A good thing to shoot for in business and any complicated system.
When it comes to almost everything, it’s best to have a single, authoritative source of truth (SSOT). The facts listed there are defined as the truth.
You can enable and supercharge your SSOT by using pointers and references, or even better by using Transclusion. It’s best practice for reports to provide traceability to their source.
Picking your SSOT is an example of Make the Decision that Informs all Subsequent Decisions. You say this is reality. This is what we will use. This is what we will defend.
When you’re considering new Metrics, ensure you know where your data come from. When possible build directly from the SSOT.
Counter-Example
Really the only example I can think of where this isn’t true is the News. You should get your news from several places from several perspectives.
Source
- Self