Glossary and decision governance
Glossary
| Term | Meaning in Sparelane |
|---|---|
| Bill | Merchant's claim for an amount due from a customer |
| Mandate | Consumer's merchant-specific authorisation to initiate eligible collections |
| Payment method | Tokenised card/bank instrument reference; not raw credentials |
| Payment attempt | One provider instruction or attempt to collect using an eligible method |
| Collection | Confirmed receipt of payment funds linked to a bill |
| Settlement | Provider/banking confirmation of the relevant movement of funds |
| Payout eligibility | Funds cleared for merchant allocation under settlement and risk policy |
| Payout | Instruction and eventual movement of eligible funds to a merchant |
| Payout allocation | Traceable link between a collection and merchant payout |
| Ledger journal | Balanced, immutable accounting event with debit/credit entries |
| Reconciliation | Comparison of internal ledger and provider/bank evidence |
| Unknown outcome | Provider instruction result cannot yet be confirmed; never assumed failed |
| Fallback | Policy-permitted use of another expressly authorised payment method |
| Merchant fee | Sparelane's separate subscription or successful-collection charge |
| Safeguarding | Contractual/regulatory treatment of collected funds by the regulated partner, subject to advice |
Decision statuses
PROPOSED, UNDER_REVIEW, AGREED_IN_PRINCIPLE, APPROVED, SUPERSEDED, REJECTED. Only APPROVED is a final internal decision, and approval does not replace external legal or partner consent.
Decision record template
- ID: ADR-000
- Title: concise decision
- Status and date
- Owner and reviewers
- Context and constraints
- Options considered
- Decision and rationale
- Consequences and risks
- Dependencies / external approvals
- Affected requirement IDs and documents
- Review trigger
Initial decision register gaps
Prioritise written decisions for regulated custody, consumer debt discharge, merchant-of-record/processing model, card and bank mandate rules, payout reserve/liquidity policy, settlement finality, dispute liability, authentication design, account-linking proof and v1 provider selection. Record evidence and affected documentation, not just a conclusion.
Document governance
The wiki is a working design source of truth, not a substitute for contracts, legal opinions or operational approvals. Changes to money flow, consent or financial posting rules require cross-functional review. Proposals should be raised in GitHub Issues with links to requirement IDs.