Proof Space Guide
Authority
What is it?
The organizational source or role that is allowed to govern a decision.
Authority answers a simple question: who or what is allowed to govern this decision?
In Compass One, a People manager, an HR process, and a published policy do not all carry the same decision authority.
Organizational Reality
Finance approves one process. Legal publishes another. Operations follows a third.
Each group is acting from a real responsibility. The problem appears when a decision needs one governing answer and nobody can tell which guidance controls.
Why it happens
This commonly happens because authority is distributed across functions. Each function sees its own responsibility, but cross-functional questions expose unclear governance.
How it relates
- SourceDocument or role.
- AuthorityMay govern the decision.
- PrecedenceControls when sources overlap.
Authority decides who or what is allowed to govern a decision.