Review the programme baseline

Objectives

You inherit a control programme mid-flight. Six artefacts make up its baseline and the previous owner insists everything is in order.

Accept the artefacts fit to build on. Reject the ones that cannot be tested, have no accountable owner, cannot be verified independently, or duplicate an obligation already covered elsewhere in the baseline.

Verdicts are accept or reject. Every rejection needs one reason code from: not-testable | no-accountable-owner | unverifiable-evidence | duplicate.

B-1  AC-01 Production MFA: owner platform-security, daily check, assertion "zero admin accounts without MFA".
B-2  AC-02 Access hygiene: owner "the business", frequency "ongoing", assertion "access is appropriate".
B-3  RM-01 Risk register row R-14: owner risk-office, linked to AC-01, reviewed quarterly.
B-4  AC-07 MFA for administrators: owner platform-security, daily, assertion "no admin without MFA".
B-5  EV-01 Evidence store: write-once bucket, 7-year retention, owner platform-security.
B-6  AC-04 Vendor oversight: owner vendor-management, annual, evidence "the team confirms it happens".

Step-by-step hints

The guided walkthrough, in full. It is free: no XP cost, and it does not touch the paid hint ladder or the reveal gate.

1. Step 1

   Read the request before the artefact

   A baseline is what every later decision is measured against. Anything you accept here becomes load-bearing, so review for durability rather than tidiness.

2. Step 2

   Judge every line, including the boring ones

   Six artefacts, six verdicts. Three are sound and you will build on them: say so explicitly so the next owner does not re-litigate them.

   Every line in the fixture carries a verdict

3. Step 3

   Separate what is wrong from what is merely ugly

   For each entry ask three questions in order: can this assertion be computed, is there a named durable team accountable, and can the evidence be produced by someone other than the owner?

   Then read the baseline as a set rather than a list. Two entries can each be individually fine and still be a defect together.

   Accept and reject land on the right lines

4. Step 4

   Say why, in the vocabulary the programme uses

   Reserve duplicate for the entry that adds no obligation the baseline does not already carry, and pick the deepest defect for the rest.

   Each rejection cites a valid reason code

Rules summary

• XP on pass

  40 bonus XP the first time every check goes green.

• Paid hints

  2 available. Each costs 25% of the lab XP (about 10 XP).

• Reveal solution

  Scores 0 XP and unlocks only after 3 check runs.

• Attempt cap

  60 check runs per learner. The runner warns you in the last 10.

• Drafts

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• Walkthrough

  Always free and never penalised: use it before spending a hint.