SEAL — Approval Record
Record who approved which version, in which role, on what evidence. The person who asked cannot approve their own request.
For the sponsor who signs, the PMO that needs every approval recorded the same way, and the project manager who sends the request.
Method-independent approvals, supporting sequential, iterative and hybrid delivery.
Where it sits: the decision itself. SEAL records the approval of the pack, the requirements and, as it comes on screen, the plan. Every later judgement is measured against the version approved here.
SEAL turns an approval into a record. A request names the exact version to be decided, with its content fingerprint, so what was approved cannot drift from what was shown. The decision records who decided, in which role, and why; a reason is required and nothing can be backdated. The person who raised the request, or who wrote the content, cannot decide it.
SEAL contains no AI. It is the human decision, kept.
Approvals happen in meetings, email threads and slide decks. Months later nobody can say which version the board saw, what the open questions were, or whether the person who approved it held the authority to.
When an IT initiative overruns, the estimate the sponsor is judged against is the one approved at the investment decision. Without a record, that moment is reconstructed from memory.
SEAL takes a request for approval against one specific version of a governance pack, a requirements baseline or, as it comes on screen, a delivery plan.
It shows the decider what they are approving, with its grade, confidence and open questions in front of them.
It records the decision, the role, the reason and the time. The requester and the author cannot decide.
It decides nothing itself. People decide; SEAL keeps the record.
One approval record per decision: the version approved and its fingerprint, who decided, in which role, why, and when.
A request history showing what was returned for rework or rejected, and why.
The approved version in force, which the rest of FORGE Logic® uses as the yardstick.