govoplan-forms/docs/FORMS_BOUNDARY.md

Forms Module Boundary

govoplan-forms owns reusable form definitions and validation metadata. Runtime submissions and workflow handoff are separate behavior.

The core boundary decision register is in /mnt/DATA/git/govoplan-core/docs/MODULE_ARCHITECTURE.md.

Ownership

Forms owns:

• form definitions, field schemas, sections, validation rules, and visibility rules
• localization, accessibility metadata, versioning, draft/published lifecycle, and admin editing
• form import/export and configuration-package fragments
• schema contracts that let portal, workflow, cases, and reporting understand a form without importing form internals

govoplan-forms-runtime owns:

• public/internal submission sessions, drafts, receipts, submitted values, validation evidence, attachment references, and submission status
• submission handoff events to workflow, cases, tasks, mail, reporting, files, DMS, or portal

Boundaries

Forms does not own:

• public portal identity and anonymous/authenticated public entry points
• file storage and file permissions for uploaded attachments
• cases, workflow transitions, tasks, or assignment state
• DMS document lifecycle and generated record storage
• reporting aggregation or dataflow transformation

Submission Status Model

Candidate runtime statuses:

• draft
• submitted
• validated
• needs_review
• accepted
• rejected
• handed_off
• archived

The definition module can declare valid transitions and required evidence, but runtime state belongs to the runtime module.

Accessibility And Validation Requirements

Form definitions should carry:

• labels, descriptions, required markers, and help text
• machine-readable validation rules
• field grouping and ordering
• keyboard and screen-reader metadata where needed
• localization keys and fallback text
• data classification for privacy/retention decisions

Capabilities

• forms.definitions resolves an exact, tenant-bound immutable definition.
• The API provides bounded catalogue and history reads plus OCC-guarded writes.
• The designer provides explicit revision, publication, field-order, type, option, constraint, draft, attachment, signature, policy, and handoff editing.
• Forms Runtime performs value validation against the resolved definition; the definition owner does not persist submissions.

Recovery And Operations

Definition revisions are append-only. Recovery restores the database and then verifies that every runtime submission's form_id and form_revision resolves to the same payload. Destructive module retirement requires a verified database snapshot and is blocked while definition rows remain. The transactional event boundary emits only schema identity, revision, publication state, and field count; field content remains in the owning database.

The schema vocabulary covers scalar, choice, structured, attachment, signature, policy-reference, and handoff constraints. Conditional page layout, localization authoring, and package-fragment tooling remain product depth that can deepen this owner without changing the runtime boundary.