Core concepts
Understand institutions, environments, applications, services, transactions and evidence.
#From institution to observation
| Concept | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Institution | Organisation that owns the records and access scope |
| Environment | Separate operating scope, such as test or production |
| Application | Business application or workflow being observed |
| Service | Software component that can serve several applications |
| Transaction | Execution beginning at an actual entry point |
| Step | Observed operation within a transaction |
| Record | Lifecycle, HTTP, AI or additional observation for a step |
| Evidence | Sealed material used to verify recorded content and relationships |
#Correlation and causality
The same customer reference does not merge two transactions. Trace relationships follow the actual transaction root, trace, span, parent and propagated context. Session, person and external references support lookup. Source sequence belongs to a running service instance; it is not a global clock shared by every service.
#Business outcome and review status
A failed application request can have a complete, sealed record ready for review. A successful request can still be awaiting evidence preparation. Completed, Failed, Preparing and Verified describe different aspects of the record.
#Version boundaries
SDK versions, comparison-definition versions and storage-format versions are separate concepts. The comparison definition is fixed when the transaction completes. Later changes do not rewrite previously sealed transactions. Updated service coverage applies to new executions; an in-flight execution retains its signed connection scope.