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Fail-mode Policy

A fail-mode policy is the set of rules MIDAS applies when authority is unavailable or unclear. Each decision surface has at most one effective fail-mode policy at a time, sourced either from the surface itself (override) or inherited from the business service (inherited).

Key fields:

  • id — globally unique identifier.
  • status — active, inactive, retired.
  • version — policy version.
  • effective_date, effective_until — effective window.
  • origin — platform, tenant, etc.
  • managed — true if managed by the platform.
  • business_owner, technical_owner — accountability.
  • rule_count_by_class — number of rules per class (e.g. deny: 4, escalate: 2).

Inheritance

A surface with inherits_bs_policy=true and no effective_policy_id of its own uses the business service's default fail_mode_policy_id. The Inspector tab's effective_policy_source field shows whether the active policy is an override or inherited.

A surface with no override and no inherited policy is in incomplete posture for the fail_mode_policy_status axis. The Diagnostics tab will emit surface_without_effective_fail_mode_policy.