This glossary defines core terms as they are used throughout this wiki. The goal is not to provide dictionary definitions, but to make conceptual boundaries explicit.
Most failures in regulated and industrial systems originate from blurred meanings, not missing technology.
A tamper-evident, time-ordered record that explains how and why a system behaved the way it did.
It links events, decisions, transformations, responsibility, and time into a coherent chain.
Recording what happened in a system.
Logs are factual, chronological, and useful for debugging and monitoring. They do not explain intent, authority, or decision logic.
A moment where a system commits to a course of action based on available context, rules, or models.
Decisions have inputs, conditions, authority, and consequences. They must be explainable long after execution.
The set of conditions that give data meaning at a specific moment in time.
This includes process state, timing, configuration, product or batch identity, and system state.
A formal commitment that defines a meaningful slice of time.
Intervals determine what belongs together, what can be compared, and which conclusions are valid.
The ability to explain and defend system behavior retrospectively.
It is tested after execution, during audits, incidents, or regulatory review.
How close a system operates to physical process execution.
As proximity increases, requirements for time resolution, causality, and determinism tighten.
A translation layer that aligns physical process reality with meaningful, comparable, and auditable representations.
Its purpose is understanding and reuse, not visualization.