Single source of truth
A source-of-truth designation names the authority for one object, field, event, artifact, role, or decision within a stated scope and effective period.
The phrase single source of truth is often mistaken for one tool or one universal number. A CRM can hold opportunity state, Finance can own accounting treatment, and a reporting model can own one issued measure. The designation must state which decision it supports rather than claiming authority over every representation.
A useful test asks whether the named owner, rule version, source, mapping, and consumers are visible. Independent representations may remain legitimate when they answer different questions; reconcile them instead of forcing false identity.
Where it breaks
Numbers agree in a given month by coincidence of independent implementations, and diverge the moment one is edited.
Related terms
- System of record
- A system of record is the designated authoritative source for a given entity or field, the one place where, if two systems disagree, this one is right.
- Metric definition
- A metric definition is the governed specification of a measure, its formula, source fields, filters, grain, owner and known limitations.
- Revenue data model
- The revenue data model is the set of objects, relationships and required fields that every revenue-facing process reads from and writes to.
- Change control
- Change control is the governed process for proposing, reviewing, releasing and recording modifications to the revenue system, its fields, definitions, automations and stage criteria.
Field notes on this
- You just inherited RevOps. Start with a charter.
Being told to "own revenue operations" is not a mandate. Until authority is written down, every decision you make is reversible by whoever objects loudest.
- Why four teams report four different revenue numbers
A reconciliation problem may be definitional, technical, or both. Test the metric contract before buying another data platform.