The record

Behind every shape on the chart there is a record. The chart gives the overall reading; the record states where each fact comes from and how solid it is. The rule fits on one line:

The timeline shows; the record establishes; the analyst decides.

Everything important must remain traceable. Not everything traceable needs to be displayed.

What a record holds

An object’s record includes, among other things:

• the label, in operational language;
• the stratum, the shape and the time bounds, with their precision;
• the source or sources of the fact;
• the documentary status, the level of evidence and the analytical status;
• the contribution within the sequence (protects, recovers, weakens, neutral);
• where relevant, the linked EBT/CBTA observable behaviour and how it was demonstrated;
• specific relations with other objects.

Each of these answers a different question. They are recorded together, and none is derived from another.

Three questions not to confuse

Notion	Question	Example values
Documentary status	Where does the fact come from?	established fact, report finding, official analysis, uncertain information, validated expert input, analyst hypothesis…
Level of evidence	What supports linking it to an observable behaviour?	direct trace, documented inference, not determinable
Analytical status	How far can it be claimed?	established, strongly supported, probable, hypothesis to examine, not determinable, not retained

A finding of the report and an analysis by the report do not carry the same weight. Expert input is not a fact from the report. An established fact may be linked to a competency only by documented inference.

The analytical status scale

This is the central scale. It says what the source material allows you to claim.

Status	Meaning
established	The report, the data or a documented expert validation state it directly.
strongly supported	Several converging indications, with no single direct proof.
probable	Consistent with the sequence, with significant uncertainty.
hypothesis to examine	Worth investigating; not a conclusion.
not determinable	The question is relevant and has been examined, but the material does not allow a conclusion.
not retained	Considered, then set aside. The object stays in the case but not on the chart.

The test: “can I state this, or only suggest it?” Only “established” is stated. On the chart, the label style says so: roman for established, italics for everything else.

“Not determinable” is not a failure. It is a result in its own right, an explicit record of a limit in the material. It always says what the uncertainty is about: a presence, a time bound, an effect, a relation.

Level of evidence, stratum by stratum

Each stratum sets a required level of evidence. The more internal the level, the stronger the evidence needed: a direct trace for a control input, an indirect trace for a non-technical competency, an argued reconstruction for an internal modulator.

The required level is written once, for the stratum. The level actually reached is in each object’s record. Converging indications never raise a level of evidence.

Absences

A recorder does not record an absence. An omission, something not perceived, a missing callout are coded only if the source material states it. Silence in the coding never counts as absence: what the case does not show is either undocumented or not determinable.

Conversely, when the investigation covered a phase and noted no deviation, the record says exactly that: “the report notes no deviation here”. Never “the crew handled this phase well”.

Reservations: two readings

When the material cannot settle a point that matters, the case records a situated reservation. It states:

1. the moment concerned;
2. what the material allows us to say;
3. at least two possible readings;
4. what each would change downstream.

A reservation does not pick a side. It keeps the uncertainty visible and open to discussion. The real Darwin case carries several. A missing time, a contradiction between two sources, a single witness account all become reservations, never gaps filled in with what seems plausible.

Relations

A specific relation claims that one object changed another. It carries:

• a precise predicate: “shortens the window for”, “closes an option”, “masks”, “stabilises”;
• the dimension changed: time, information, resources, options, margins, state;
• its source and its status.

The word “influences” is ruled out: it does not say what changed. A relation is “established” only if the material supports that, without the source object, the target object would not have occurred.

Relations are never drawn on an analysis chart. They live in the record. The drawing carries only position in time and in the strata, and nothing read off the drawing proves a link. Several relations can coexist, each with its own status: PHASE does not build a single causal chain.

Relations are the weakest link in any event analysis. That is where the status requirement weighs most.

Why the split

A chart that carried everything would be unreadable. A chart that claimed more than its source would be misleading. Splitting chart and record meets both requirements: an immediate reading, and full traceability. The reader sees first, then checks by opening the record. The chart’s signs are described in The signs, and the method’s limits in Status and limits.