Definition
A Contract is a governed agreement between two or more Objects. A Contract specifies the conditions under which participating Objects interact, exchange information, perform activities, or provide Capabilities. A Contract represents the rules governing an interaction rather than the interaction itself.
Purpose
This document defines Contract within the OCOM Specification.
A Contract establishes the governed agreement that defines expectations, responsibilities, obligations, and interaction rules between participating Objects.
Contracts provide a consistent mechanism for governing operational interactions across the OCOM ecosystem.
Business meaning
Contracts establish clear operational expectations between participating Objects.
They improve consistency, accountability, interoperability, and governance by making interaction rules explicit.
Design principles
A Contract shall:
- define participating Objects
- define interaction rules
- establish responsibilities
- support governance
- preserve traceability
- remain technology independent
Core characteristics
Every Contract shall define:
- Identifier
- Purpose
- Participants
- Scope
- Effective Date
A Contract may additionally define:
- Responsibilities
- Obligations
- Preconditions
- Postconditions
- Constraints
- Policies
- Service Levels
- Termination Conditions
- Review Schedule
Relationship to other specifications
Contract interacts with:
ocom:Objectocom:Relationshipocom:Capabilityocom:Policyocom:Constraintocom:Ownershipocom:Evaluationocom:Workflowocom:Organization
Contracts govern interactions between Objects.
Compared with
Read as: OCOM term, the nearest concept in the other model, and how close they are. Similar means the two carry the same intent; Partial means they overlap but differ in scope or obligation; None means the other model has no counterpart. The verdicts are site-published editorial judgments, not normative.
- OCOM vs BPMN: Partial (Collaboration / Choreography)
- OCOM vs MDM: None
Independence
The Contract specification does not prescribe:
- legal contract formats
- API specifications
- workflow engines
- implementation technologies
Organizations remain free to implement Contracts using any compatible approach.
Participants
A Contract may involve:
- Objects
- Organizations
- Departments
- Teams
- Employees
- AI Agents
- Tools
- External Systems
Organizations may define additional participant types.
Organization, as listed above, is defined as a specialization of Object (see Organization, Meta/Organization.md).
Responsibilities
Contracts should explicitly identify the responsibilities of participating Objects.
Responsibilities may include:
- providing information
- performing activities
- maintaining quality
- complying with policies
- supporting governance
Preconditions
A Contract may define conditions that shall be satisfied before execution.
Examples include:
- required approvals
- available Capabilities
- valid Object state
- required Policies
Postconditions
A Contract may define expected outcomes following successful execution.
Examples include:
- Object updates
- Event creation
- Workflow progression
- audit recording
- evaluation triggers
Constraints
Contracts may define operational Constraints governing interaction.
Constraint definitions are provided by the Constraint specification.
Lifecycle
Contracts may possess an independent lifecycle.
Typical lifecycle activities include:
- Draft
- Review
- Approval
- Active
- Suspension
- Expiration
- Retirement
Organizations may extend the lifecycle.
Governance
Organizations shall define governance for:
- contract creation
- approval
- modification
- renewal
- retirement
Governance history shall remain traceable.
Evaluation
Contracts may be evaluated according to:
- compliance
- fulfillment
- effectiveness
- business value
- operational performance
Evaluation methods are organization-specific.
Auditability
Organizations shall preserve:
- participant history
- contract revisions
- approval history
- lifecycle history
- governance decisions
Audit records shall remain immutable.
Conformance
A compliant implementation shall:
- define participating Objects
- establish interaction rules
- preserve governance
- support lifecycle management
- maintain auditability
- remain technology independent
Provenance
Governance records: CAND-005
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | 20 July 2026 | Initial draft |
| 0.1 | 25 July 2026 | Added Organization to Relationship to Other Specifications and Participants, per ADR CAND-005 (Option C) |