Connected software works best when every important business fact has one clear authoritative owner.
Integration is not duplication
Two systems can share information without both becoming authoritative for it. When billing, property, lending and accounting each maintain independent versions of the same obligation, reconciliation becomes part of daily work.
Preserve identity
Stable source identifiers, explicit system ownership and retry-safe integrations make it possible to trace a financial or operational event back to its origin.
Design for failure as well as success
Integrations must handle retries, delayed processing and partial failure without silently creating duplicate records.
Key takeaways
- Assign one authoritative owner to each business fact.
- Preserve stable identities across projections.
- Make integration idempotent and traceable.
Published 24 September 2026