# Architecture Decision

One recorded architecture decision (ADR): status, date, scope and a link to its document.

One Architecture Decision row is one recorded choice about how the systems are built. Examples include which base owns a kind of record and how data moves between bases. The type is `ops:ArchitectureDecision`, a pending vocabulary proposal under `bds:Decision`. Business decisions are not recorded here. The row holds status and links; the document holds context, options and consequences.

## Current state

The table has no rows on 2026-10-28. The architecture decisions are still kept as separate documents outside Airtable, together with a running decision log. Two Work Items decide what is loaded here and load it. One more waits on access to the folder where the documents will live.

[![Architecture Decision has no rows yet; the decisions are still kept as documents outside Airtable.](/systems/systems-central/screens/sc-architecture-decision-empty.png)](/systems/systems-central/screens/sc-architecture-decision-empty.png)

## Fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Title | Text, **primary** | The decision itself in a few words |
| ADR Number | Number | Running number; never reused, even for a rejected decision |
| Name | Formula | `ADR-` + number padded to four digits + ` · ` + Title; Title alone when no number |
| Status | Single select | Proposed, Accepted, Rejected, Superseded, Deprecated |
| Decision Date | Date | Day accepted, or day proposed while Proposed |
| Summary | Long text | The problem and the decision in two or three sentences |
| Document | URL | The document that explains the decision in full |
| Decided By | Links → Membership (mirror) | Who approved it |
| Systems | Links → System | Systems whose structure or behaviour it changes |
| Record Types | Links → Record Type | Kinds of record it creates, moves or reshapes |
| Tags | Links → Tags (mirror) | Optional labels |
| Supersedes / Superseded By | Links → Architecture Decision | The decision it replaces, and its inverse |
| System Rules | Links → System Rule | Inverse of Based On ADR |
| Work Items | Links → Work Item | Work that carries out or waits on it |
| Checked / Review Note | Checkbox / Long text | Row matches its document; what still needs a look |

Name is the citation form, for example `ADR-0005 · Field Service owns service visits`, but **Title is still the primary field**. Link chips and pickers in other tables show the Title without its number until the primary field changes. A Work Item tracks the change.

## Lifecycle

Proposed → Accepted, Rejected, or later Superseded or Deprecated. Building may start only once a decision is Accepted (build rule "A proposed ADR does not authorize building"). When a new decision replaces an old one, link the old one in Supersedes and set its Status to Superseded.

## Example

A fictitious row: Title `Field Service owns service visits`, ADR Number `5`, Name `ADR-0005 · Field Service owns service visits`, Status `Proposed`, Decision Date the day it was written, Systems `Field Service` and `CRM`, Record Types `Service Visit`.

## Related

[Record rules and decisions](/systems/systems-central/record-rules-and-decisions) · [System Rule](/systems/systems-central/entity-system-rule)