Maintain a measurement definition

Core meaning

Capability purpose: Preserve how reality is to be measured independently from desired success and individual observations.
Meaningful outcome: A measurement definition exists with identity, subject or target context, unit or value form, tracking method, lifecycle state, and provenance.
Boundaries — includes: creation, revision, activation or retirement, unit, value form, tracking method, subject linkage, provenance, and interpretation notes.
Boundaries — excludes: defining a target, recording a measured value, deciding whether success was achieved, generating summaries, and rendering charts.
Terms and concepts: A measurement definition describes what and how to measure. A metric observation records what was measured at a particular time.

Actor: An authorized owner, analyst, planner, or delegated agent.
Command / intent: Define or revise how an outcome-relevant quantity or condition is measured.
Current state: The subject, intended interpretation, and any current measurement definition are known.
Policies / invariants: Unit and value semantics are explicit; definition changes are versioned or time-bounded when they affect comparability; method does not fabricate observations; target and metric remain separately identifiable.
Transition: Validate the measurement semantics and scope, persist the definition, and record lifecycle and provenance.
Result: A current measurement definition suitable for later observations and review.
Events / effects: May enable metric observation, aggregation, target evaluation, or display without performing those outcomes.
Unknowns: Universal unit registries, validation rules, and definition-change compatibility are not established.

A measurement definition must not be treated as observed reality.
Material changes that break comparability must remain visible across observations.

Prefer an explicit unit or value type, tracking method, subject, expected cadence, and interpretation notes.

Cross-implementation unit normalization and semantic compatibility require a later interoperability profile.

Statement	Semantic class	Evidence status	Source / note
A metric definition specifies how reality is tracked and remains separate from a success target and from recorded values.	rule/invariant	sourced	F07–F08.