The Death of the Single Source of Truth

And the Rise of Expert Systems + Unified Access

For years, enterprises have chased the idea of a Single Source of Truth (SSOT).

One system. One repository. One place where everything lives.

On paper, it sounds perfect:

• No duplication
• Clear governance
• A single place to search

But in reality, this idea has quietly been failing for years.

And today, it is no longer just flawed, it is actively holding organisations back.

The Fundamental Problem: Not All Data Is Equal

The assumption behind SSOT is straightforward:

"All data can live in one system."

But that assumption breaks the moment you examine how different types of data actually behave.

CAD Data vs Documents vs ERP Data

These are not just "files", they are fundamentally different ecosystems:

• CAD data (e.g. Inventor, Revit)

  • Deeply structured
  • Dependency-driven (assemblies, references)
  • Requires version-aware and revision aware system for not just the file but the relationship

• Office documents (Word, Excel)

  • Collaboration-focused
  • Real-time editing
  • Thrive in platforms like SharePoint

• ERP data (e.g. SAP)

  • Highly structured
  • Transactional
  • Optimised for financial and operational control

Trying to force all of this into a single platform creates immediate compromises... and compromises in every direction.

What Happens When You Force a Single System?

Putting CAD Data into SharePoint

You immediately lose:

• Reference integrity
• Assembly structure reliability
• Performance at scale
• Native CAD lifecycle control

Putting Word Documents Outside SharePoint

You lose:

• Real-time collaboration
• Version co-authoring
• Presence awareness—who is editing what, and when

Putting Everything into SAP

You get:

• Exploding data costs
• Reduced flexibility
• Over-engineered structures
• Users working around the system instead of with it

The Reality: SSOT Creates Universal Compromise

A single system does not optimise everything.

It degrades everything equally.

The more diverse your data becomes, the more damaging a single source of truth becomes.

This is why so many enterprise systems feel slow, overcomplicated, and misaligned with actual workflows.

It is not a user problem.

It is an architectural problem.

The Shift: From "Single Source" to "Expert Systems"

Modern enterprises are moving toward a different model:

Use the best system for each type of data.

This means:

• CAD data lives in engineering-native systems
• Documents live in collaboration platforms
• ERP data stays in ERP
• Project data lives in project systems

Each system becomes an expert system—optimised for its domain, with no compromises forced upon it.

The Obvious Objection: "But Now We Have Silos"

This is where most organisations get stuck.

They recognise that SSOT does not work—but the alternative feels worse:

"If data is spread everywhere, how do users find anything?"

Historically, this is where SSOT justified itself.

Not because it was optimal—but because it was simple.

The Missing Piece: A Single View of Truth

The problem was never about storage.

It was about access.

What organisations actually need is not:

A single source of truth

But instead:

A single view of truth

A unified way to:

• Search across all systems
• Discover information instantly
• Navigate to the source system seamlessly

This Is Where Platforms Like Mesh Come In

Instead of centralising data, platforms like MinuteView Mesh do something far more powerful:

• Connect to multiple systems (Vault, ACC, SharePoint, SAP, and others)
• Index and understand the data within each
• Respect existing permissions and structure
• Surface results through a single unified interface

The user experience becomes:

"Find what I need → Open it where it lives → Work in the right system"

Rather than:

"Guess where it might be stored → Navigate multiple systems → Hope it is there"

Why This Model Wins

1. No Compromise on Functionality

Each system does exactly what it was designed to do.

2. Reduced Data Duplication

No need to copy data just to make it accessible.

3. Better Performance at Scale

Each system handles its own domain efficiently, without the overhead of serving unrelated use cases.

4. Lower Costs—Especially in ERP

Systems like SAP are no longer used as expensive data warehouses.

Instead:

• SAP stores critical structured data
• Supporting detail lives in cheaper, specialised systems

The SAP Effect: The Monolith Is Cracking

This shift is already happening across the industry.

Organisations are:

• Reducing what they store in SAP
• Avoiding unnecessary data expansion
• Moving detail-heavy data into external systems

Why?

Because SAP pricing is increasingly tied to data volume and usage. Storing everything in SAP is no longer economically viable—and organisations are starting to act on that.

The Future Architecture

The emerging model looks like this:

• Core Systems (ERP, CAD, Project Platforms) Own and control their native data

• Expert Systems Optimised for specific domains, with no forced compromise

• Unified Access Layer (e.g. Mesh) Provides search, discovery, and navigation across all systems

This is not fragmentation.

This is intentional distribution—and it is a fundamentally different and better way to think about enterprise data.

Final Thought: SSOT Was Never About Truth

The "Single Source of Truth" was always a simplification.

It made governance easier to explain.

But it never reflected how businesses actually operate.

Today, we have the technology to do better.

Not one system to rule them all— But many systems, each excellent at what they do, Unified by a single, intelligent access layer.

The Real Evolution

From:

• Single Source of Truth
• Centralised storage
• System compromise

To:

• Expert Systems
• Federated data
• Unified access

If SSOT was about control—then the future is about precision without compromise.