Pattern · Foundational
Duplicate Truth
Several systems or documents appear to contain the authoritative version of the same information.
Brilliant QuestPublished 9 October 2026Updated 2026-10-09
Illustrative structure
CRM / ERP
Spreadsheet / Email
Which is authoritative?
Common indicators include…
- Different teams quote different values
- A spreadsheet quietly overrides a system
- Nobody can explain which update wins
- Reports contain incompatible versions of status
Why it may happen
Copies of information have accumulated without explicit authority, freshness or reconciliation rules. A system may own one field while a document records an approved exception, making a single blanket “source of truth” insufficient.
What it can cost
Decisions can be made using stale or conflicting information. Investigating disagreement adds work, while silently selecting one version can hide a material contradiction.
Questions worth asking
- Which source is authoritative for this field, in this context?
- How old is each value, and what changed it?
- What happens when an approved exception conflicts with the default record?
Possible interventions
- Assign authority at field or decision level.
- Record timestamps, provenance and approved overrides.
- Expose disagreement and reconcile it with evidence.
Verification required
This is an explanatory pattern, not a finding about your organisation. Establish whether it is present through a real example, records and the people involved; retain contradictory evidence.