Our method
How we surface signals from public sector documents.
What we do
CivicSignals indexes publicly available board papers and committee reports from public sector organisations. We extract verbatim excerpts that may indicate procurement activity, programme changes, delivery risks, or other items of public interest.
Every signal we publish links directly to the source document and specific page number. We quote; we do not interpret or speculate.
Our principles
Evidence-bound
Nothing is published unless it can be traced to a source document, page, and verbatim excerpt.
Neutral tone
We describe what documents say. We do not editorialise, interpret intent, or draw conclusions.
Transparent limits
We do not claim completeness. Coverage is partial and improves over time.
Quotation policy
All excerpts are presented verbatim from their source documents. We do not paraphrase, summarise, or alter wording. Ellipses are not used. Excerpts are contiguous and presented in full, with no omissions. Every excerpt includes a direct link to the source document and specific page number for verification.
Coverage
CivicSignals provides selective coverage, not a comprehensive archive. We do not claim to capture every relevant document or signal from any organisation. Coverage improves over time as we expand our source list and refine our processes.
Each organisation page shows when documents were last indexed from that source. Absence of recent signals does not imply absence of activity - only that we have not yet processed relevant documents.
How it works
Our extraction engine is stateless: it processes documents without storing personal data or tracking individuals. All publication and storage decisions occur in the application layer, separate from the extraction process.
Signals are generated through automated extraction using large language models and verified against source documents. The engine identifies potentially relevant excerpts; human review determines what gets published.
What this is not
- Not journalism or investigative reporting
- Not allegations or accusations
- Not a prediction or inference tool
- Not a complete record of all public sector activity
Sources
We index publicly available documents from public sector organisations. These include board papers, committee minutes, financial reports, strategy documents, and similar publications.
All source documents are published by the organisations themselves and are accessible to the public without authentication.
Corrections
If you spot an error - a misattribution, incorrect page reference, or factual mistake - please contact us. We correct errors visibly, and maintain a corrections log.
Corrections are logged with timestamps. Original text is preserved with strikethrough; corrected text is clearly marked. We do not silently edit published content.