Field principles
Principles for credible evidence standards
A credible evidence standard should make the relationship between evidence and a consequential decision clearer over time, across systems and between organisations.
- Point-in-time
- Evidence should be captured at, or demonstrably applicable to, the execution boundary.
- Portable
- A record should remain intelligible beyond the originating workflow or interface.
- Versioned
- The standard, profile and relevant source versions should be identifiable.
- Provenance-aware
- Sources, issuers, timestamps and integrity details should be declared.
- Authority-aware
- The role, delegation, limits and approval state behind the act should be visible.
- Limitation-aware
- Unknowns, exclusions, conflicts and unavailable evidence should remain explicit.
- Implementation-neutral
- The standard should describe exchange and review requirements without prescribing one product or architecture.
- Independently reviewable
- A reviewer should be able to assess the declared package without relying solely on an untested assertion.
- Decision-linked
- Evidence should state its relationship to the specific consequential decision.
- Relationship-aware
- The record should distinguish available, relied-upon, excluded and superseded evidence.
These principles describe qualities of a useful evidence standard. They do not certify an organisation, implementation or decision outcome.