Governed Quantity
A limit on an autonomous system expressed as a value capable of automated evaluation — a number with a unit, or an enumerated set of permitted members — recorded with who set it, on what basis, where it is enforced, whether that enforcement actually exists, and when it is next reviewed.
Why it matters
The defining property is the one stated negatively in the schema: not a standard of judgment. 'The system shall act prudently' is not a governed quantity, because nothing evaluates it until after the loss. The recorded enforcement status is what makes the record honest rather than aspirational: a limit declared unenforced is still a governed quantity, and saying so is what lets a gate report that detection existed and prevention did not.
This term is a QIS Canonical Extension. It does not currently appear in the Model Context Protocol specification, the A2A specification, the AIEOG Shared AI Lexicon, or any instrument in our standards register. We are proposing it because we have documented the gap it fills, and we label it as ours everywhere it appears. Adopt it, argue with it, or ignore it — but do not cite it as industry consensus, because it is not.
What it is not
These are routinely confused with Governed Quantity. The distinctions are not pedantic — each one has consequences for how a system is governed.
A risk limit is a number a committee set. A governed quantity additionally records where it is enforced, whether that enforcement exists, and when it expires — which is what makes it evaluable rather than merely stated.
A KRI is measured and reported. A governed quantity is a boundary an action is tested against before it is taken.
A guardrail is a control the operator applies. A governed quantity is a recorded term of the principal's own authority grant, and can be produced when asked.
A threshold is the number alone. A governed quantity is the number together with its provenance, its enforcement point, and its review date.
Relationships
Typed edges into the rest of the ontology. These are what make the canon traversable rather than merely readable.
| Verb | Target | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
addresses | Authority | The subject speaks to the object as a question or concern. |
completes | Authority Grant | The subject is the form in which the object's deferred content (a schedule, a record) is actually produced; the object is not usable without it. |
requires | Agent Identity | The subject imposes the object as a precondition. |
Record
| Canonical identifier | QIS-TERM-00059 |
| Status | QIS Canonical Extension |
| Adoption | Experimental |
| Domain · Layer | Authority · Governance |
| Origin | QIS Canonical Extension. The published JSON Schema at qisfund.com/api/governed-quantity.schema.json is named after this term and Part One of the Schedule Set (QIS-CL-005) specifies its record format, but the term itself had no canonical entry. |
| Semantic aliases | governed quantity record |
| First published | 2026-08-02 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-08-02 · 180-day cycle |
Cite the identifier, not the URL. Identifiers are stable; URLs may change. This entry is free to read, quote and index under the dual license. Corrections to editor@qisfund.com are published.