project summary

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title: "project summary"
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# Project Summary: Identification Standards Review and Restructuring

## Project Context

New Zealand's Identification Management Standards comprised 30 documents totaling approximately 9,374 content nodes. These documents were structured for conceptual explanation of identification management as a discipline, rather than for operational implementation by users seeking to conform. This resulted in conformance information being fragmented across multiple documents, passive voice obscuring actionable guidance, and critical content hidden in collapsible "detail expander" elements.

The project objective was to produce a single consolidated resource that reorganizes content around conformance workflows while preserving the text of four core standards unchanged.

## Source Materials Provided

### Primary Source: Identification Standards (via MCP Server)
- **Documents**: 30 identification standards documents
- **Content nodes**: 9,374 DocumentNode entities
- **Embeddings**: 768-dimensional vectors with 95.8% coverage
- **Relationships**: 10,208 hierarchical (CHILD_OF) + 89,735 semantic similarity links
- **Access method**: identification-management-standards MCP server with semantic search, document search, hierarchical context, and Cypher query tools

*Note: MCP server statistics above reflect database state during the project (November 2025). Current values may differ.*

### Annotation Sets (23 JSON files)
- Manual review annotations created by Tom Barraclough prior to the project
- 81 annotation points identifying specific issues across documents
- TomNotesManualReview.md summarizing findings

**How used**: Analyzed in Phase 1 Stage 2 to identify patterns. The 81 annotations were categorized by theme (passive voice, hidden content, conformance visibility, terminology, navigation) and directly informed the 8 recommendations developed in Stage 6.

### External Materials for Evaluation

#### Biometric Privacy Code
- Privacy Commissioner's Biometric Information Privacy Code
- Associated guidance document

**How evaluated**: Analyzed in Phase 1 Stage 3. The Code became mandatory on 3 November 2025 and applies to all biometric information collection and use. The identification standards contained technical controls for biometrics (AA9.04, AA10.01, AA10.02) but no privacy requirements.

**Outcome**: Determined to be essential. Integrated as 6 pages in Section 6.4 covering all 13 privacy rules with implementation guidance for each.

#### NCSC 10 Minimum Cybersecurity Standards
- 10 markdown files from ncsc.govt.nz covering asset management, data recovery, unusual behavior detection, least privilege, MFA, patching, response planning, risk management, secure configuration, and security awareness

**How evaluated**: Analyzed in Phase 1 Stage 3. These standards complement the Information Assurance controls but were previously referenced without specificity.

**Outcome**: Integrated as 2 pages in Section 5.4 with specific mappings between NCSC standards and IA controls.

#### Electronic Identity Verification Act (EIVA)
- Electronic Identity Verification Act 2012
- Associated regulations

**How evaluated**: Analyzed in Phase 1 Stage 3. The DISTF Act section 7 explicitly separates the EIVA framework from the identification standards framework.

**Outcome**: Determined to be a separate framework with no conformance relationship. Brief mention only (1 paragraph in Section 9).

#### Digital.govt.nz Content Design Guidance
- 40 documents on content design, active voice, plain language, accessibility

**How evaluated**: Reviewed in Phase 1 Stage 3 for methodology guidance.

**Outcome**: Used as methodology reference for writing style. Active voice patterns, plain language principles, and user-centered structure from this guidance informed the content transformation approach.

### DocRef Reference Files

#### DocRefJSONFiles/ (3 directories)
- JSON data for identification standards documents including metadata, hierarchical structure, section IDs, and content

**How used**: Accessed via validate-citations.js script during manual validation to verify that DocRef citations point to valid source locations.

#### MarkdownVersionsOfDocRefDocuments/ (26 files)
- Markdown versions of the 30 source documents

**How used**:
- Reference for custom markdown style conventions (Stage 8)
- Content verification during manual review phase

## Process Description

### Phase 1: Analysis and Recommendations (November 19, 2025)

**Duration**: ~3 hours active work

**Method**: Used the identification-management-standards MCP server to perform semantic searches across 9,374 nodes, analyze cross-document patterns, and identify systematic issues.

**Stages completed**:

1. **Stage 1 - Initial Exploration**: Familiarized with MCP server capabilities. Identified document taxonomy: 4 core standards, 4 implementation guides, foundational materials, supporting materials.

2. **Stage 2 - Pattern Analysis**: Analyzed 81 annotation points. Identified 7 major patterns: passive voice (15+ annotations), conformance hidden (0 semantic neighbors above 0.75), detail expanders (12+ instances), "should" ambiguity, standards-guidance separation, DISTF relationship downplayed, vague external references.

3. **Stage 3 - Other Materials Evaluation**: Evaluated external materials. Decisions: integrate Biometric Privacy Code (mandatory), reference NCSC with specificity, exclude EIVA (separate framework), use content design guidance as methodology.

4. **Stage 4 - Thematic Synthesis**: Identified root cause (conceptual vs operational structure). Synthesized 8 recurring themes. Created prioritization matrix.

5. **Stage 5 - AI Guidance Evaluation**: Queried generative-ai-guidance-gcdo MCP server. Validated recommendations against 6 government AI principles.

6. **Stage 6 - Recommendations**: Developed 8 recommendations (3 critical, 3 important, 2 beneficial). Proposed 9-section structure.

7. **Stage 7 - Structure Validation**: Validated structure against AI guidance principles. Determination: ready for Phase 2.

**Outputs**: 8 analysis documents (335KB, 5,923 lines), structure proposal approved by project lead.

### Phase 2: Content Creation and Restructuring (November 20, 2025)

**Duration**: ~4 hours active work

**Method**: Parallel agent execution for content retrieval, synthesis, and verification.

**Stages completed**:

8. **Stage 8 - Markdown Style**: Documented 10 custom markdown conventions from source files.

9. **Stage 9 - Retrieval Planning**: Created systematic retrieval plan for 9 sections with specific MCP queries.

10. **Stage 10 - Content Retrieval**: Retrieved 51 files (736KB) from MCP server organized by section.

11. **Stage 11 - Content Synthesis**: Four parallel agents wrote content for sections 1-9. Core standards text preserved unchanged. Guidance rewritten in active voice.

12. **Stage 12 - Verification**: Four parallel agents verified:
    - Agent 12A: Core standards integrity (109/109 controls verified)
    - Agent 12B: Citations and style (415 citations, 9/10 style criteria)
    - Agent 12C: Structure and feedback (30/30 criteria met)
    - Agent 12D: Quality and AI alignment (6/6 principles aligned)

**Remediation**: Stage 10 revisited to address transparency gap. Additional retrieval and verification completed with 100% pass rate.

**Stage 13 - Handover**: Created comprehensive handover documentation.

**Outputs**: Consolidated document (7,140 lines), 51 retrieved files (736KB), verification reports (2,294+ lines).

### Manual Review Phase (November 21, 2025)

**Duration**: ~4 hours 47 minutes active work across 3 sessions

**Method**: Tom Barraclough reviewed consolidated document section by section using Claude Code VS Code integration with MCP server access.

**Process**:
1. Selected text requiring verification
2. Claude queried source documents via MCP server
3. Evaluated content accuracy against official source
4. Made corrections with full citations
5. Logged all changes in ClaudeUpdateLog.md

**Tools used**:
- Claude Code VS Code integration
- identification-management-standards MCP server
- validate-citations.js script
- DocRefJSONFiles for citation verification

**Outputs**: Revised draft, change log (90KB), citation validation reports.

## Role of Annotation Sets

Tom's 81 annotation points directly informed:

| Annotation Theme | Recommendation | Implementation |
|-----------------|----------------|----------------|
| Passive voice (15+ annotations) | Systematic active voice conversion | 303 instances of "you/your" in guidance |
| Hidden content (12+ annotations) | Eliminate detail expanders | 0 detail expanders in output |
| Conformance visibility | Make conformance central | Section 8 is largest (1,843 lines) |
| Standards-guidance separation | Integrate with visual distinction | Sections 4-7 integrate both |
| Vague external references | Specific cross-references | NCSC and Privacy Code with specifics |
| DISTF relationship | Clarify and emphasize | Section 1 establishes primary use case |

## Tools and Methods

### MCP Servers
- **identification-management-standards**: Primary source access (9,374 nodes, semantic search, hierarchical queries)
- **generative-ai-guidance-gcdo**: AI guidance evaluation (Stage 5)

### Parallel Agent Execution
- Stage 10: 4 agents for content retrieval
- Stage 11: 4 agents for content writing
- Stage 12: 4 agents for verification

### Validation Script
- validate-citations.js: Verified DocRef citations against source JSON

## Quantitative Summary

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Input documents | 30 |
| Output documents | 1 |
| Output size | 7,140 lines |
| Core standards controls | 109 (all preserved unchanged) |
| Active voice instances | 303 |
| DocRef citations | 415+ |
| Detail expanders | 0 (eliminated) |
| External content added | 8 pages (6 Biometrics, 2 NCSC) |
| Active work time | ~11 hours |
| Calendar duration | 3 days |
| Total commits | 27 |

## Verification Results

- Success criteria met: 19/19 (100%)
- Controls verified word-for-word: 109/109 (100%)
- Citations verified: 415+
- AI guidance principles aligned: 6/6 (100%)
- Feedback items implemented: 18/18 (100%)