Digital MRV (measurement, reporting and verification) turns raw observations into claims backed by evidence, and then into decided outcomes that funders, regulators and programmes can rely on. Plan a digital MRV workflow when measurements, reports, checks and outcomes now sit in separate spreadsheets, inboxes and field tools, and someone needs to follow the trail from a measurement to a decision. This page helps you design the first measurable outcome on paper.
This is a design guide. It helps you plan, and it gives you nothing to run. For paths you can follow to a working result today, see Choose your path.
| You end with | A design for one outcome at one site over one reporting period: the domain it is about, the indicator and method, the evidence format, the claim type, who checks and who reviews, the acceptance rule, and who uses the result. |
| Who decides | Your programme sets the method and the acceptance rule. A decision oracle produces the facts from the evidence, and the IXO decision engine applies the rules. A person answers what the rules send to review. |
What you are designing
A field team records measurements. A report is submitted as evidence, and a claim is made for an outcome. An agent checks the evidence for completeness and consistency. The claim is decided against the rules, and the decided outcome becomes available for funding, reporting, governance or learning.
| Part | What you decide |
|---|---|
| Subject | The project, site, asset or programme being measured, registered as a domain |
| Indicator and method | What is measured, how often, in which units, and the quality checks |
| Data capture | How readings reach the evidence: field tools, sensors, lab results, surveys or imports |
| Report and claim | How measurements are packaged as a claim someone can review |
| Checks and review | What an agent may check first, and what the rules decide |
| Outputs | Who uses the decided outcome: a dashboard, a compliance export, a funding gate or a governance record |
Design steps
Start with one of each
Keep the first version to one site or project, one indicator and one reporting period, with one evidence format you can enforce, one review path and one user of the result.
Name the subject
Name the project, site, asset, intervention or programme being measured. Each is a domain on IXO. Decide what one record covers: which place, which period, and who is responsible for it.
Define one measurable outcome
Choose the one outcome the programme cares about most. For example: emissions avoided, trees planted, attendance, or energy saved. Write the formula or rule that says whether it was met.
Set the evidence for each indicator
For each indicator, list the evidence you accept: readings, photos, lab reports, or statements from a third party. List the metadata each piece must carry, such as a timestamp, a location and a device ID. Say how duplicates and gaps are handled.
Design the report and the claim
Decide how field or operational data becomes a structured report or claim, who may submit it, and what a complete submission looks like before anyone reviews it.
Separate checking from deciding
Write which checks only test completeness and which decide the claim. Say where an agentic oracle may check consistency first. The decision itself comes from the rules: Design an evaluator turns them into gates, facts and review tasks.
Plan disputes and re-measurement
Say how a result is challenged and how a re-measurement is recorded. On chain a dispute is a record of its own, separate from the claim. See How claim disputes work on chain.
Plan one reporting cycle
Walk one period through on paper: capture, report, claim, check, decision, published outcome. Check that a funder or regulator could follow the trail from the measurement to the decision.
What a digital MRV workflow does not do
- It does not make a measurement true. Evidence that passes a check shows it met the rules as written. What each record proves explains the difference.
- It does not decide by itself. A decision oracle produces the facts and the IXO decision engine applies the rules.
- It does not make your method compliant. MRV programmes often have to follow methodology standards, registry rules or regulation. Check those with subject-matter experts, and with legal counsel where it applies.
Where it is built
Use an agentic oracle in qi.space to turn your indicators, sampling plan, evidence formats, review roles and acceptance rules into a digital MRV design.