Trigger Schema

Triggers are events, insights, or conditions that prompt an organizational response. They serve as the entry point to the Strategic Response Model, documenting what happened before defining why and how the organization responds.

Schema Version: 2.1
Schema Location: /schemas/extensions/trigger.schema.json
Specification: JSON Schema Draft-07

Overview

What is a Trigger?

A trigger is a documented occurrence that initiates the strategic response chain. Triggers can be:

External — Regulatory changes, market shifts, competitor actions
Internal — Performance threshold breaches, audit findings, strategic decisions
Proactive — Recognized opportunities, innovation insights, strategic intents

Trigger vs Strategic Intent

Trigger	Strategic Intent
Reactive — responds to an event	Proactive — pursues an opportunity
Event-driven	Vision-driven
"We must respond to this"	"We choose to pursue this"
Often external	Always internal

Both can initiate the SRM chain, but they represent different starting points.

Trigger Categories

Triggers are classified into a standardized taxonomy for consistent analysis and reporting:

Category Taxonomy

Category	Description	Examples
`Regulatory or compliance`	Legal, regulatory, or compliance-driven changes	New privacy law, audit finding, license requirement
`Technological change`	Technology shifts creating opportunity or risk	Cloud adoption, legacy sunset, API deprecation
`Environmental & safety`	Environmental, health, or safety considerations	Climate regulation, workplace safety incident
`Operational transformation`	Process or operational efficiency drivers	Cost reduction mandate, automation opportunity
`Strategic re-alignment`	Shifts in organizational strategy	M&A activity, market exit, portfolio rationalization
`Customer & stakeholder`	Customer or stakeholder-driven changes	Customer feedback, partner requirement, investor pressure
`Workforce & skills`	People, skills, or organizational capability gaps	Skills shortage, key person departure, culture change
`Performance response`	Performance threshold breaches	KPI failure, SLA breach, quality incident
`Political or social`	Political, social, or reputational factors	Social movement, political change, public perception
`Innovation-led opportunity`	Opportunities from innovation or research	R&D breakthrough, emerging technology, market opportunity

Category Hierarchy

For advanced taxonomy management, categories can be organized into a hierarchy:

Trigger Attributes

Core Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`triggerID`	string (UUID)	Yes	Unique identifier
`label`	string	Yes	Human-readable name
`category`	enum	Yes	Trigger category from taxonomy
`description`	string	No	Extended explanation
`status`	enum	No	Current status of the trigger

Extended Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`detectedDate`	date	No	When the trigger was identified
`sourceType`	enum	No	How the trigger was detected
`sourceReference`	string	No	Link to source documentation
`urgency`	enum	No	Time sensitivity
`impact`	enum	No	Potential organizational impact
`linkedStrategicResponses`	array	No	References to SRM entries
`tags`	array	No	Searchable keywords

Source Types

Source Type	Description
`regulatory-publication`	Official regulatory announcement
`audit-finding`	Internal or external audit
`performance-monitoring`	KPI or metric threshold breach
`customer-feedback`	Voice of customer input
`market-intelligence`	Competitive or market analysis
`technology-assessment`	Technical evaluation or review
`strategic-planning`	Strategy development process
`incident-report`	Operational incident
`stakeholder-request`	Direct stakeholder communication
`innovation-pipeline`	R&D or innovation program

Urgency Levels

Urgency	Response Timeframe	Example
`critical`	Immediate (days)	Regulatory deadline, security breach
`high`	Short-term (weeks)	Compliance requirement, competitor threat
`medium`	Medium-term (months)	Process improvement, capability gap
`low`	Long-term (quarters)	Strategic opportunity, optimization

Impact Levels

Impact	Scope	Example
`enterprise`	Organization-wide	Regulatory change affecting all operations
`division`	Multiple business units	Technology platform change
`business-unit`	Single business unit	Product-specific requirement
`function`	Single functional area	Process improvement

JSON Schema Definition

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "$id": "https://orthogramic.com/schemas/extensions/trigger.schema.json",
  "title": "Trigger",
  "description": "Schema for triggers that prompt strategic responses",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["triggerID", "label", "category"],
  "properties": {
    "triggerID": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "uuid",
      "description": "Unique identifier for the trigger"
    },
    "label": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Short, human-readable name of the trigger"
    },
    "category": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "Regulatory or compliance",
        "Technological change",
        "Environmental & safety",
        "Operational transformation",
        "Strategic re-alignment",
        "Customer & stakeholder",
        "Workforce & skills",
        "Performance response",
        "Political or social",
        "Innovation-led opportunity"
      ],
      "description": "Classification of trigger context"
    },
    "description": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Expanded explanation of the trigger's relevance"
    },
    "status": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["identified", "assessed", "responded", "closed", "monitoring"],
      "description": "Current status of the trigger"
    },
    "detectedDate": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date",
      "description": "Date the trigger was identified"
    },
    "sourceType": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "regulatory-publication",
        "audit-finding",
        "performance-monitoring",
        "customer-feedback",
        "market-intelligence",
        "technology-assessment",
        "strategic-planning",
        "incident-report",
        "stakeholder-request",
        "innovation-pipeline"
      ],
      "description": "How the trigger was detected"
    },
    "sourceReference": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "uri",
      "description": "Link to source documentation"
    },
    "urgency": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["critical", "high", "medium", "low"],
      "description": "Time sensitivity of response"
    },
    "impact": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["enterprise", "division", "business-unit", "function"],
      "description": "Organizational scope of impact"
    },
    "linkedStrategicResponses": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string",
        "format": "uuid"
      },
      "description": "References to related SRM entries"
    },
    "tags": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "description": "Searchable keywords"
    },
    "metadata": {
      "type": "object",
      "additionalProperties": true,
      "description": "Additional trigger-specific attributes"
    }
  }
}

Examples

Regulatory Trigger

{
  "triggerID": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440001",
  "label": "Privacy Act Amendment 2024",
  "category": "Regulatory or compliance",
  "description": "New privacy legislation requiring enhanced consent management and data subject rights processing within 12 months",
  "status": "assessed",
  "detectedDate": "2024-06-15",
  "sourceType": "regulatory-publication",
  "sourceReference": "https://legislation.gov.au/privacy-act-2024",
  "urgency": "high",
  "impact": "enterprise",
  "linkedStrategicResponses": [
    "srm-privacy-compliance-2024"
  ],
  "tags": ["privacy", "compliance", "data-protection", "consent"]
}

Technology Trigger

{
  "triggerID": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440002",
  "label": "Legacy Platform End-of-Life",
  "category": "Technological change",
  "description": "Core banking platform vendor announced end-of-support effective December 2025",
  "status": "responded",
  "detectedDate": "2024-03-01",
  "sourceType": "technology-assessment",
  "sourceReference": "internal://vendor-communication/2024-03-01",
  "urgency": "medium",
  "impact": "enterprise",
  "linkedStrategicResponses": [
    "srm-core-banking-modernization"
  ],
  "tags": ["technology", "platform", "modernization", "core-banking"]
}

Performance Trigger

{
  "triggerID": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440003",
  "label": "Customer Satisfaction Below Threshold",
  "category": "Performance response",
  "description": "NPS score dropped below 40 for three consecutive months, triggering mandatory improvement initiative",
  "status": "responded",
  "detectedDate": "2024-09-30",
  "sourceType": "performance-monitoring",
  "sourceReference": "internal://performance-dashboard/nps-alert-2024-q3",
  "urgency": "high",
  "impact": "division",
  "linkedStrategicResponses": [
    "srm-cx-improvement-program"
  ],
  "tags": ["nps", "customer-experience", "performance", "satisfaction"]
}

Innovation Trigger

{
  "triggerID": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440004",
  "label": "Generative AI Capability Maturity",
  "category": "Innovation-led opportunity",
  "description": "Enterprise-ready generative AI tools now available, enabling automation of customer service and content generation",
  "status": "assessed",
  "detectedDate": "2024-01-15",
  "sourceType": "innovation-pipeline",
  "urgency": "medium",
  "impact": "enterprise",
  "linkedStrategicResponses": [
    "srm-ai-enablement-2024"
  ],
  "tags": ["ai", "generative-ai", "automation", "innovation"]
}

Trigger Lifecycle

Status	Description
`identified`	Trigger has been detected but not yet analyzed
`assessed`	Impact analysis complete, ready for response
`responded`	Strategic response defined and initiated
`monitoring`	Response in progress, being tracked
`closed`	Response complete, objectives achieved

Usage Guidelines

Creating Effective Triggers

Be specific — "Privacy Act Amendment 2024" not "New regulation"
Document the source — Include reference to original source material
Assess urgency accurately — Avoid marking everything as critical
Consider impact scope — Enterprise vs. localized impact
Link related triggers — Some events create multiple triggers

Trigger Catalog Management

Maintain a centralized trigger catalog to:

Ensure consistent categorization
Enable trend analysis across triggers
Support audit and compliance reporting
Facilitate reuse of response patterns

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Mistake	Problem	Solution
Vague labels	"Market change" doesn't help	Be specific about what changed
Missing dates	Can't track response timeliness	Always record detection date
No source reference	Can't verify or audit	Link to original documentation
Wrong category	Affects analysis and reporting	Use category definitions carefully

For Data Engineers

Triggers map well to alert and event management systems. Consider integrating your data quality alerts, pipeline failures, and SLA breaches as triggers in the SRM to create full traceability from technical events to business responses.

Strategic Response Model Overview — Full SRM documentation
Rationale Schema — How triggers connect to rationales
Performance Indicators — Measuring response effectiveness

Overview​

What is a Trigger?​

Trigger vs Strategic Intent​

Trigger Categories​

Category Taxonomy​

Category Hierarchy​

Trigger Attributes​

Core Attributes​

Extended Attributes​

Source Types​

Urgency Levels​

Impact Levels​

JSON Schema Definition​

Examples​

Regulatory Trigger​

Technology Trigger​

Performance Trigger​

Innovation Trigger​

Trigger Lifecycle​

Usage Guidelines​

Creating Effective Triggers​

Trigger Catalog Management​

Avoiding Common Mistakes​

Related Documentation​