1. Scope
The assessment template decides which review areas apply and which questions are asked in each. Scope is a project setting; you can widen it, and the new areas start In Progress like everything else.
2. Request
The request list is generated from the scope, so it asks for what the assessment needs rather than a generic checklist. As evidence arrives and questions get answered, items close. Unanswered questions from the analysis flow back onto the list — which is the part most request trackers do not do.
3. Collect
Documents, spreadsheets, presentations and meeting notes go into the project. Where the target agrees to source-code analysis, an extract of their repositories is prepared separately and the results are brought in. The platform never needs credentials to the target's live systems.
4. Research
Each review area is researched against the project's own material. This is not one prompt over a folder: each question has tested phrasings, alternate vocabulary for the same concept, and rules about what counts as an answer. A question that cannot be answered from the material is recorded as unanswered.
5. Draft
Findings, tables and section text are drafted with citations attached, and rated against the rating contract for that area. Everything arrives labeled Draft — meaning it came from the evidence and nobody has read it yet.
6. Review
An analyst reads each draft and either accepts it (Reviewed), edits it (Revised), or rejects it. This gate is the product's central claim: a customer-facing conclusion has a person behind it.
7. Issue
The reviewed report is released as a version. From there you can export it, produce audience-specific editions, share it with an external reader under a confidentiality or non-reliance agreement, and send it out for markup.
What each stage leaves behind
| Stage | The record it leaves |
|---|---|
| Request | What you asked for, when, and what came back |
| Collect | Every file, with its origin and its parse result |
| Research | Which questions were answered, and from where |
| Draft | The citation behind each statement |
| Review | Who accepted or changed what, and when |
| Issue | An immutable version, and who it was shared with |
That trail is what makes the report defensible months later, when somebody asks how you knew.