Information & decisions
How do you identify the authoritative source for a business fact?
When two reports disagree, ask who had the right to establish the fact and when it became final.
Published 25 September 2026
Define the fact before naming its source
Write down the exact meaning, the event that creates it, the person or system authorised to change it and the time it becomes reliable. A label such as “completed” is insufficient if teams use it for different events.
The authoritative source may vary by fact. A finance system can own invoiced revenue while an operations system owns delivery status.
Make correction part of the design
People will find errors. Give them a route to challenge a value, record a correction and notify reports that depend on it. A locked dashboard with no correction path is not trustworthy.
Document the meaning and owner where people will use the number, not only in a hidden technical specification.
Finance reports one completion date; delivery reports another because work finished before the client accepted it.
Decide which date each question needs. Operational completion and commercial acceptance may both be valid facts, but they should not share one ambiguous field.