Building a Single Source of Truth: The Architecture Decisions That Actually Matter
When the CFO and VP of Operations present different revenue numbers in the same executive meeting, the instinct is to buy a data platform. The real problem is almost always architectural: undefined system-of-record decisions, absent data contracts, and governance that was supposed to come after the build. This post covers the architecture decisions — medallion vs. ODS vs. DWH, centralized vs. federated ownership, minimum viable MDM, and data contracts — that determine whether a Single Source of Truth initiative actually produces consistent reporting or just consolidates the confusion into one expensive tool.