When to Use

Use RGRA when the file exists, but the current written basis is no longer clear.

RGRA is relevant before a record is relied upon, challenged, transferred, closed, or carried forward.

Recognition conditions

  • the record exists but does not answer what governs now;
  • more than one written position remains active;
  • a decision, approval, response, or instruction has shifted without clean written closure;
  • payment or entitlement depends on reconstructing what the record meant;
  • handover material moves into operations without one surviving written basis;
  • audit follow-up depends on explanation rather than current written authority;
  • a board paper relies on a file that has not been written-clean;
  • a contractor, operator, owner, regulator, or internal function holds a different written version of the same matter;
  • AI-generated or AI-supported records amplify an unclear written basis;
  • a programme reset leaves earlier records active but not formally superseded;
  • the next step would cause others to rely on a record that still requires interpretation.

Who should see this internally?

The right internal owner is usually the person who must rely on the record, defend it, close it, approve it, transfer it, or allow others to act on it.

Internal Audit / Assurance

Where review, follow-up, and committee reliance are exposed.

Legal / Governance / Board Secretariat

Where the question is which written position governs now.

Commercial / Contracts / Claims

Where payment, entitlement, or claim-adjacent records need one basis.

Programme Controls / PMO Leadership

Where the programme record is documented but not decision-safe.

Owner-side Delivery / Handover

Where delivery records must survive into operations.

AI Governance / Risk / Assurance

Where AI may amplify an unclear written basis.

If you recognise the condition but cannot sponsor it, route the page to the person who owns the written reliance internally.

Common use cases

Audit follow-up

Management responses and evidence exist, but the file no longer points to one defensible written position.

Payment / entitlement

Approvals, instructions, variations, claims, responses, and commercial records do not resolve into one basis.

Board / governance

A board paper relies on a record that has shifted across approvals, minutes, management responses, and operational documents.

Handover

Delivery records move into operations, but assumptions, readiness positions, defects, approvals, and acceptance records do not survive as one basis.

AI governance

AI-generated outputs or summaries rely on unclear or conflicting human written records.

Programme reset

New strategy exists, but old records remain active without written downgrade or closure.

First written step

Send a short written background note. Do not send the full file first. RGRA will only check whether a suitable decision-bearing written flow appears to exist.