Recognition conditions
How to recognise a Decision-Basis condition.
The trigger is not “many documents”. It is a defined reliance point where the agreed records no longer state one sufficiently bounded written position for the intended use — and no existing accountable process already closes that gap.
Approval / authority / execution
The file establishes approval or authority, while evidence of the later act sits elsewhere or at a later date.
Current / superseded positions
Multiple versions remain in circulation and it is not clear which position governs the intended use.
Historical cut-off
A past decision must be read using what existed then, not what became known later.
Qualification loss
A condition, caveat or exclusion disappears as the position moves into a summary, dashboard or executive pack.
Carry-forward
A position is moving into the next handover, payment, closure, governance or operating reliance point and must travel with its limits intact.
Before specialist judgement
A legal, commercial, technical, assurance or expert function first needs a stable source-supported factual starting position.
NO-GAP / clean stop
Sometimes the right RGRA answer is: no additional review is required.
If the same adequate source-supported position is already expressly owned, produced and appropriately reviewed for the same decision, cut-off, audience and intended use, no parallel RGRA review is required.
A fit question is not a sales commitment.
The first written check can establish that an existing process already closes the position, that a different cut-off or use creates a distinct question, or that a specialist route is more appropriate.
What the trigger is not
Volume, complexity and urgency are not sufficient on their own.
Not “the repository is large”
Large record volume can exist without a decision-basis gap.
Not “the project is difficult”
Technical or commercial complexity does not automatically create a separate RGRA mandate.
Not “we need another opinion”
RGRA does not add a parallel judgement where the authorised position already exists.
Check one matter
Describe the reliance point, not the whole project.
A non-sensitive fit check is enough to determine whether the question belongs inside the current RGRA offer.