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Submission lifecycle

One return, end to end

Status: Locked for R01 and R02. Event-driven returns follow a variant — see the end of this page. Version: 0.1 Date: 2026-08-11

Every periodic return follows this lifecycle. The requirement states it in one sentence: maker prepares, internal approver certifies, the supervisor receives, the reviewer validates, queries may be raised, final status is issued. This page expands that into the states, the actors, and the gates.

Roles

Role Belongs to Can
Licensed Firm Preparer (maker) Firm Create and edit drafts, upload documents, submit to the internal approver
Licensed Firm Approver (checker) Firm Certify accuracy, apply the electronic declaration, file with the supervisor, respond to queries
Supervisor / Reviewer Authority Review submissions, raise queries, assign findings, request remediation, update risk ratings
Enforcement Officer Authority Open cases, attach evidence, record legal actions, sanctions, penalties, closure
Administrator Authority Configure licence categories, templates, due dates, validation rules, roles, penalty parameters, scoring
Auditor / External Reviewer Either Read-only access to submissions and trails within mandate

Preparer and approver must be different users. This is enforced at the API, not the UI — see law six.

States

                        ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
                        │                                         │
  FORECAST ──► OPEN ──► DRAFT ──► CERTIFIED ──► SUBMITTED ──► UNDER_REVIEW
                 │        ▲                                       │
                 │        │                                       ├──► ACCEPTED ──► ARCHIVED
                 │        │                                       │
                 │        └────────── QUERY_RAISED ◄──────────────┤
                 │                    (firm answers,             │
                 │                     may amend)                 ├──► REJECTED ──┐
                 │                                                │               │
                 └──► OVERDUE ──► ESCALATED ──► Docket            └──► ESCALATED ──┘
                                                                          │
                        └──────────── reopened for resubmission ◄─────────┘
State Owner Meaning
FORECAST Cadence The obligation exists but its period has not closed
OPEN Firm Period closed, return can be prepared
DRAFT Firm Mutable. Pre-submission validation available on demand
CERTIFIED Firm Approver has declared accuracy; frozen pending filing
SUBMITTED Supervisor Filed, sealed, validations run, awaiting triage
UNDER_REVIEW Reviewer Assigned, checklist in progress
QUERY_RAISED Firm Clarification requested; approval blocked
ACCEPTED — Operative version for the period
REJECTED Firm Returned with reasons; obligation reopens
OVERDUE Cadence Effective due date passed with no accepted submission
ESCALATED Docket A case has been opened
ARCHIVED — Closed for the period; still fully addressable

The gates

Four points where the platform refuses to proceed. Each is enforced in an engine.

Gate Condition Enforced by
Certification Certifier ≠ preparer; declaration accepted; board approval date present Strata
Submission Document conforms to template version; no values for derived fields; required attachments present Assay
Approval Checklist fully cleared; zero standing FAIL results; no open queries Bench
Closure above materiality Second supervisor approval Bench

Advisory findings never gate. A reportable deficit is a legitimate thing for a firm to declare, and a platform that blocks it teaches firms to misreport.

Walkthrough

The R02 return for licence 873390, Q2 2026 — the case the prototype renders.

# When Actor Event
1 01 Apr Cadence Obligation materialised as FORECAST for Q2 2026
2 30 Jun Cadence Period closes; obligation becomes OPEN; due date computed as 14 Aug
3 01 Jul Cadence First reminder dispatched to the firm
4 05 Aug J. Moyo (preparer) Draft created against template R02 v2.4; figures entered
5 05 Aug Assay Pre-submission validation run in the portal: 2 failures shown to the firm
6 09 Aug T. Ncube (approver) Certifies; declaration accepted; board approval recorded
7 11 Aug T. Ncube Files with the supervisor. Version 1.0 sealed
8 11 Aug Assay Validations run on the write path: V05 and V07 fail; capital deficit computed
9 11 Aug Prism Firm rescored to 93, band HIGH, five named drivers
10 11 Aug Bench Enters triage queue at the top; assigned to M. Okonjo
11 12 Aug M. Okonjo Clears completeness; thresholds blocked by the standing failures
12 12 Aug M. Okonjo Raises query Q-1 against R02-X07, citing the Capital Adequacy Directive
13 12 Aug Seal Every step above chained and sealed
14 19 Aug T. Ncube Responds in thread; files amendment 1.1 with the restoration plan attached
15 19 Aug Assay Re-validated: V07 still fails, V06 now passes
16 21 Aug M. Okonjo Query closed; checklist cleared; approves with the deficit noted as advisory
17 21 Aug Cadence Obligation ACCEPTED; 1.1 becomes the operative version

Note step 15. A resubmission does not clear a genuine breach — the capital deficit is real and remains. What changed is that the firm supplied the plan the directive requires, which moved the matter from unexplained to explained and monitored. The reviewer's approval says the filing is complete and correct, not that the firm is healthy. Those are different judgements and the platform must not conflate them.

Event-driven variant

R08 STR logs, R15 incident reports, and R29 change notifications have no reporting period and no due date. Their lifecycle is shorter:

TRIGGERED ──► DRAFT ──► CERTIFIED ──► SUBMITTED ──► UNDER_REVIEW ──► ACKNOWLEDGED
                                                          │
                                                          └──► QUERY_RAISED

Differences that matter:

  • No FORECAST or OVERDUE — lateness is measured from the triggering event, where the firm asserts the date and the supervisor may dispute it
  • Outcome is ACKNOWLEDGED rather than ACCEPTED; there is no period to be operative for
  • R29 alone can mutate Registry master data on acknowledgement

This variant is why Cadence needs a second obligation kind rather than a nullable due date.