Sealed and live figures

Every figure Beacon serves is either live or sealed, and says which. The difference is what you need before quoting a number to someone who will act on it.

​

Definition

A seal is not a rounder or more official version of a live figure. It is the same figure, fixed, together with everything needed to produce it again.

​

How it behaves

A seal captures the input state, not just the number. Every input value, every parameter, the state of each source at that moment, and the person who approved it. The test is reproducibility: a seal that cannot be reproduced exactly from its own record was not taken correctly. A sealed figure is never edited. Inputs that change afterwards flow into the next seal. They do not flow backwards into one already taken. A later seal supersedes; it does not overwrite. The new seal becomes the reference for that period and cadence, and the earlier one stays readable in place. Both versions persist. Nothing is deleted. A seal taken while a period is still open is provisional. It is computed, shown and labelled as provisional — not treated as final, and re-taken when the period closes. It is never quietly promoted. An attempted edit fails rather than succeeding quietly. A write against a sealed figure is refused and recorded. That is what makes “the Q3 number” one number. A board pack and a sales tool reading the same sealed figure read the same value, months apart.

​

Constraints

• Sealing is Beacon’s record of a figure, not a lock on your systems. Your source data goes on changing; the seal does not follow it.
• A correction to a closed period is a versioned correction, not an edit to a seal. See Period close and corrections.
• Readers outside your company see sealed figures only, never live ones. See Access and grants.
• Beacon never circulates a sealed figure. It produces the figure; sending it is yours.

​

Related