Glossary · Evidence, assurance and traceability
Claim (assurance)
Also known as: assurance claim
In assurance and systems engineering, a claim is a reviewable assertion about system behavior, safety, security, or compliance that requires evidence. A claim is only as strong as the evidence and reasoning linked to it.
- Systems engineering
- Verification
In one sentence
An assurance claim is a reviewable statement about a system that must be backed by evidence, the building block of every assurance case.
Example
“The robot cell stops before an operator can reach the gripper through the loading opening” is a claim; the minimum distance calculation and the measured stopping time are its evidence.
How it applies
- Evidence: Write claims so that they can be checked: specific system, condition, property and limit. "The machine is safe" cannot be reviewed; "the guard interlock achieves PL d" can.
- Assurance: In an assurance case, claims are broken down into subclaims until each one can be supported directly by safety evidence.
- Technical documentation: Marketing texts, declarations and manuals all contain claims. Every safety or compliance statement in published documentation should trace to evidence, and none should imply compliance on its own.
- AI and retrieval: Generated text can produce plausible claims without evidence. Treat AI-drafted safety statements as unverified until each one is linked to a source.
Claim vs. assumption
A claim is asserted and must be proven. An assumption is taken as true without proof within the analysis, and must be stated and monitored instead.