Event-driven record
Production activity is preserved as evidence as it occurs, with its source and time intact rather than flattened into a later snapshot.
Technology
Architecture for evidence before action.
Quorum combines an event-driven foundation, graph-based operational context and governed agent authority. The result preserves evidence, provenance and the context that applied at the time - then makes the boundary for agent action explicit.
FIGURE 1 - EVIDENCE BEFORE ACTION
PLANT ENGINEER
What evidence supports the Line 4 quality hold?
MACHINE
Inspection signal at station 08
E-221OPERATOR
Shift observation linked to the event
E-223SYSTEM
Applicable work record at event time
E-227GAP
One confirmation remains unresolved
G-18ANSWER · CITED
The hold is supported by inspection and operator evidence [E-221] [E-223]. Keep the affected group on hold while confirmation G-18 remains open.
Recommendation available · human confirmation required
The architecture makes the answer defensible and the authority boundary visible.
Three Foundations
What an industrial agent needs beneath the model.
Model capability is only one part of a production-grade agent. The operating foundation must preserve what happened, what it meant then and what the agent is permitted to do next.
Operational graph
Graph modelling gives agents the manufacturing relationships and time-effective context needed to interpret an event correctly.
Governed agency
Identity, permissions, confirmation and audit determine whether an agent may observe, explain, recommend or act.
The Event Path
From plant activity to a governed answer.
The public contract is simple: preserve the evidence, place it in the operating context that applied, let the agent explain its answer and stop at the declared authority boundary.
FIGURE 2 - CONCEPTUAL EVENT PATH
01Plant activity
→A machine, operator or system records a production fact.
02Governed evidence
→Source, time and provenance remain attached.
03Operational context
→The fact is interpreted under the conditions that applied then.
04Agent answer
→The response cites support and exposes gaps.
05Authority boundary
Recommendation, confirmation or action follows the declared rung.
FIGURE 3 - OPERATIONAL CONTEXT
Event
SourceTimeEquipmentWorkConditionsAuthority
Graph modelling connects a fact to the operational context an agent needs to interpret it.
Graph-Based Context
Meaning depends on what was true then.
A current database row cannot always explain a past production decision. Substrate uses graph-based modelling to preserve relationships, provenance and time-effective operational context so an agent can reason from the relevant state of the floor.
- Source remains visible. Every answer can point back to the evidence that supports it.
- Context remains time-effective. The agent reasons from the conditions that applied at the event time.
- Gaps remain explicit. Missing evidence becomes part of the operational situation.
Evidence at the Boundary
Capture close to the work. Keep every source distinct.
Substrate combines source-level evidence from the machine and operator boundary with records from existing systems. Voice is one capture channel - useful where hands and eyes are occupied, but never the identity of the architecture.
Machine evidence
Production signals and measurements captured close to where the physical event occurs.
Operator evidence
Human observations captured through the interface appropriate to the work, including typed or spoken input.
Existing records
Relevant records from the plant’s current software, retained with their origin visible.
Edge capture is a deployment principle: preserve evidence near the machine and operator boundary where the work happens. The implementation remains specific to each plant.
Deliberate Choices
Principles that make agents fit for production.
Preserve provenance
Keep the origin of each fact visible instead of flattening machine, operator and system records into an anonymous answer.
Keep time-effective context
Ground an answer in the operating context that applied when the event happened, not only the plant’s current state.
Expose uncertainty
Make missing or conflicting evidence part of the answer instead of asking an agent to invent certainty.
Bound authority
Separate a correct recommendation from permission to act through explicit confirmation and policy boundaries.
See the architecture through a real decision.
Walk through a containment investigation with the evidence, citations, gaps and approval boundary visible.