Single Source of Truth

Statement

Each business data entity has exactly one authoritative system of record; all other systems consume from it rather than maintaining their own copy.

Rationale

Duplicate master data leads to inconsistencies, reconciliation overhead, and decision errors — especially critical in supply chain where product, supplier, and inventory data spans many systems.

Implications

• The authoritative system for each entity is documented and enforced
• Downstream systems integrate via APIs or event streams rather than database replication
• Data lineage is maintained