'dask>=2023.5.0',
+    'dask>=2023.6.1',
     'dask[distributed]',
     'pyarrow',
     'pyvo',
diff --git a/src/tape/ensemble.py b/src/tape/ensemble.py
index bda92361..8d0b65dc 100644
--- a/src/tape/ensemble.py
+++ b/src/tape/ensemble.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import pandas as pd
 
 from dask.distributed import Client
+from collections import Counter
 
 from .analysis.base import AnalysisFunction
 from .analysis.feature_extractor import BaseLightCurveFeature, FeatureExtractor
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ def insert_sources(
 
         # Create the new row and set the paritioning to match the original dataframe.
         df2 = dd.DataFrame.from_dict(rows, npartitions=1)
-        df2 = df2.set_index(self._id_col, drop=True)
+        df2 = df2.set_index(self._id_col, drop=True, sort=True)
 
         # Save the divisions and number of partitions.
         prev_div = self._source.divisions
@@ -169,6 +170,8 @@ def insert_sources(
             elif self._source.npartitions != prev_num:
                 self._source = self._source.repartition(npartitions=prev_num)
 
+        return self
+
     def client_info(self):
         """Calls the Dask Client, which returns cluster information
 
@@ -206,6 +209,57 @@ def info(self, verbose=True, memory_usage=True, **kwargs):
         print("Source Table")
         self._source.info(verbose=verbose, memory_usage=memory_usage, **kwargs)
 
+    def check_sorted(self, table="object"):
+        """Checks to see if an Ensemble Dataframe is sorted (increasing) on
+        the index.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        table: `str`, optional
+            The table to check.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        A boolean value indicating whether the index is sorted (True)
+        or not (False)
+        """
+        if table == "object":
+            idx = self._object.index
+        elif table == "source":
+            idx = self._source.index
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f"{table} is not one of 'object' or 'source'")
+
+        # Use the existing index function to check if it's sorted (increasing)
+        return idx.is_monotonic_increasing.compute()
+
+    def check_lightcurve_cohesion(self):
+        """Checks to see if lightcurves are split across multiple partitions.
+
+        With partitioned data, and source information represented by rows, it
+        is possible that when loading data or manipulating it in some way (most
+        likely a repartition) that the sources for a given object will be split
+        among multiple partitions. This function will check to see if all
+        lightcurves are "cohesive", meaning the sources for that object only
+        live in a single partition of the dataset.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        A boolean value indicating whether the sources tied to a given object
+        are only found in a single partition (True), or if they are split
+        across multiple partitions (False)
+
+        """
+        idx = self._source.index
+        counts = idx.map_partitions(lambda a: Counter(a.unique())).compute()
+
+        unq_counter = counts[0]
+        for i in range(1, len(counts)):
+            unq_counter += counts[i]
+            if any(c >= 2 for c in unq_counter.values()):
+                return False
+        return True
+
     def compute(self, table=None, **kwargs):
         """Wrapper for dask.dataframe.DataFrame.compute()
 
@@ -802,7 +856,9 @@ def batch(self, func, *args, meta=None, use_map=True, compute=True, on=None, **k
             Determines whether `dask.dataframe.DataFrame.map_partitions` is
             used (True). Using map_partitions is generally more efficient, but
             requires the data from each lightcurve is housed in a single
-            partition. If False, a groupby will be performed instead.
+            partition. This can be checked using
+            `Ensemble.check_lightcurve_cohesion`. If False, a groupby will be
+            performed instead.
         compute: `boolean`
             Determines whether to compute the result immediately or hold for a
             later compute call.
@@ -961,6 +1017,8 @@ def from_dask_dataframe(
         sync_tables=True,
         npartitions=None,
         partition_size=None,
+        sorted=False,
+        sort=False,
         **kwargs,
     ):
         """Read in Dask dataframe(s) into an ensemble object
@@ -985,6 +1043,12 @@ def from_dask_dataframe(
         partition_size: `int`, optional
             If specified, attempts to repartition the ensemble to partitions
             of size `partition_size`.
+        sorted: bool, optional
+            If the index column is already sorted in increasing order.
+            Defaults to False
+        sort: `bool`, optional
+            If True, sorts the DataFrame by the id column. Otherwise set the
+            index on the individual existing partitions. Defaults to False.
 
         Returns
         ----------
@@ -994,14 +1058,14 @@ def from_dask_dataframe(
         self._load_column_mapper(column_mapper, **kwargs)
 
         # Set the index of the source frame and save the resulting table
-        self._source = source_frame.set_index(self._id_col, drop=True)
+        self._source = source_frame.set_index(self._id_col, drop=True, sorted=sorted, sort=sort)
 
         if object_frame is None:  # generate an indexed object table from source
             self._object = self._generate_object_table()
 
         else:
             self._object = object_frame
-            self._object = self._object.set_index(self._id_col)
+            self._object = self._object.set_index(self._id_col, sorted=sorted, sort=sort)
 
             # Optionally sync the tables, recalculates nobs columns
             if sync_tables:
@@ -1148,6 +1212,8 @@ def from_parquet(
         additional_cols=True,
         npartitions=None,
         partition_size=None,
+        sorted=False,
+        sort=False,
         **kwargs,
     ):
         """Read in parquet file(s) into an ensemble object
@@ -1181,6 +1247,12 @@ def from_parquet(
         partition_size: `int`, optional
             If specified, attempts to repartition the ensemble to partitions
             of size `partition_size`.
+        sorted: bool, optional
+            If the index column is already sorted in increasing order.
+            Defaults to False
+        sort: `bool`, optional
+            If True, sorts the DataFrame by the id column. Otherwise set the
+            index on the individual existing partitions. Defaults to False.
 
         Returns
         ----------
@@ -1218,6 +1290,8 @@ def from_parquet(
             sync_tables=sync_tables,
             npartitions=npartitions,
             partition_size=partition_size,
+            sorted=sorted,
+            sort=sort,
             **kwargs,
         )
 
@@ -1275,7 +1349,9 @@ def available_datasets(self):
 
         return {key: datasets_file[key]["description"] for key in datasets_file.keys()}
 
-    def from_source_dict(self, source_dict, column_mapper=None, npartitions=1, **kwargs):
+    def from_source_dict(
+        self, source_dict, column_mapper=None, npartitions=1, sorted=False, sort=False, **kwargs
+    ):
         """Load the sources into an ensemble from a dictionary.
 
         Parameters
@@ -1288,6 +1364,12 @@ def from_source_dict(self, source_dict, column_mapper=None, npartitions=1, **kwa
         npartitions: `int`, optional
             If specified, attempts to repartition the ensemble to the specified
             number of partitions
+        sorted: bool, optional
+            If the index column is already sorted in increasing order.
+            Defaults to False
+        sort: `bool`, optional
+            If True, sorts the DataFrame by the id column. Otherwise set the
+            index on the individual existing partitions. Defaults to False.
 
         Returns
         ----------
@@ -1304,6 +1386,8 @@ def from_source_dict(self, source_dict, column_mapper=None, npartitions=1, **kwa
             column_mapper=column_mapper,
             sync_tables=True,
             npartitions=npartitions,
+            sorted=sorted,
+            sort=sort,
             **kwargs,
         )
 
diff --git a/tests/tape_tests/test_ensemble.py b/tests/tape_tests/test_ensemble.py
index 3c30aeb5..1db32e2b 100644
--- a/tests/tape_tests/test_ensemble.py
+++ b/tests/tape_tests/test_ensemble.py
@@ -372,8 +372,15 @@ def test_insert_paritioned(dask_client):
         "flux": [0.5 * float(i) for i in range(num_points)],
         "band": [all_bands[i % 4] for i in range(num_points)],
     }
-    cmap = ColumnMapper(id_col="id", time_col="time", flux_col="flux", err_col="err", band_col="band")
-    ens.from_source_dict(rows, column_mapper=cmap, npartitions=4)
+    cmap = ColumnMapper(
+        id_col="id",
+        time_col="time",
+        flux_col="flux",
+        err_col="err",
+        band_col="band",
+        provenance_col="provenance",
+    )
+    ens.from_source_dict(rows, column_mapper=cmap, npartitions=4, sort=True)
 
     # Save the old data for comparison.
     old_data = ens.compute("source")
@@ -435,6 +442,61 @@ def test_core_wrappers(parquet_ensemble):
     parquet_ensemble.compute()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("data_sorted", [True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("npartitions", [1, 2])
+def test_check_sorted(dask_client, data_sorted, npartitions):
+    # Create some fake data.
+
+    if data_sorted:
+        rows = {
+            "id": [8001, 8001, 8001, 8001, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8002],
+            "time": [10.1, 10.2, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 15.0, 15.1],
+            "band": ["g", "g", "b", "g", "b", "g", "g", "g", "g"],
+            "err": [1.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0],
+            "flux": [1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 3.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0],
+        }
+    else:
+        rows = {
+            "id": [8002, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8001, 8001, 8002, 8002],
+            "time": [10.1, 10.2, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 15.0, 15.1],
+            "band": ["g", "g", "b", "g", "b", "g", "g", "g", "g"],
+            "err": [1.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0],
+            "flux": [1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 3.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0],
+        }
+    cmap = ColumnMapper(id_col="id", time_col="time", flux_col="flux", err_col="err", band_col="band")
+    ens = Ensemble(client=dask_client)
+    ens.from_source_dict(rows, column_mapper=cmap, sort=False, npartitions=npartitions)
+
+    assert ens.check_sorted("source") == data_sorted
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("data_cohesion", [True, False])
+def test_check_lightcurve_cohesion(dask_client, data_cohesion):
+    # Create some fake data.
+
+    if data_cohesion:
+        rows = {
+            "id": [8001, 8001, 8001, 8001, 8001, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8002],
+            "time": [10.1, 10.2, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 15.0, 15.1],
+            "band": ["g", "g", "b", "g", "b", "g", "g", "g", "g"],
+            "err": [1.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0],
+            "flux": [1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 3.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0],
+        }
+    else:
+        rows = {
+            "id": [8001, 8001, 8001, 8001, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8002, 8001],
+            "time": [10.1, 10.2, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 15.0, 15.1],
+            "band": ["g", "g", "b", "g", "b", "g", "g", "g", "g"],
+            "err": [1.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0],
+            "flux": [1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 3.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0],
+        }
+    cmap = ColumnMapper(id_col="id", time_col="time", flux_col="flux", err_col="err", band_col="band")
+    ens = Ensemble(client=dask_client)
+    ens.from_source_dict(rows, column_mapper=cmap, sort=False, npartitions=2)
+
+    assert ens.check_lightcurve_cohesion() == data_cohesion
+
+
 def test_persist(dask_client):
     # Create some fake data.
     rows = {