5 ms·
Banks use an ancient but powerful architecture called Source of Truth (SoT), or system of record. It's one of the first techniques developed to manage heterogen
by redis_mlc 7y ago
Banks use an ancient but powerful architecture called Source of Truth (SoT), or system of record. It's one of the first techniques developed to manage heterogeneous distributed databases.
One master is picked as the final authority, then changes flow to other databases, replicas, etc. either using database tools or applications.
Awareness of deadlines or how much latency (ie. when the updates are needed for each downstream pipeline) is helpful.
A practical example that solves a simple case is the recent release of a tool by Netflix.
Pro tip: when you interview people for a project like this, they should already know the above. :)
Source: DBA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_record https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_record
- kjaftaedi 7y agoI get the feeling OP is the one being interviewed. Mortgage rates change frequently. The bank likely deals with this exact scenario on a regular basis and should have an established procedure in place.
- todaysAI 7y agoNo, no interview. He's a friend of mine but I kept his problem in my head to possibly provide some solution.
- dx034 7y agoSource of Truth should (in my opinion) be used in many sectors but even finance doesn't use it everywhere. Having each data point originate in only one system helps a lot with data quality but is complex to introduce in existing systems.
- in9 7y agoYou underestimate what how unknowledgeable a small financial institution can be.
- chrisjc 7y ago> A practical example that solves a simple case is the recent release of a tool by Netflix. Which tool is this?
- xnxn 7y agoDBLog: https://netflixtechblog.com/dblog-a-generic-change-data-capture-framework-69351fb9099b https://netflixtechblog.com/dblog-a-generic-change-data-capt...
- rorykoehler 7y agoI was in a client meeting a while back where one of their consultants corrected me with 'system of record' when I said source of truth. Your comment made me wonder where this distinction/difference was from? Do you know the history behind this?
- maps7 7y agoIt's probably just what they call it.
- davismwfl 7y agoThat's been my experience as well. People call it different things. I have met some that are down right religious about the name and chide you for not using their term, but in the end it is the same thing. I have had people try to explain to me how they are different, but when you remove all their BS, it is the same thing.
- smacktoward 7y agoI have no idea about this particular case, but for a lot of older concepts the root of divergent terminology is IBM. IBM invented its own lingo for lots of things, and persisted in using it even when the rest of the world settled on a different term. (This seems to be a habit companies pick up when they become huge and dominant; see also Micro-speak and Google-speak.) The thing everybody else called a "hard disk," for instance, was long referred to by IBMers as either a "Winchester disk" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives#IBM_3340 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_d... for the etymology on that one) or a "fixed disk."
- girzel 7y agoCf Emacs' "windows", "frames", "kill", "yank", etc...
- mceachen 7y agoFWIW I've heard both used interchangeably (in banking, adtech, and other tech verticals). Edit: the linked wikipedia articles discriminate the terms by defining SSOT as a single place to store and edit every data element, while SOR allows for replicas, but in the case of data discrepancies, the SOR's state wins.
- maps7 7y agoWhat do non-banks use?
- codingdave 7y agoThe same. The concept of a system of record is fairly universal in the Enterprise IT world.
- maps7 7y agoThanks - that's what I thought but OP's phrasing confused me.