Glossary

Lens

A narrative framing layer that reorganizes Granullo's interface without changing authority, access, or data. Lenses change how information is presented, not what you can access.

Intent

The declared purpose of funds or benefits. What outcomes must be achieved. Intent is defined by the organization, not Granullo.

Constraints

Rules that govern how intent is achieved. Category restrictions, merchant limitations, time windows, evidence requirements.

Execution

The actual disbursement and utilization of funds according to defined constraints. Granullo tracks execution but does not perform it.

Verification

Validation that execution aligns with intent and constraints. Evidence submission, document verification, compliance checks.

Oversight

Read-only visibility into governance execution for authorized stakeholders. Audit trails, compliance dashboards, regulator views.

Maker-Checker

Dual-control mechanism requiring two different users to initiate (maker) and approve (checker) sensitive operations.

Refund Deadline

The date by which unused funds must be returned. Auto-refund triggers when deadline passes without utilization.

Veto

Authority to block a transaction or action that violates governance rules. Typically held by compliance officers or bank partners.

Allocation

Assignment of funds from a program budget to a specific foundation or beneficiary pool.

Program Type

Category of governance program that determines default rules and configurations. Examples: CSR, Employee Benefits, Subsidies.

Disbursement

Transfer of allocated funds from escrow to recipient account. Distinct from utilization.

Utilization

Actual spend of disbursed funds at approved merchants or for approved purposes.

Escrow

Third-party custody account holding funds until conditions are met. Granullo does not hold escrow - bank partners do.

Audit Trail

Immutable record of all actions, decisions, and state changes. Who did what, when, and why.

Cause Category

Classification of CSR activities under Schedule VII. Education, Healthcare, Environment, etc.

Foundation

Registered charitable organization eligible to receive CSR funds. Must be verified before allocation.

Evidence

Documentation proving fund utilization and impact. Receipts, photos, certificates, reports.

Health Signal

Automated indicator of operational status. Derived from utilization rates, deadlines, document expiry.

Data Freshness

Indicator showing when data was last updated. Helps users understand currency of information.

Active Alert

Real-time notification about regional events affecting CSR operations. Natural disasters, policy changes, etc.

Planning Note

Private internal reference for CSR program planning. Not shareable, not an endorsement.

Programmable Governance

Rules-based system where governance logic is defined in advance and executed deterministically.

Governed Lifecycle

The five-stage flow of governed programs: Intent → Constraints → Execution → Verification → Oversight.

Coordination Domain

A structured workspace that keeps related work, communication, and decisions together for clarity and traceability. Each domain has a clear owner so everyone knows who's responsible.

Structured Request

A way to capture exactly what's needed with context, ownership, and a clear trail. Requests help everyone move faster by making expectations explicit.

Governance Communication

All messages, requests, files, and activity preserved in Granullo. This creates a complete record that protects outcomes and makes audits straightforward.

System of Record

The trusted place where final decisions, documents, and approvals are captured. This ensures everyone sees the same context and nothing important gets lost.

Execution Boundary

The clear line between what Granullo handles (governance, coordination, records) and what partner banks do (settlement, fund transfers, card operations). This protects both parties.

Domain Status

Current state of a coordination domain. Valid states: open, in_progress, blocked, escalated, resolved. Status transitions are strictly controlled.

Activity Log

The immutable, chronological record of all state transitions, request outcomes, stage advancements, and system-generated events.

Program Readiness

Single source of truth dashboard showing the status of all coordination domains for a program. Indicates if the program can advance to go-live.

Agreement Governance

The system of record for agreement lifecycle: versions, approvals, and execution outcomes. Granullo does NOT draft or execute agreements—it records the governance process.

Executed Agreement

An agreement that has been signed externally (wet signature or digital tool). The executed copy is uploaded to Granullo as an immutable record.

Versioned Artifact

An immutable document version tracked by Granullo. Once uploaded, a version cannot be modified—only superseded by a new version.

Legal Coordination Domain

A first-class coordination domain type for managing agreements. Contains agreement lifecycle state, version history, and execution records.

System of Record (Legal Context)

Granullo as the authoritative repository for agreement governance—not for legal execution. Legal signing occurs externally; Granullo records the outcome.

Merchant Category Code (MCC)

A four-digit code assigned by card networks to classify merchants by business type. Used in Granullo to define which merchant categories are allowed, restricted, or conditional for a program.

Merchant ID (MID)

A unique identifier assigned to a specific merchant by the acquiring bank. Used in Granullo to track which individual merchants are active, pending, or blocked within a program.

Merchant Policy

A versioned set of rules defining which merchant categories (MCCs) and merchants (MIDs) are allowed, restricted, or conditional for program governance. Policies are auditable and immutable once activated.

Policy Version

A specific immutable state of a policy. Versions follow a lifecycle: DRAFT → IN_REVIEW → APPROVED → ACTIVE → SUPERSEDED → ARCHIVED. Only one version can be ACTIVE at a time.

Digital Purpose Pass (DPP)

A Digital Purpose Pass is NOT money. It is a Right to Spend—a digitally verified eligibility unit that authorizes a specific purchase at an approved merchant within program constraints.

Program Archetype

A governance template that determines default settings for a program. Archetypes are NOT products or modules—they define what the primary constraint is: purpose, policy, vendor, or eligibility.

Purpose-Bound Program

A program archetype where the intent or purpose is the primary constraint. Funds must be used for a specific purpose (CSR, ESG, donations) regardless of who receives them.

Policy-Bound Program

A program archetype where rules and policies are the primary constraint. Complex, frequently-revised rules determine what spending is allowed.

Vendor-Bound Program

A program archetype where vendor/merchant relationships are the primary constraint. Controls are based on who receives the funds, not just what they are used for.

Eligibility-Bound Program

A program archetype where who qualifies is the primary constraint. Eligibility criteria determine who can access program benefits.

Governance Intelligence Layer (GIL)

A read-only, explainability-focused AI layer that helps users understand governance history, design patterns, and audit context. GIL explains governance — it never decides, scores, approves, or executes.

Possibilities

Governance patterns (not products) that demonstrate how Granullo can be applied across different domains. Possibilities are scenario-based explorations, not features or modules.

Universal Basic Income (UBI)

A social welfare policy providing regular cash payments to all eligible residents regardless of employment status. Granullo governs UBI policy versions, eligibility rules, and audit trails — but does NOT select beneficiaries, disburse payments, or store personal data.

Guaranteed Income

A form of regular cash assistance provided to targeted populations meeting specific eligibility criteria. Unlike universal basic income, guaranteed income programs typically target specific demographics or income levels. Granullo governs policy rules and audit trails without making eligibility decisions.

Eligibility Governance

The governance layer that records and versions eligibility rules without evaluating individual eligibility. Granullo tracks which policy version governs each evaluation batch and maintains change rationale — but external systems make actual eligibility determinations.

Policy Versioning

The immutable recording of policy document versions with digital verification hashes. Once a policy version is locked, it cannot be modified — only superseded by new versions. All changes require documented rationale and approval records.

Decision Reference

A log entry recording which policy version governed a specific decision batch. Decision references enable traceability by linking outcomes to governing rules — without storing the decisions themselves. Granullo records references; external systems make and store actual decisions.

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT)

Income support programs that provide cash to recipients who meet ongoing conditions (school attendance, health checkups, etc.). Granullo governs the condition definitions and compliance verification rules — but does NOT monitor individual compliance or disburse funds.

Program Owner

The role responsible for defining program intent, policy structure, and governance boundaries. Program owners approve policy versions and exception escalations — but do not execute disbursements or make individual eligibility decisions.

Eligibility Governance

The governance of rules that determine who qualifies for a program. Granullo records eligibility criteria versions and decision references — but does NOT evaluate individual eligibility or approve/deny applications.

Allowance Program

A corporate program that provides periodic allocations to eligible employees for specific purposes (L&D, wellness, remote work). Granullo governs the policy structure, eligibility rules, and audit trails — but does NOT process allocations or disbursements.

Verification Reference

A record that references external verification without storing the verification data itself. Used to link governance trails to external evidence systems while maintaining privacy boundaries.

Commitment

A recorded obligation between parties in a deal. Commitments define what was promised, by whom, under what conditions, and with what consequences if breached. Once locked, a commitment cannot be modified—only amended through a visible, auditable process.

Evidence Gate

A requirement that must be satisfied before a disbursement can be released. Evidence gates define what proof is needed (documents, attestations, certifications) and evaluate submissions against minimum standards. If the gate is not satisfied, release is refused and the refusal is permanently recorded.

Disbursement

A planned release of funds tied to a commitment. Disbursements have statuses (PENDING, EVIDENCE_SUBMITTED, RELEASED, REFUSED) and cannot be released until their evidence gate is satisfied. Granullo tracks disbursements but does NOT execute the actual fund transfer.

Refusal (Permanent)

When a disbursement release is attempted but the evidence gate is not satisfied, the release is REFUSED. A refusal is permanent—it cannot be reversed, appealed, or modified. The refusal reason and timestamp are recorded in the Integrity Spine as an immutable audit event.

Integrity Spine

The immutable, append-only timeline of all events in a deal room. Every action—commitment creation, evidence submission, release, refusal—is recorded with a verifiable timestamp. The Integrity Spine cannot be edited, reordered, or deleted. It serves as the authoritative audit record for external review.

Temporal Scrub

The ability to view the Integrity Spine timeline in chronological order, seeing exactly what happened and when. Temporal scrub is observation-only—you can see history but cannot replay, edit, or mutate it. This provides full transparency without compromising immutability.

Observation vs Action

Granullo distinguishes between observation (viewing, reading, auditing) and action (creating, modifying, releasing). Observation surfaces use muted colors (purple/gray) and have no write capability. Action surfaces use the canonical action blue and require explicit user intent. This separation prevents accidental mutations.

Declared Governance Container

A structural scope created when a Program, Mandate, Allocation, Onboarding, or Audit is established. The Governance Container is the ONLY scope that integrations can attach to. Granullo binds structures, not communications.

Execution Event Source

A category of integration that can bind to a Governance Container. All event sources must require explicit container binding, declared purpose, and may only log event metadata—never raw human conversation. Categories include Bank Execution Events, Insurer Risk Events, Audit Events, API Key Event Hooks, and Webhook Receipts.

Structural Binding

The explicit attachment of an Execution Event Source to a Governance Container. Structural binding requires declared purpose and ensures that only scoped, structural events are ingested—never passive communication capture.

Event Ingestion (Metadata Only)

The process by which execution events are recorded in Granullo. Ingestion is limited to: execution confirmations, status transitions, timestamped state changes, and external verification hashes. Granullo does NOT ingest chat logs, email body text, Slack threads, or any content without declared structural scope.

Commit

A digitally verified, authority-bound state transition representing a structural binding in Granullo. Commits are the atomic integrity unit for billing and audit.

Drift

Deviation from baseline state or expected trajectory. Measured as percentage variance from commitment parameters or authority configuration.

Exposure

Quantified risk surface based on commitment state, authority integrity, drift, and escalation latency. Expressed as a score (0-100) and class (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/CRITICAL).

Authority Topology

The graph structure representing authority relationships: delegation chains, escalation paths, supervisory layers, and commitment dependencies.

Escalation Latency

Time elapsed since escalation was triggered but not yet resolved. Contributes to exposure score calculation.

Signed Pack

Digitally verified audit-grade bundle containing commitments, authority chain, evidence, and topology snapshot. Immutable after signing.

Verifier Link

Public URL allowing external parties to verify commitment or pack integrity without authentication. Read-only verification surface.

Fail-Closed

Security principle where system denies access/action by default when uncertain. If validation fails or data unavailable, operation is blocked rather than permitted.

Expected Economic Exposure Range (EER)

A deterministic bounded range (Low / Median / High) quantifying the economic cost of structural ambiguity in commitment governance. EER is NOT a prediction—it is a calculated exposure band based on observable factors including escalation latency, drift duration, authority misalignment, criticality level, and historical resolution patterns.