domain doctrineThe Codices

Codex 5 — Shared Data Model and API Boundaries

Data doctrine and the boundaries through which data moves.

Authority rank
3
Version
v1.0
Adopted
unrecorded
Held by
Stewardship Office
System
SYS-12

Source · docs/codices/CODEX-5-data-and-apis.md

Canonical entities

One definition per concept, institution-wide. No division may redefine an entity for local convenience.

EntityDefinitionOwner
PersonA human being known to the institution, once and foreverTechnology
IdentityAn authentication method bound to a PersonTechnology
OrganizationA company, university, government body, or partnerTechnology
MembershipA Person's relationship to the institution or an OrganizationTechnology
RoleA scoped grant of authority to a PersonTechnology
CapabilityA named, describable human capabilityResearch Institute
CapabilityAssessmentEvidence that a Person demonstrated a Capability at a levelAcademy
CredentialAn issued, verifiable statement of demonstrated capabilityAcademy
CurriculumSchool, program, course, module, lesson hierarchyAcademy
EnrolmentA Person's participation in a Curriculum unit or cohortAcademy
CohortA time-bound group moving through curriculum togetherAcademy
EngagementAn advisory relationship with an Organization or executiveAdvisory
PublicationA research output with methodology and sourcesResearch Institute
IndexA published, versioned measurement seriesResearch Institute
VentureA company in the incubator, accelerator, or studioVentures
InvestmentA capital relationship to a VentureVentures
ArtifactAny produced work: submission, memo, model, papershared
EventSomething that happened, with actor, subject, and timeTechnology
AuditRecordAn immutable record of a consequential actionTechnology

Normalization rules

  1. 1One canonical row per real-world thing; references, never copies.
  2. 2No entity duplicates another's fields for read convenience; derive or join.
  3. 3History is additive. Assessments, credentials, and index values are versioned rather than overwritten.
  4. 4Anonymized research data is a derived dataset, never the primary record.
  5. 5Deletion of a Person cascades to personal content and severs identity, while preserving anonymized aggregates and the fact of issued credentials.
  6. 6Every table carrying member data has row-level access rules and explicit grants. No table ships without them.

Relationships (abridged)

Person 1—n Identity
Person 1—n Membership n—1 Organization
Person 1—n Role (scoped)
Person 1—n Enrolment n—1 Curriculum unit
Person 1—n CapabilityAssessment n—1 Capability
Person 1—n Credential  (Credential n—n Capability)
Organization 1—n Engagement n—n Person (advisors)
Person 1—n Venture (founder)  Venture 1—n Investment n—1 Person/Organization
Publication n—n Capability     Index 1—n IndexValue (versioned)
Everything 1—n Event 1—0..1 AuditRecord

API boundaries

Division-owned service surfaces. A boundary must be stable before any integration is written against it.

BoundaryOwnerServes
Identity & AccessTechnologyeverything
Person & MembershipTechnologyeverything
CurriculumAcademyAdaptive engine, enterprise cohorts, partners
Progress & AssessmentAcademydashboards, credentialing
Credential & VerificationAcademypublic verification, employers, partners
EngagementAdvisoryadvisor tooling, enterprise dashboard
Publication & IndexResearch Institutepublic site, annual report, curriculum
Venture & CapitalVenturesfounder and investor portals
Knowledge GraphTechnologyAdaptive, Research, Tutor agent
Reporting & AnalyticsTechnologyexecutive, steward, enterprise dashboards
AuditTechnologygovernance, security review

Contract rules

  • Public verification of credentials is a permanent, versioned, backwards-compatible endpoint. It must still resolve in twenty years.
  • Internal contracts are typed and validated at the edge; no unvalidated input reaches a handler.
  • Breaking changes require a version, a migration window, and a decision record.
  • Webhooks and externally-called endpoints verify their caller before doing work.
  • No hardcoded environment-specific values; configuration over custom code.