---
title: "Compare options and see what needs checking."
description: "PÓLYA weaves the evidence HARBINGER verifies into one picture of the situation, showing what corroborates, what conflicts, and which gaps remain. It does not choose the interpretation."
updated: "30 August 2026"
availability: "PUBLIC DEMO FLOW · TEST_ONLY"
candidate_route: "/docs/polya/overview"
---

# Compare options and see what needs checking.

PÓLYA weaves the evidence HARBINGER verifies into one picture of the situation, showing what corroborates, what conflicts, and which gaps remain. It does not choose the interpretation.

**PUBLIC DEMO FLOW · TEST_ONLY:** The public GET response returns precomputed review paths · no customer decision workbench, SDK, or decision authority

## Structure a credit-deterioration signal for review.

Use fixed test data to inspect the signal, options, dissent, and review conditions.

**FIXED TEST CASE:** PUBLIC DEMO FLOW

### Input

CASE / SIGNAL

- **Case:** case.credit-001 — Fixed TEST_ONLY fixture
- **SignalBriefRef:** opaque — COUNTEREVIDENCE
- **Scope:** finance.credit.exposure.review

### Structure

OPTIONS / DISSENT / REVIEW

- **Options:** maintain · reduce · freeze new exposure
- **Dissent:** liquidity evidence incomplete
- **Review trigger:** COUNTEREVIDENCE — Prior Decision preserved

### Result

DECISION GRAPH / RESULT

- **Status:** REVIEW_REQUIRED
- **DecisionCaseRef:** opaque / digest-bound
- **Authority:** NONE — No recommendation, approval, or execution

> **Product boundary:** Review structure only — No human choice or RAIFFA eligibility is created.

- [Quickstart](/docs/polya/getting-started)
- [Open example](/docs/polya/examples/credit-deterioration)
- [Contract reference](/docs/polya/reference/contract)

## Structure conditions and options before a decision

PÓLYA receives evidence-bearing observations from HARBINGER and organizes them into options, constraints, assumptions, and review conditions. It does not own final choice or approval authority.

## Build a reviewable decision structure

1. **Receive bounded observations** — Use evidence, time, relationships, conflicts, and gaps without discarding provenance.
2. **Define options and constraints** — Make alternatives, exclusions, dependencies, and trade-offs explicit.
3. **Test decision conditions** — Show what supports, weakens, or blocks each condition.
4. **Pass the review on without granting authority** — Pass reviewed conditions to the appropriate human and, where applicable, the RAIFFA control boundary.

## Keep decision conditions attached to evidence

An option should remain a reviewable condition record, not a persuasive sentence. It should state which observations were used, what was excluded, when the condition expires, and who is accountable for the next check.

- Option and explicit exclusion conditions
- Supporting and weakening observations with evidence coordinates
- Assumptions, dependencies, conflicts, and temporal validity
- Unresolved gaps and the accountable next reviewer

> **Lineage limit:** A PÓLYA condition cannot acquire stronger factual authority than its underlying HARBINGER observations and evidence.

## Insufficient evidence leaves the review unresolved

When evidence is insufficient or incompatible, PÓLYA does not manufacture a ranking. It returns why the review cannot be completed and what must be checked next.

- Missing material observation or origin evidence
- Incompatible conditions or counter-signals
- Stale observations or expired assumptions
- No accountable owner or decision criterion
- No feasible option inside the current constraints

## PÓLYA is not a recommendation engine

Its output is a decision structure for review, not a final selection, approval, or execution request.

> **Authority:** PÓLYA can structure a choice. It does not own the right to make it.

---

Published route: /docs/polya/overview