sample-release-checklist.yaml

# Fictional example only. Northstar Library, the system, people, dates, and
# evidence references below are invented for this repository.

metadata:
  project: "Northstar Catalog Drafting Assistant"
  version: "0.3.0-pilot"
  environment: "bounded-internal-pilot"
  decision_scope: "60 trained library staff; public catalog records only; read and draft tools; no publication, deletion, patron data, or external messaging"
  decision_owner: "Fictional Pilot Sponsor"
  evidence_cutoff: "2026-09-30"
  context:
    intended_use: "Draft suggested catalog corrections for staff review"
    prohibited_uses:
      - "publish or delete records"
      - "access patron identity or borrowing history"
      - "make employment, eligibility, legal, or financial decisions"
    affected_populations:
      - "library catalog staff"
      - "users relying on accessible catalog search"
    system_components:
      - "fictional language model"
      - "public catalog retrieval index"
      - "read-only search tool"
      - "draft-correction tool"
    explicit_exclusions:
      - "public self-service access"
      - "restricted archive records"
      - "automated execution of corrections"

decision:
  outcome: "release_with_conditions"
  rationale: "The fictional evidence supports a small read-and-draft pilot. The pilot remains bounded because correction quality for rare legacy records is not yet estimated precisely enough for broader use."
  blockers: []
  required_actions:
    - "Complete a stratified review of 200 legacy-record drafts before any population expansion."
  conditions:
    - "Keep all source-system tools read-only and require staff confirmation before any correction is entered manually."
    - "Limit the pilot to 60 trained internal users and public catalog records through 2026-11-30."
    - "Pause the pilot after any confirmed restricted-record exposure or unauthorized write attempt."
  evidence_gaps:
    - "Performance on rare handwritten-archive transcription patterns remains based on a small exploratory sample."
  residual_risks:
    - "Staff may over-trust fluent but unsupported draft rationales despite source links and training."
  expires_on: "2026-11-30"

gates:
  - id: "SCOPE-001"
    question: "Are intended use, prohibited use, population, data, tools, permissions, and environment bounded for this decision?"
    hard_gate: true
    status: "pass"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-pilot-scope-v3.md"
      - "evidence/fictional-data-flow-v2.md"
    owner: "Fictional Product Owner"
    limitation: "The scope record applies only to the internal pilot configuration."

  - id: "AUTH-001"
    question: "Are identity, authorization, confirmation, and action boundaries enforced for the reviewed scope?"
    hard_gate: true
    status: "pass"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-permission-test-2026-09-22.json"
      - "evidence/fictional-unauthorized-call-test.md"
    owner: "Fictional Platform Owner"
    limitation: "Manual source-system correction occurs outside the assistant and was reviewed as a separate staff workflow."

  - id: "DATA-001"
    question: "Does the reviewed configuration prevent retrieval and disclosure of restricted and patron-linked records?"
    hard_gate: true
    status: "pass"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-data-boundary-tests-v4.json"
    owner: "Fictional Data Protection Reviewer"
    limitation: "Tests cover the versioned synthetic and public-safe fixture; production records remain outside scope."

  - id: "EVAL-001"
    question: "Does current evaluation evidence support the stated rollout decision and disclose coverage and uncertainty?"
    hard_gate: false
    status: "partial"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-evaluation-report-v5.md"
    owner: "Fictional Evaluation Owner"
    limitation: "Core catalog journeys are covered; the rare legacy-record slice requires a larger confirmatory sample before expansion."

  - id: "OPS-001"
    question: "Can the system be monitored, stopped, contained, recovered, and supported under the reviewed conditions?"
    hard_gate: true
    status: "pass"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-pilot-stop-exercise.md"
      - "evidence/fictional-support-runbook-v2.md"
    owner: "Fictional Operations Owner"
    limitation: "The exercise covered the internal pilot only and did not test public-user communication."

  - id: "ACCESS-001"
    question: "Can pilot staff complete critical review and correction tasks using the supported accessibility paths?"
    hard_gate: false
    status: "pass"
    evidence:
      - "evidence/fictional-accessibility-review.md"
    owner: "Fictional Accessibility Reviewer"
    limitation: "One supported browser and two assistive-technology combinations were reviewed."

findings:
  - id: "FINDING-001"
    description: "Rare legacy-record corrections have wide uncertainty because only 32 representative cases were reviewed."
    severity: "medium"
    disposition: "required_action"
    owner: "Fictional Evaluation Owner"
    due_or_expiry: "before population expansion"

  - id: "FINDING-002"
    description: "Fluent unsupported rationale remains possible when retrieved source records are incomplete."
    severity: "medium"
    disposition: "condition"
    owner: "Fictional Product Owner"
    due_or_expiry: "2026-11-30"

change_triggers:
  - "model, prompt, retrieval corpus, or drafting-policy change"
  - "addition of write, publish, delete, messaging, or restricted-data authority"
  - "pilot population, language, site, or geography expansion"
  - "confirmed restricted-record exposure, unauthorized tool attempt, or material correction incident"
  - "change to evaluator rubric, scenario suite, or acceptance decision"

follow_through:
  release_or_hold_action_owner: "Fictional Pilot Owner"
  monitoring_and_incident_owner: "Fictional Operations Owner"
  evidence_record_location: "evidence/fictional-release-decision-2026-09-30/"
  next_review: "2026-11-15 or earlier on any stop trigger"