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Single Source of Truth (SSOT)

What is Single Source of Truth (SSOT)?​

Single Source of Truth (SSOT) is a concept and practice that refers to the establishment of a central and authoritative source of information within an organization. It is a fundamental principle in data management and information architecture, aiming to ensure consistency, accuracy, and reliability of data across different systems, departments, and processes.

Importance of Single Source of Truth (SSOT)​

Having a Single Source of Truth is crucial for organizations to make informed decisions, improve operational efficiency, and maintain data integrity. Here are some key reasons why SSOT is essential:

  1. Consistency and Accuracy: SSOT eliminates redundant or conflicting data by providing a single, reliable source of information. This reduces the chances of errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies that may occur when data is scattered across multiple systems or repositories.

  2. Data Integrity: SSOT helps maintain the integrity of data by enforcing data governance policies, validation rules, and quality standards. It ensures that data is complete, valid, and up-to-date, reducing the risk of using outdated or incorrect information.

  3. Efficiency and Productivity: With SSOT, employees can access the most up-to-date and accurate data from a centralized source, eliminating the need to search for information in different systems or rely on outdated copies. This saves time, improves productivity, and reduces the likelihood of making decisions based on outdated or incomplete data.

  4. Data Collaboration and Sharing: SSOT facilitates seamless collaboration and information sharing across departments and teams. It provides a common reference point that everyone can trust, enabling effective communication, coordination, and alignment of data-related activities.

  5. Improved Decision-making: By relying on a Single Source of Truth, organizations can make data-driven decisions with confidence. Decision-makers have access to accurate, reliable, and consistent information, enabling them to analyze trends, identify patterns, and derive meaningful insights.

  6. Data Governance and Compliance: SSOT supports data governance initiatives by establishing clear ownership, accountability, and control over data. It helps organizations comply with regulatory requirements, data privacy laws, and industry standards by ensuring data accuracy, security, and privacy.

Documentation is the single source of truth (SSOT)​

The Hyletic documentation is the SSOT for all information related to Hyletic implementation, usage, and troubleshooting. It evolves continuously and with improvements for clarity, accuracy, and completeness.

This policy prevents information silos, making it easier to find information about Hyletic.

It also informs decisions about the kinds of content we include in our documentation.

The documentation includes all information​

Include problem-solving actions that may address rare cases or be considered risky, but provide proper context through fully-detailed warnings and caveats. This kind of content should be included as it could be helpful to others and, when properly explained, its benefits outweigh the risks.

The documentation includes all media types​

Include any media types/sources if the content is relevant to readers. You can freely include or link presentations, diagrams, and videos. No matter who it was originally composed for, if it is helpful to any of our audiences, we can include it.

If you use an image that has a separate source file (for example, a vector or diagram format), link the image to the source file so that it may be reused or updated by anyone. Do not copy and paste content from other sources unless it is a limited quotation with the source cited. Typically it is better to either rephrase relevant information in your own words or link out to the other source.

Topic types​

In the software industry, it is a best practice to organize documentation in different types. For example:

  • Concepts
  • Tasks
  • Reference
  • Troubleshooting

At Hyletic, we have not traditionally used topic types. However, we are starting to move in this direction, so we can address these issues:

  • Content is hard to find. Our docs are comprehensive and include a large amount of useful information. Topic types create repeatable patterns that make our content easier to scan and parse.
  • Content is often written from the contributor’s point of view. Our docs are written by contributors. Topic types (tasks specifically) help put information into a format that is geared toward helping others, rather than documenting how a feature was implemented.

Link instead of repeating text​

Rather than repeating information from another topic, link to the single source of truth and explain why it is important.

Docs-first methodology​

We employ a documentation-first methodology. This method ensures the documentation remains a complete and trusted resource, and makes communicating about the use of Hyletic more efficient.

  • If the answer to a question exists in documentation, share the link to the documentation instead of rephrasing the information.
  • When you encounter new information not available in Hyletic documentation (for example, when working on a support case or testing a feature), your first step should be to create a merge request (MR) to add this information to the documentation. You can then share the MR to communicate this information.

New information that would be useful toward the future usage or troubleshooting of Hyletic should not be written directly in a forum or other messaging system, but added to a documentation MR and then referenced, as described above.

The more we reflexively add information to the documentation, the more the documentation helps others efficiently accomplish tasks and solve problems.

Maintaining a knowledge base separate from the documentation would be against the documentation-first methodology, because the content would overlap with the documentation.

Conclusion​

A Single Source of Truth (SSOT) is a critical foundation for effective data management, decision-making, and collaboration within organizations. By establishing a central and authoritative source of information, organizations can ensure data consistency, accuracy, integrity, and compliance. Implementing SSOT requires careful planning, coordination, and adherence to data governance principles. With SSOT in place, organizations can leverage reliable and up-to-date data to drive business success and achieve their goals.