# Investigation input reference: exact identities and history cutoffs

Choose exact identities, direction and local evidence boundaries using the enforced formats.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/lottrail/input-reference

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: supervisor, operator

An investigation starts from one exact identity entered in Scan and investigate. Use this reference when preparing the question, then follow [Save a bounded investigation](/manuals/lottrail/run-an-investigation). A barcode alone does not choose its source or identity type.

## Identity and scope fields

| Field or control | What to enter | Checks and limits | If it is refused |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Declared dataset | The recorded source containing the intended starting identity. | The form lists permitted datasets that are not held. This choice supplies the source instance and generation for the question. | Ask the Supervisor to check accepted files and your dataset access if the intended source is missing. Choosing a similar source changes the question. |
| Type of identity | The kind of item you mean, from the available choices for this dataset. | With a complete list, only admitted kinds are offered. An incomplete list can offer other supported kinds. A material lot and a serial unit are different kinds even when their codes match. | Check the source record and kind. Do not change the kind solely to make a code return a result. |
| Namespace, or Exact namespace | The exact namespace recorded by the selected source for that kind. | Required, at most 120 Unicode characters, with no control characters. Another namespace is offered only where the recorded namespace list is incomplete. | Use the known namespace from the source evidence. If no identities are recorded yet, the Supervisor must check the accepted files. |
| Scan a lot or unit code, then Use this code; Exact code to investigate | The exact starting code, preserving spaces, case and leading zeros. | The enforced identity limit is 120 Unicode characters with no control characters, although these code fields allow up to 240. The scan selects a code in the form; Save an investigation submits the question. | Check the exact code and namespace. If a genuine source identity exceeds 120 characters, refer it to the dataset owner; truncating it would identify something else. |
| Include another declared source | Select the additional permitted datasets actually needed for this question. | Maximum 20 selected datasets in total, including the starting dataset. Each is part of the saved investigation's access scope. Selection alone creates no trace link. | Reduce an accidentally oversized selection to the required scope. If more sources are genuinely needed, agree separate bounded questions and retain their separate coverage. |

If the starting identity is not found, check the submitted source, type, namespace and code. The saved investigation reports not enough information. Correcting the form prepares a new question; it does not rewrite that saved result. See [coverage and results](/manuals/lottrail/read-coverage-and-results).

## Meaning, direction and time

| Field or control | What to enter | Checks and limits | If it is refused |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Relationship meaning | Recorded physical relationships, or Related records and context. | The first follows recorded physical relationship types; the second follows associations. Neither manufactures a missing relationship. | Check the intended question and source coverage. A related inspection or kit check is not proof of consumption. |
| Direction | From input towards output, or From output towards input. | Direction is explicit for the saved question. | Choose the direction appropriate to the known starting record, rather than treating an empty reverse search as proof of no effect. |
| View | Current effective records, or As known at a local evidence sequence. | Current uses the latest locally available sequence when the question is prepared. As known requires Local sequence cutoff. | Use the view that matches your investigation purpose. Current reader permissions still apply to historical views. |
| Local sequence cutoff | 0 or a positive whole sequence using digits only, with no leading zeros. | Maximum 9,007,199,254,740,991. The value cannot exceed the site's current local evidence sequence. A date, source sequence, decimal, negative value or grouped number is not this field's format. | Obtain the exact available local sequence from retained investigation evidence. Do not invent a future cutoff or copy a source event's sequence into this different field. |

For example, if the retained local cutoff is 1842, enter 1842, not 1,842, 01842 or a timestamp. That boundary describes what had arrived locally. It does not promise that every earlier physical event had already been supplied.

## Distinguish an invalid question from a bounded result

The form uses the product's search bounds rather than offering editable hop or record limits. A source scope above the admitted event budget can be refused before a run is retained. A run that reaches a traversal bound can instead be saved with incomplete coverage. Reduce only the intended source scope, inspect the resulting coverage, and preserve any excluded sources in the handover. Follow [investigation problems](/manuals/lottrail/investigation-problems) rather than reporting a bounded result as a complete trace.