Beacon · Phase II · Production Architecture

Beacon Records

Beacon Records is the human-facing register of published canonical Discovery Signals. It provides a stable place to locate Beacon production objects, understand their current institutional state, and follow each record listing to the authoritative individual Beacon record.

Beacon Records catalogs published Beacon objects. It does not create them, replace them, or become a second authority over them.

Purpose

Beacon Records answers:

What Discovery Signals has Beacon published?
What is each signal's BEAC identifier?
What type of discovery does it represent?
What is its current lifecycle state and version?
Where is the individual canonical record?

Institutional Boundary

Beacon Records is a public index over Beacon-owned canonical objects.

Discovery Signal → canonical Beacon object
Record listing → index representation of that object

Record listing ≠ second canonical object

Records Scope

Beacon Records is intended to expose Beacon Discovery Signals whose Publication State is Published.

Published Beacon Discovery Signals
↓
/beacon/records/
↓
Human-facing Beacon records index

Draft, internal, restricted, or otherwise Unpublished signals should not appear in Beacon Records by default.

Canonical Object

Discovery Signal

The Discovery Signal is the institution-owned Beacon production object.

Example canonical identity:
BEAC-2026-0001

Index Representation

Record Listing

A Record listing is the human-facing index representation used to locate and summarize a published Discovery Signal.

Record listing points to the Discovery Signal.
It does not replace the Discovery Signal.

Canonical Record Path

Published Discovery Signals are expected to resolve through stable record paths using their BEAC identifiers.

/beacon/records/BEAC-2026-0001/

The next Phase II architecture defines the individual Discovery Signal page represented at that path.

Records-Level Fields

Each public Record listing should expose enough information to identify and distinguish the Discovery Signal without reproducing the entire canonical record.

Field	Records Purpose
BEAC Identifier	Stable canonical identity of the Discovery Signal.
Subject / Title	Human-readable indication of what the signal concerns.
Signal Type	Primary Beacon discovery classification.
Lifecycle State	Current institutional state: Active, Superseded, Resolved, or Withdrawn as applicable.
Publication State	Confirms that the public representation is Published.
Current Version	Identifies the current governed representation.
Source / Source Institution	Provides concise source attribution when appropriate.
Published At	Identifies when the Beacon representation became public.
Record Link	Resolves to the individual Discovery Signal representation.

Exact production field labels remain subject to the first individual record and production operation.

Record Summary

Beacon Records may provide concise discovery context to help users understand why a signal is relevant.

Summary → navigation and discovery aid
Individual record → full Beacon representation

No Canonical Duplication

Record summaries should not become independent copies of the canonical Discovery Signal.

Index enough to discover.
Link to the canonical record for authority and detail.

Current and Historical Signals

Beacon Records should distinguish current published signals from published signals whose lifecycle has later changed.

Active / Published → current institutional discovery

Superseded / Published → historical, replaced for current use

Resolved / Published → historical, governed conclusion reached

Withdrawn / Published → historical publication with withdrawal state preserved where governance permits

Active Signals

Active Published signals should be readily discoverable as current Beacon objects.

Superseded Signals

Superseded Published signals should remain traceable and identify the current replacement when one exists.

Resolved Signals

Resolved Published signals may remain discoverable as part of Beacon's institutional history.

Withdrawn Signals

Previously published Withdrawn signals should preserve the historical fact of publication and governed withdrawal to the extent permitted.

Version Visibility

Beacon Records should identify the current version of each listed Discovery Signal without turning every historical version into a separate canonical record.

BEAC-2026-0001
Current Version → 2
↓
Individual record provides governed version history

Source Identity

Records-level source information should preserve attribution without implying that Beacon owns the source object.

Authority Boundary

Beacon Records indexes Beacon Discovery Signals, even when those signals reference other Suite institutions.

Reference does not transfer authority.

Cross-Suite Example

Beacon Record Listing
BEAC-2026-0001
Signal Type → Certification
Source Reference → SC-CERT-2026-0001
Related Reference → SREG-2026-0001
↓
/beacon/records/BEAC-2026-0001/

Beacon Records catalogs the Beacon signal. Certifier continues to own the Certification Package, and Registry continues to own the SREG.

Signal Type

Record listings should expose the primary Beacon Signal Type so users can distinguish discovery categories.

Information · Jurisdiction · Certification · Registry
Historical · Integrity · Trust · Relationship

Source Object Type

Source Object Type remains distinct from Signal Type.

Signal Type → Certification
Source Object Type → Certification Package

Discovery and Filtering

As production volume grows, Beacon Records may support human-facing filtering or organization by governed fields such as:

Signal Type
Lifecycle State
Source Institution
Publication date
Current vs. historical status

Filtering is a presentation capability. It does not alter the canonical objects or their institutional state.

Records Ordering

Initial ordering may be simple and deterministic, such as canonical identifier or publication chronology.

Exact production ordering remains unfrozen until actual records exist.

Search

Future search may help locate published signals by subject, identifier, type, or source.

Search improves discovery.
It does not change publication eligibility or authority.

Records Inclusion Rule

Canonical Discovery Signal exists
+ Publication State = Published
+ Public representation remains permitted
= Eligible for public Records inclusion

Lifecycle state affects how the signal is represented, not necessarily whether its historical publication remains discoverable.

Unpublished Signals

Unpublished Discovery Signals should not appear in Beacon Records by default.

Active / Unpublished
≠ public Records listing

Restricted Signals

A valid signal may remain outside Beacon Records when publication or continuing public representation is restricted by governance.

No Records-Based Authority

Inclusion in Beacon Records establishes public discoverability within Beacon.

It does not independently establish:

Truth of an underlying source assertion
Certification
Registration standing
Historical significance
Integrity verification
Trust

Records inclusion means: Beacon has published this Discovery Signal under its own governed architecture.

Records Integrity

Record listings should remain consistent with the canonical Discovery Signals they index.

Identifier matches
+ Signal Type matches
+ Lifecycle state matches
+ Current version matches
+ Publication state matches
+ Record link resolves correctly
= Records-level conformance

Correction

If a Record summary is incorrect while the underlying canonical record is correct, the index representation should be corrected without changing the Discovery Signal unnecessarily.

Canonical Change

If the Discovery Signal itself changes materially, Versioning & Supersession governs the canonical change and Beacon Records should reflect the resulting current state.

Conceptual Record Listing

record_listing:
  beac_identifier
  subject
  signal_type
  lifecycle_state
  publication_state
  current_version
  source_summary
  published_at
  record_location

Architectural only. The Record listing is an index representation, not a new canonical object or frozen machine-readable schema.

Production Records

No production Discovery Signals have been published yet. Beacon remains in Continuing Development. The first production Discovery Signal will be created only after Phase II architecture and the production methodology are ready for institutional use.

This empty state is intentional. The Beacon Records architecture now exists before production evidence exists.

Relationship to Publication

Publication determines whether a Discovery Signal is eligible to appear in Beacon Records.

Relationship to Versioning

Beacon Records reflects the current version while preserving access to governed historical context through the individual record.

Relationship to Authority

Beacon Records catalogs Beacon-owned objects and preserves the ownership of all referenced endpoints.

Relationship to Validation

Records representation should remain consistent with the validated canonical Discovery Signal it summarizes.

What Is Now Established

Beacon Records is Beacon's human-facing register of published canonical Discovery Signals
Beacon Records catalogs Discovery Signals; it does not create them
A Record listing is an index representation, not a second canonical object
Public Records inclusion normally requires Publication State = Published
Unpublished signals remain outside Beacon Records by default
Each Record listing preserves the canonical BEAC identifier
Record listings provide concise discovery context and point to individual canonical records
Beacon Records should expose current lifecycle state and current version
Published Superseded, Resolved, and Withdrawn signals may remain historically discoverable where governance permits
Signal Type and Source Object Type remain distinct
Source ownership and authority remain preserved
Records inclusion does not independently establish truth, certification, registration, integrity, or trust
Record summaries must remain consistent with their canonical Discovery Signals
The initial production Records page is intentionally empty

What Remains Unfrozen

Exact production Records field labels
Default ordering
Filtering controls
Search behavior
Pagination if production scale requires it
Historical-state display details
Withdrawn-record visibility mechanics
Records correction mechanics
Machine-readable records/index representation
Whether additional summary fields are useful after first production use

These should be informed by the Individual Discovery Signal architecture and actual production records rather than frozen before use.

Governing Rules

Index only what publication governance permits.
Preserve the canonical BEAC identifier.
Summarize without duplicating canonical authority.
Preserve lifecycle and version context.
Preserve source attribution.
Point users to the individual Beacon record.
Preserve historical discoverability where governance permits.
Never treat Records inclusion as authority beyond Beacon's own role.

Beacon Records makes published Discovery Signals findable without becoming another canonical object.

Current Status

Beacon Status → Continuing Development
Phase → Phase II — Production Architecture
Entry Model → Defined
Signal Types → Defined
Lifecycle → Defined
Identifier Standard → Defined
Schemas → Defined
Validation → Defined
Discovery Provenance → Defined
Authority & Reference Model → Defined
Relationship Model → Defined
Versioning & Supersession → Defined
Publication Model → Defined
Beacon Records → Defined
Individual Discovery Signal → Next
First Production Discovery Signal → Not yet created
Production Records → Empty by design