HCDI Certified Indexer

Chapter 9. Intake controls and the question of tampering

general professional knowledge; HCDI platform rule (Unit 2.10). An Indexer receives material from the assessed company and from others. The professional duty is to record what you observe, truthfully, and to leave the item as you received it. Never delete an evidence item. An item that looks altered, such as inconsistent formatting, an implausible date or pages that do not follow, is something to describe factually. Suspected tampering is a suspected integrity matter, and Chapter 15 covers how it is recorded. It is not for the Indexer to decide, and it is not for the Indexer to quietly set aside. Common Error. Removing a doubtful document so it does not complicate the engagement. Removal destroys the record that someone doubted it.

Preserve observations before interpreting them#

Basis - general professional knowledge and editorial explanation. External references are identified explicitly; this section adds no HCDI rule.

Inconsistent pagination, formatting or dates can warrant concern without proving tampering. Cleaning a file before preserving the received version can destroy useful history. Separate the item, observation and suspicion. Specialist investigation may require authority outside the Indexer role.

Figure 2.9 Preserve observations before interpreting them. Original conceptual illustration; arrows organise the discussion and do not establish a validated causal effect or a scoring procedure.

Original exercise L2 E09#

Basis - original fictional exercise. The organisation, events and any numbers are invented for learning. No HCDI result is assigned.

A board pack jumps from page 8 to page 11. A colleague proposes deleting it and silently uploading a corrected export.

Question - What must be preserved?

Worked answer: Part G, exercise L2 E09.