Chapter 08 · Accepted reporting source

How do we ask the evidence a precise question?

A governed query is the bridge between stored evidence and a reportable answer. It names the accepted view, preserves required filters and meanings, runs read-only, and makes failure visible instead of silently substituting an old number.

What the evidence shows

What supports this answer

Accepted data-use contracts provide copy-ready queries, expected coverage, required filters, field meanings, exclusions, and publishability boundaries.
The CNA 2021 narrow contract exposes exactly 297 numeric, source-verified projection rows through its default view while keeping 151 unstated amounts NULL and nonaggregatable.
The 2026 Annual Town Meeting contract keeps preliminary, meeting-presented, and FINAL_VOTED stages separate; FINAL_VOTED means authorized at the meeting, not spent or charged to a household.

Why it matters

How this changes the question

The same database can answer a careful question or a misleading one. The query contract is where the reporter proves which population was counted, what was excluded, what a value means, and whether the answer is current enough for the claim.

A real governed query

CNA 2021 narrow projection: accepted safe-query example

BEGIN READ ONLY;

SELECT count(*)
FROM cske.capital_cna2021_schedule_reportable_default_v1;

SELECT count(*) AS excluded_rows,
       count(*) FILTER (
         WHERE uninflated_cost IS NULL
           AND inflated_cost IS NULL
       ) AS null_rows
FROM cske.capital_cna2021_schedule_reporting_v1
WHERE source_reporting_status = 'SOURCE_BLANK_NOT_ZERO'
  AND NOT projection_publishable
  AND NOT is_aggregatable;

ROLLBACK;

Reportable numeric projection rows297

Source-verified 2021 projected amounts eligible under the narrow default contract.

Excluded source blanks151

Amounts not stated by the source; both monetary fields remain NULL, never zero.

Study containment438 quarantined

The broader study remains incomplete and not publishable as a whole.

Accepted contract state: August 25, 2026. Projection-only semantics; not actual, approved, appropriated, contracted, expended, completed, or current-condition facts.

How it was created

The working method

1
Start a read-only transaction and use only the accepted reporting object.
2
Carry required semantic fields—such as amount_semantics—into downstream results.
3
Audit exclusions separately so missing values remain visible without entering totals.
4
Reconcile row counts and key totals to the accepted contract examples.
5
Display source object, data-as-of time, refresh status, and any failure or fallback state in reporting.

Limits and unresolved work

What this does not yet prove

The example below is a dated accepted-contract result, not a live query executed by this static Atlas page.
A successful query proves only the question encoded in that contract; it does not establish broader source completeness.
SQL and database objects may change through later governed releases, so reporters must adopt the current accepted contract before reuse.

Sources and methodology

These are the principal materials used for this chapter. They establish provenance, not an assertion that every source is complete, current, or officially adopted.

CSKE-CNA2021-0359 Narrow Projection Data-Use and Query Contract v1.0.0, accepted August 25, 2026.
CSKE Wilbraham 2026 Annual Town Meeting comprehensive read-only reporting examples.