Brief & Boundaries
Identity, conflicts, legitimate purpose, privilege, jurisdiction, scope and budget are resolved before substantive work begins.
BALANCE-7
Every decisive assumption should be visible and testable.
BALANCE-7 controls how a matter is accepted, acquired, analysed, challenged and reported. It is designed to expose bias, protect evidence integrity and prevent overstatement.
The control system
Method is the counterweight.
BALANCE-7 is not a marketing label placed over ordinary investigation. Each stage has a required record and a gate. Work cannot silently move forward when origin, authority, validation or independent review is unresolved.
Matter Charter
Acquire & Authenticate
Every item is received, identified, classified and preserved with provenance, access, transfer and technical integrity recorded.
Link the Record
Events, people, entities, transactions and statements are connected in a master chronology with confidence and contradiction visible.
Alternative Hypotheses
The official theory and reasonable alternatives are translated into predictions, supporting facts and potential disconfirmers.
Neutral Validation
Methods, calculations, translations and technical outputs are reperformed or independently validated where material.
Challenge & Peer Review
A separate reviewer tests bias, missing material, scope drift, weak inference and overstated language before finalisation.
Evidentiary Reporting
Facts, analysis, opinion, assumptions and limitations are separated and reported with exhibits that return to the source.
Three control ledgers
The audit trail is part of the analysis.
Evidence Register
Identity, provenance, legal basis, hash, custodian, access, transfers, classification and retention for every evidence object.
Hypothesis Matrix
Necessary conditions, expected observations, support, disconfirmers, unresolved questions and confidence by hypothesis.
Decision Log
Scope changes, tool choices, exclusions, escalations, reviewer interventions and the reasons behind material decisions.