The truth sits between your sources

Every source in your business tells the truth. Your till does not lie about what was sold, your accounting does not lie about what was paid, your payroll provider does not lie about what your staff cost.

The problem is that each source only knows part of the story. They all answer the question of what happened. None of them answers the question why.

That answer does not sit in one source. It sits between them.

What each source knows, and what it does not

Your till knows what was sold, at what price and when. It does not know how many people came in without buying anything.

Your door counter knows how many people came in. It does not know what they did.

The footfall figures for the street or the shopping center know how many people walked past. They do not know why so few of them stepped inside.

Your payroll provider knows what a worked hour costs and who was absent. It does not know what that hour brought in.

Your accounting knows what was paid and received, down to the euro. But it knows it months later, and at a level where you no longer recognize a single sale.

Your ERP or inventory system knows what came in and what went out. It does not know what stayed on the shelf because nobody asked for it.

Your webshop knows who ordered. Your web analytics knows who looked and left. Your ad platforms know what a click cost, and are happy to credit themselves with the sale.

Your CRM or quoting tool knows what was promised. Your planning and time registration know what the work actually took.

And then there is the source nobody sees as a source: the calendar. Public holidays, school holidays, Sunday openings, the construction holiday. They explain more swings than you would think.

Each of those sources is correct. Only together are they complete.

Four questions no single source can answer

Fewer customers or fewer buyers? The till shows a drop in revenue. Put the door counter next to it and you see whether fewer people came in, or the same number who bought less. Put the footfall next to it and you see whether the street was quieter or your window drew fewer people in. Three sources, three different problems, three different solutions.

What does a buyer cost per channel? Your ad platform says what you spent, your webshop who bought. Only together do you know which channel brings buyers and which only brings clicks.

Does a job earn what the quote promised? The quote says what was sold. Time registration says what the work took, payroll what those hours cost, and invoicing what came in. Only with all four together do you see the real margin per job.

What does absence really cost? Payroll shows the guaranteed pay. Put absence next to the door counter and the till, and you see conversion drop in the weeks with too few people on the floor. That difference is the cost that is booked nowhere, as the real cost of an absent employee explains.

What they need to have in common

Sources that have to talk to each other need a shared language. In practice that is a handful of keys.

A date, preferably down to the day or the hour, so everything lands on the same calendar. A location or department, with the same code everywhere. And an article, customer or employee with a number that does not change when someone edits a name.

Where those keys are missing, you have to create them. That is the real work, and it is explained in the data model is the work.

Why it rarely happens

Because every source belongs to someone else. The till belongs to the store, payroll to HR, the accounts to the accountant, the ads to the marketing agency. Everyone has their own report, and every report is right.

Nobody owns the connection. So it does not exist, until the owner tries to hold it together in their head. That is exactly where it does not belong.

The claim

Every source tells the truth about itself. The story of your business is in what they say together, and nobody writes that story unless you deliberately make it someone's job.