Decision / Approval Activity

Decision occurrence identity

How one decision or approval occurrence is identified and kept distinct from its subject, its notice and the rule set applied.

1. Which system of record issues the authoritative identifier for this decision occurrence, and what is that identifier? identity
2. If no master-system reference exists, which governed IRI or Dimension-minted UUID/ULID identifies it, and who mints it? identity
3. How is this identifier kept distinct from the identifiers of the subject, the decision notice and the applied rule set? relationship
4. Under which later events (correction, re-vote, appeal outcome) does the identifier stay stable rather than being reissued? constraint

Question, subject and granularity

The exact question decided, the subject matter it reaches, the admissible answers and what counts as one occurrence rather than a chain.

1. What exact question does this decision answer, and whose formulation of it is authoritative? definition
2. Which subject entities, requests or assets does the decision reach, and by which references? relationship
3. Which answers were admissible before the choice was made? constraint
4. Is one occurrence a single approval step, a whole approval chain, or one item within a multi-item session? composition

Decision type, modality and materiality

The governed decision-type code, whether the outcome was produced solely by automated processing, and the materiality and reversibility of the decision.

1. Which decision-type code, from which governed code list and version, classifies this occurrence? classification
2. Was the outcome produced solely by automated processing, by a human, or by a human acting on an automated recommendation? decision
3. Which materiality or impact tier applies, and which scale sets that tier? measurement
4. Is the decision reversible in practice, and what makes it irreversible once acted upon? quality

Authority basis, mandate and delegation

The instrument that confers the power to take this decision, the position that holds it, and any delegation or substitution under which someone acted on behalf of the holder.

1. Which instrument confers the power to take this decision, and what is its citation, version and effective date? authority
2. Which position or role, rather than which individual, holds the decision right under that instrument? ownership
3. Which agent acted on behalf of which responsible agent, under what delegation instrument and validity period? provenance
4. Which act is reserved to the holder and cannot be delegated to a designated representative? constraint

Competence limits and escalation

The quantitative and categorical bounds on the authority applied, the escalation path when they are exceeded, and any emergency authority.

1. Which value, risk-class, subject-matter or jurisdictional limits bound the authority applied? constraint
2. What is the escalation path when a request exceeds the holder's limit? process
3. Under what emergency conditions may a limit be exceeded, and what after-the-fact ratification is required? exception
4. How is the limit check evidenced at decision time rather than asserted afterwards? evidence

Participant roles and responsibility

The agents who took part, the role each held with respect to the activity, and who remains accountable for the outcome.

1. Which agents participated, in which roles, and with what share of responsibility for the outcome? relationship
2. How is the design-time decision owner or decision maker in the rule model distinguished from the agent who actually decided this occurrence? classification
3. Who is accountable for the decision after it is taken, if that differs from who signed it? ownership
4. Which participants' acts were required for completion and which were advisory only? requirement

Separation of duties and conflict control

The incompatibility rules, dual-authorization requirements and recusal or conflict declarations that protect the integrity of the decision.

1. Which separation-of-duties rule applies, and which role pairs are incompatible for this decision type? constraint
2. Is dual authorization or two-person control required, and on which criterion is that requirement triggered? requirement
3. How are declared conflicts of interest, recusals and abstentions recorded, and what effect do they have on validity? exception
4. How is a self-approval or maker-equals-checker violation detected and recorded? validation

Collective decision rules (declared evidence gap)

Quorum, voting method, thresholds and treatment of abstentions and proxies for decisions taken by a body rather than an individual; no consulted primary standard defines these normatively, so this finding is marked as a gap and must not be treated as canonical.

1. What quorum and majority threshold made this decision validly constituted? requirement
2. Which voting method was used, and how were abstentions, proxies and absentees counted? process
3. What were the counted results for, against and abstaining? measurement
4. How were decisions taken by written procedure or by chair's action subsequently ratified? exception

Input and evidence set

The inputs actually used, fixed by version, digest or as-of time, together with what was missing or uncertain.

1. Which inputs, documents and datasets were actually used, at which version or as-of time? evidence
2. Where did each input come from and who attested to its accuracy? provenance
3. What was missing, stale or uncertain at decision time, and how was that gap treated? quality
4. How is the package fixed so that later changes at the source do not silently alter what was decided upon? validation

Applied criteria and rule-set reference

Which rule set, policy or decision model was applied at which pinned version, and any recorded departure from it.

1. Which rule set, policy or decision model was applied, at which pinned version? interoperability
2. Who owns that rule set, and is this decision permitted to depart from it? authority
3. If the decision departed from the criteria, what deviation reason and additional approval were recorded? exception
4. Where more than one rule matched, which resolution or hit policy determined the result? constraint

Option set and rejected alternatives

The options on the table at the moment of choice, which was taken and why the others were not.

1. Which options were on the table when the choice was made? composition
2. Which option was chosen and what stated reason rejected each of the others? decision
3. Was the null option of deferring or taking no action admissible, and was it considered? constraint
4. How is an option added late in the process distinguished from one available from the outset? temporal

Rationale and owed explanation

The reasoning connecting inputs and criteria to the chosen option, and the explanation owed to affected parties where the decision significantly affects them.

1. What reasoning connects the inputs and applied criteria to the chosen option? evidence
2. Which explanation is owed to the affected party, in what form and within what period? privacy
3. How complete must the rationale be for the decision to be effectively contestable? quality
4. Where automated components contributed, what is recorded about their role, logic and limits? interoperability

Deliberation events and dissent

The sessions in which the matter was considered, attendance, and any recorded dissenting or minority position.

1. Which deliberation events took place, when, and who attended each? event
2. Which dissenting or minority positions were recorded, and by whom? state
3. Which parts of the deliberation are confidential and which are disclosable? access
4. Who certified the minutes and when were they approved? provenance

Outcome value and disposition

The recorded outcome from a governed vocabulary, its mapping to external decision values, and the instants at which it was decided and recorded.

1. What is the outcome value, from which governed outcome vocabulary and version? decision
2. How does the outcome map to the referenced authorization model's decision values, and where does that mapping lose meaning? interoperability
3. How are 'no applicable authority' and 'could not decide' distinguished from an explicit refusal? classification
4. At what instant did the decision take effect, and how does that differ from when it was recorded? temporal

Conditions, obligations and validity window

Binding terms and limitations attached to the outcome, obligations placed on the recipient, and the period and triggers governing validity.

1. Which conditions, limitations and restrictions attach to the outcome, and which of them are binding rather than advisory? constraint
2. Which obligations must the recipient discharge, by when, and what follows if they are not discharged? requirement
3. From when until when is the decision valid, and is validity time-driven, event-driven or open-ended? temporal
4. Which events trigger mandatory review or automatic lapse of the decision? event

Notification, acknowledgement and execution hand-over

Communication of the outcome to addressees with evidence of acknowledgement, and the hand-over of the decision to the systems that act on it while enforcement stays outside this model.

1. To whom must the outcome be communicated, in what form, and within what period? process
2. How are receipt of the notice and acceptance of its terms evidenced, and what happens if acknowledgement fails? evidence
3. Which downstream system consumes this decision, and what exactly is in the hand-over payload? interoperability
4. Which model owns enforcement of the outcome, and how is drift between the decided outcome and the enforced state detected? authority

Decision status lifecycle

The permitted states of the decision occurrence, the legal transitions between them and who may cause each.

1. What are the permitted states of the decision occurrence and which transitions between them are legal? lifecycle
2. Which state means decided but not yet effective, and which means effective but suspended? state
3. Who may cause each transition, and may that differ from who took the original decision? authority
4. How is each transition timestamped, and by whose clock and offset? temporal

Supersession, revocation and reauthorization

How a decision is replaced, revoked or suspended, what becomes of the rights and obligations it created, and what forces a fresh decision instead of an amendment.

1. Which decision supersedes or revokes which, and from what effective instant? lifecycle
2. What happens to obligations and rights created by the superseded or revoked decision? relationship
3. Which elapsed periods or events force reauthorization rather than amendment? event
4. Is retroactive revocation permitted here, and what evidence must support it? exception

Human oversight of automated decisions

Assignment and exercise of oversight where the outcome is produced or materially shaped by automation, including disregard, override and reversal.

1. Who is assigned oversight of this automated or assisted decision, and with what competence and means to intervene? authority
2. Was the automated output disregarded, overridden or reversed, and on what basis? exception
3. On what legal or policy basis is a solely automated decision permitted for this decision type? requirement
4. What evidence shows the human intervention was substantive rather than a formality? evidence

Contestation, appeal and ratification

Who may challenge the decision, how the review is conducted and how emergency overrides or after-the-fact ratifications are recorded.

1. Who may contest this decision, on what grounds, and within what period? access
2. How does the review outcome relate to the original decision: confirm, amend, replace or remit? lifecycle
3. Which body reviews the decision, and must it be independent of the original decider? ownership
4. How are emergency overrides and after-the-fact ratifications of this decision recorded? exception

Attribution, plan and activity timing

The qualified association between the decision activity and its responsible agents, the procedure followed, and the separation of activity time from recording time.

1. Which agent was associated with the decision activity, in which role, and following which plan or procedure version? provenance
2. What are the start and end times of the decision activity, and how are they distinguished from recording or ingestion time? temporal
3. Which prior activities informed this decision and which entities did it generate? relationship
4. How is a provenance assertion made by the deciding system distinguished from one asserted by a third party? quality

Signature and its declared meaning

Signatures applied to the decision, the meaning each carries, and their inseparable binding to the signed record; verification itself is external.

1. What meaning is attached to each signature: review, approval, responsibility or authorship? evidence
2. Which signer identity is bound to the signature, and how was that identity authenticated? identity
3. How is the signature bound to the record so it cannot be excised, copied or transferred to another record? security
4. Which model verifies the signature, and where is the verification result referenced from here? validation

Decision record and disposition boundary

The durable record produced by the decision, the retention class asserted for it, and the explicit statement that disposition is executed elsewhere.

1. Which retention class and schedule apply to the decision record and, separately, to its deliberation content? retention
2. Which model or policy executes disposition, and what does this model keep as a tombstone afterwards? authority
3. What blocks destruction while the decision still confers rights or imposes obligations? constraint
4. How are erasure requests for personal data reconciled with the obligation to keep the decision record? privacy

Access, confidentiality and mandatory disclosure

Who may read the outcome, the rationale and the deliberation, what personal data are involved, and which disclosures override the default restriction.

1. Which parties may read the outcome, the rationale and the deliberation, and on what basis each? access
2. Which personal data appear in the decision context, and under what lawful basis are they held? privacy
3. What confidentiality marking applies to each part, and who may downgrade it? security
4. Which mandatory disclosures to a data subject, auditor, supervisory authority or court override the default restriction? exception

External alignment and crosswalk

Mappings from this decision context to external decision, provenance, authorization, policy and archival vocabularies, with recorded conflicts and no conformance claim.

1. Which external vocabularies is this decision context mapped to, and at which versions? interoperability
2. Where does the mapping to authorization decision values lose or distort meaning? classification
3. What evidence would be required before claiming conformance to any of these standards? validation
4. Who maintains each mapping and when was it last checked against the source version? provenance