# Source-to-Claim Traceability Matrix — illustrative template

**Illustrative structure. No client information. Actual scope and evidence requirements vary by engagement.**

Published by Gurjas Evidence and Policy Analytics · gurjas.org
Template version 1.0 · 21 July 2026

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## What this document is for

A traceability matrix answers one question for every material claim a
report, self-study document or accreditation submission makes: *if a
reviewer challenged this exact sentence, where is the underlying record,
and who confirmed it says what the claim says it says?*

It is most valuable for institutional evidence work — accreditation
returns, compliance filings, board reports — where dozens of small claims
accumulate and no single person tends to hold the full picture of which
ones are still traceable to a live, current source.

## How to read a completed row

A row is not "done" because a source is named. It is done when the
verification method and date are filled in by a named person who actually
opened the source and confirmed the claim against it — not when the source
was merely identified as existing somewhere.

## Template

| Claim ID | Claim (verbatim from the document) | Underlying source / record | Source owner | Verification method | Verified by | Verification date | Status | Limitations / caveats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | | | | | | | Traceable / Partially traceable / Not traceable / Superseded | |
| 002 | | | | | | | | |
| 003 | | | | | | | | |

**Column definitions**

- **Claim ID** — a stable reference so the claim can be cited elsewhere without re-copying the full sentence.
- **Claim** — copied exactly as it appears in the public or submitted document. Paraphrasing here defeats the purpose.
- **Underlying source / record** — the specific document, system, register or dataset that supports the claim, named precisely enough that a second person could locate it independently.
- **Source owner** — the person or office responsible for that source's currency, not the person filling in this matrix.
- **Verification method** — how the claim was checked against the source (e.g. "opened and cross-checked field X against document Y, page Z" — not "confirmed with department").
- **Status** — use a small fixed vocabulary consistently across the whole matrix; do not invent new statuses mid-document.
- **Limitations / caveats** — what the verification does *not* establish. Nearly every row should have something here; a matrix with no limitations recorded is usually incomplete, not unusually clean.

## What this matrix does not do

It does not establish that the underlying source itself is accurate — only
that the claim matches what the named source currently says. It does not
replace the source-owning office's own record-keeping. It does not
constitute an audit opinion.

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*This is a structural template only. It contains no claims, sources or
information from any Gurjas engagement. Gurjas Evidence and Policy
Analytics · gurjas.org*