Evidence library
Decision evidence versus audit logs
Logs tell you what happened in a system. Decision evidence connects material events to the organisational act they helped form.
Definition
The precise question
Decision evidence is the declared basis of a consequential decision; audit logging is one possible source of events and provenance.
Reference model
From category to independent review
Decision assurance
Decision evidence
VES decision envelope
Evidence objects
Independent review
The envelope can link model output, runtime records, policy versions, authority records, claims documents, human rationale, external data and approvals while preserving each source's declared limits.
Insurance example
What this looks like in practice
A log records a reserve change. Decision evidence identifies the claim facts, authority threshold, reviewer judgement and commitment behind it.
Evidence map
What a reviewer needs to see
- Relevant events and source references
- Decision relationship and governing conditions
- Authority, judgement, commitment and limitations
A question of relation
The key question is not whether an event exists but how it relates to the decision. The package should declare whether the event was relied upon, produced by the system or merely contextual.
Use logs well
Retain native logs for operational purposes and link the material ones into the envelope. Keep the source semantics and limitations visible.
The VES connection
A published evidence structure
VES 1.2 allows audit events to become Evidence Objects without treating them as the whole decision-state.
Read VES 1.2 for the published Decision Envelope, Evidence Object and verification model.
Boundary
More telemetry does not automatically prove decision relevance, authority or organisational commitment.
Frequently asked
What does decision evidence versus audit logs address?
Decision evidence is the declared basis of a consequential decision; audit logging is one possible source of events and provenance.
Does this establish that a decision was correct or compliant?
More telemetry does not automatically prove decision relevance, authority or organisational commitment.