APPROACH STATUS: TRACEABILITY-FIRST

Audit-Ready Delivery Approach

Regulated delivery through coherent evidence chains. Enable confident release decisions by maintaining traceability from intent to evidence—supporting regulatory expectations while remaining pragmatic for real engineering teams.

Evidence Chain Diagram

The Evidence Chain Lifecycle

From intent through release: how regulated systems build and maintain coherent traceability.

The Evidence Chain Lifecycle Diagram

Risk & Compliance Integration

Risk controls are not bolt-on documents—they’re engineered into requirements, design, and verification from the start.

Core Principle

Risk is designed in, not added at the end. Risk controls live in requirements, design, and verification— generating evidence as you deliver.

What This Prevents

• Last-minute remediation
• Missing justifications
• Uncontrolled changes
• Weak audit narratives

What You Get

• Clear definitions of intended use and system boundaries
• Consistent linkage between hazards, controls, and verification evidence
• Design rationale captured as decisions are made
• Evidence packaging that supports confident release decisions

Result: faster delivery, clearer audit narratives, lower rework.

Traceability & Design Controls

Making traceability an engineering property rather than a compliance burden.

Requirements

Testable, unambiguous, and tied to acceptance criteria—each with a clear path to design and verification.

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Risk Controls

Explicitly mapped: where the control lives and how it is verified. No hidden dependencies.

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Verification

Evidence exists to prove controls and requirements work—not just to chase coverage numbers.

CI/CD Quality Gates Aligned to Regulated Expectations

Automation strengthens evidence quality and repeatability without adding bureaucracy.

Quality Gates (Examples)

• Controlled change process and peer review
• Build provenance and repeatability
• Automated test execution and evidence capture
• Security checks appropriate to risk
• Release readiness checklist linked to traceability

What “Good” Looks Like

A release can be explained quickly: what changed, why it changed, which risks were affected, and what evidence supports acceptance.