The design contract
The ontology connects what the business knows with what an authorized person or application may do.
Scope and objects
- Assets and equipment
- Work orders and workpacks
- Permits and isolations
- People and materials
- Projects, trades, and invoices
Workflow principles
Give business objects stable identities and clear owners.
Define allowed state transitions and action criteria.
Apply context, access, and authority to each decision.
Applying the contract
For a specific engagement, identify the authoritative records, source versions, identity and access context, allowed state transitions, and receiving outcome. Document the approval and the evidence needed to accept the action.
Failure and recovery
Preserve the request identity and source intent. A timeout or partial handoff should leave a visible unresolved state until the authoritative outcome can be reconciled. Recovery follows the defined action contract and the responsible owner.
Acceptance evidence
The delivery record should connect the agreed baseline, representative inputs, permissions, relevant failure cases, observed outcomes, and operating responsibilities. A change in scope or environment requires review of the applicable contract.