# Signal Triage

Deciding which incoming signals warrant escalation versus routine handling, using pre-agreed rules rather than in-the-moment judgment.

## Why the CCAR-P exam tests this

The exam checks whether you escalate on a pre-defined trigger instead of reacting emotionally to whichever signal is loudest.

## Definition

**Signal triage** is the practice of sorting the stream of signals a project generates — metrics, complaints, drift alerts, budget reports — into buckets that map to a defined action. The core discipline is that **escalation triggers are pre-defined**: they are set on a **schedule** or as an **agreed threshold** before the work starts, not invented reactively when something feels alarming.

A well-triaged signal routes itself. A **regulated checkpoint fires on the calendar**, not on a metric moving — the review happens on the agreed date whether or not anything looks wrong. A **budget breach** escalates because it crosses a **stakeholder-owned line**, not because the number is subjectively large. The triage table says, in advance, "this class of signal goes to this owner at this severity."

The failure mode triage prevents is **reactive escalation**: pulling the alarm because a chart dipped, while a genuine calendar-bound compliance review quietly slips. Good triage means the boring, scheduled, non-negotiable signals get handled with the same rigor as the dramatic ones.

## Exam trap

A choice that escalates because a metric spiked is usually wrong when a pre-agreed threshold or calendar checkpoint has not actually been crossed — the trigger, not the drama, governs.

## Commonly confused with

- **reversal-cost** — Triage decides whether to escalate; reversal-cost is one input to how severe the escalation should be.
- **stakeholder-sign-off** — Triage routes a signal to an owner; sign-off is the formal decision that owner may be asked to make.

## Related

- reversal-cost
- stakeholder-sign-off
- outcome-document

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Source: Claude Cert Prep — an independent, unofficial CCAR-P study resource (domain P6). Not affiliated with Anthropic.