What is a single source of truth?

A single source of truth is an agreed, referenced place for each fact, so that every report, spreadsheet and tool reads the same value. The term comes from information-systems design. Wikipedia describes it as "the practice of structuring information models and associated data schemas such that every data element is mastered (or edited) in only one place". Vendor definitions usually go further. AtScale, which sells a semantic layer, calls it "a centralized and authoritative platform where an organization stores its data".

One owner per fact, not one system

The phrase suggests a single system holding everything. In practice, most businesses keep several systems, and each fact has a natural home. The volume of a load belongs on its scale ticket. The price of a sale belongs on the invoice. A single source of truth means deciding, for each fact, which record wins, and making every other copy refer to it.

In a timber business

Copies drift. A price copied into a spreadsheet can miss a credit note, and each copy looks authoritative to whoever uses it.

From Quarri's own work with a forestry operation: a levy rate was being accrued at a fraction of the rate actually invoiced, a gap of 500%+.

Not every disagreement means one record is wrong. An accrual is an estimate made before the invoice arrives. The invoice is what was charged. Both have a job, and the difference between them is what a reconciliation exists to catch. A single source of truth for the rate makes the difference visible sooner.

What it isn't

A single source of truth doesn't make data correct. It makes everyone use the same data, so an error shows up in every report at once and can be corrected in one place. Nor is it a project to move everything into one system, which is rarely possible or necessary.

How to start

List the facts that matter most to your reports, such as volumes, rates, prices and costs. For each, name the record that wins and the person who owns it. Then find the copies in accruals, spreadsheets and reports, and point them at the winning record.

Quarri for finance and strategy teams is built for the people who close the month, explain the margin and answer the board.

Quarri is an AI-native data platform for the timber supply chain. It connects buying, production, sales and inventory for forest management, sawmill, wood products and pulp, paper and packaging operators.