# Decision chains: following a decision through reviews and the final call

Canonical: https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/decision-chains

How does MeshQu show a decision that took several steps, reviews and an exception?

A consequential decision is rarely one check. MeshQu can link the receipts for each recorded assessment into a chain: the first assessment, the review it triggered, an exception, the final call and a later periodic review. Each assessment keeps its own signed receipt, tied to the policy version in force at the time. A later review is a new linked record, not an edit to the original, so the history shows what was decided then and what changed since.

## In more detail

A decision chain groups related recorded decisions into an ordered sequence. Chain membership is declared when each step is recorded and cannot be added afterwards, and a step can name the earlier step that prompted it. Steps can come from automated evaluation or from a person’s review recorded through a form, and each produces the same kind of signed receipt. Different actors can be recorded at different steps, as your systems supply them. The supplier onboarding story on the Receipts page is an illustrative chain: a missing certificate triggers review, the assessment is run again and the final call is recorded with its rationale.

## Limits

- Linking shows how an outcome was reached. It does not prove that a chain is complete: chain grouping and ordering rely on the service’s database constraints, and no cryptographic proof of a chain as a whole is claimed.
- Actor identifiers at each step are supplied by your systems and are not authenticated by MeshQu.
- The supplier onboarding chain on the Receipts page is fictional.
- MeshQu is currently available for research, evaluation and design-partner deployments. Production availability and support commitments are agreed per engagement.

## Where it applies

- Show how an outcome was reached across an initial assessment, a review, an exception and the final call.
- Answer a later review from the records made at each step, without rewriting the original receipt.

## Sources

- [MeshQu docs — Decision chains](https://docs.meshqu.com/guides/decision-chains): How chains are declared, ordered and linked, and the scope of what chain verification checks.
- [MeshQu docs — Concepts overview](https://docs.meshqu.com/concepts/overview): The decision chain and decision outcome concepts.
- [MeshQu docs — Actor attribution](https://docs.meshqu.com/guides/actor-attribution): Recording a different actor at each step, and what actor attribution does not establish.

## Related answers

- [Decision Receipts: what the record contains](https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/decision-receipts): What is in a Decision Receipt, and what does it prove?
- [What MeshQu does](https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/what-meshqu-does): What does MeshQu actually do?
- [Independent verification: the bundle, and what replay checks](https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/independent-verification): How does someone independently verify a Decision Receipt, and what does replay check?
- [Enhanced due diligence decisions with MeshQu](https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/enhanced-due-diligence): How does MeshQu support an enhanced due diligence (EDD) decision, and what does it not do?
- [Human-in-the-loop automation with MeshQu](https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/human-in-the-loop-automation): How can we automate checks in a review process while people keep authority over the decision?

## Next step

[Decision chains guide](https://docs.meshqu.com/guides/decision-chains)

Read more on [meshqu.com/receipts](https://www.meshqu.com/receipts)

Updated 9 October 2026
Machine-readable: https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge/decision-chains.json
All reviewed answers: https://www.meshqu.com/knowledge