Core meaning
- Capability purpose
- Record evidence of reality over time without silently converting an observation into a target decision, profile assertion, or aggregate conclusion.
- Meaningful outcome
- One accepted, rejected, corrected, or superseded observation is recorded with metric identity, time, value, source, provenance, and quality state.
- Boundaries — includes
- metric validation, observation time, numeric or declared value form, source, provenance, quality status, correction, supersession, and acceptance result.
- Boundaries — excludes
- defining the metric, defining a target, deciding target attainment, aggregating a series, inferring a pattern, and confirming profile truth.
- Terms and concepts
- A
metric observation is one measured value or state at a declared time. It is evidence, not interpretation.
Interaction Contract MLEs
Record one observation
- Actor
- An authorized owner, connector, sensor, application, or delegated agent.
- Command / intent
- Record a value observed for a known measurement definition.
- Current state
- The measurement definition, owner scope, source identity, observation time, and current duplicate/correction state can be determined.
- Policies / invariants
- Source and time are retained; value conforms to the declared metric semantics; duplicate or corrected observations are reconciled explicitly; observations do not silently establish achievement, patterns, or profile assertions.
- Transition
- Validate identity, scope, value, time, and provenance; append or explicitly supersede an observation; emit its disposition.
- Result
- A durable observation or a reasoned rejection/conflict result.
- Events / effects
- May feed progress views, summaries, target evaluation, observed-pattern analysis, or profile evidence through separate capabilities.
- Unknowns
- Universal duplicate windows, quality grades, correction rules, and source precedence are not established.
Rules and defaults
Rules / invariants
- Observation time and record time must remain distinguishable when they differ.
- Corrections must preserve the prior observation or an equivalent audit trail.
Recommended defaults
- Record source type, source reference, unit or value form, confidence or quality, and ingestion time when available.
Unknown / unresolved
- Domain-specific validation and aggregation semantics belong in implementation or capability profiles.
Statement provenance
| Statement | Semantic class | Evidence status | Source / note |
|---|
| A metric observation is a time-scoped evidence record separate from its measurement definition, target, and later interpretation. | rule/invariant | sourced | F08–F10. |