Framework · Maturity Model · Version 1.0
Evidence Continuity Maturity Model
A research-oriented progression for understanding how engineering evidence becomes increasingly usable across the asset lifecycle.
This model does not imply certification or industry adoption.
Five Maturity States
- LEVEL0
FRAGMENTED
Records exist across documents, systems and organisations, but relationships to current asset state and decision purpose may require manual reconstruction.
Key improvement
—
- LEVEL1
TRACEABLE
Core evidence can be linked to its source and relevant asset or component.
Key improvement
provenance + identity
- LEVEL2
CONTEXT-BOUND
Evidence is linked not only to the asset but also to configuration, service conditions, assumptions, standards, lifecycle stage and claim boundaries.
Key improvement
applicability becomes visible
- LEVEL3
TRANSITION-AWARE
Changes of custody, system, configuration, operating condition, standard, lifecycle state or decision purpose trigger explicit evidence review.
Key improvement
evidence is not silently inherited across change
- LEVEL4
CONTINUOUSLY REASSESSABLE
Evidence relationships, changes, uncertainty, supersession and current decision relevance can be reconstructed and reassessed across the lifecycle.
Key improvement
the evidence case evolves with the asset
Level 4 does not mean all decisions are automated. It means current evidence state can be inspected and challenged.
Three Assessment Views
People & Accountability
Who is responsible for evidence provenance, transfer and reassessment at each lifecycle stage, and is that accountability explicit rather than assumed?
Data & Provenance
Can evidence be traced to its source and bound to asset identity, configuration, condition and claim boundary, with custody and transformation recorded?
Engineering Decision Process
Do decisions explicitly test origin, binding, context, continuity, currency and sufficiency before evidence is accepted for the next decision?
This maturity model describes increasing evidence-continuity capability. It is not a certification scale and does not assert that every organisation should implement every characteristic identically.