The work that happens before anyone presses send.

Requirements are read back as filters before anything is run. Checks run against the output, not against the intention. What cannot be evidenced is left out and listed.

Change log

A note of what each processing stage altered, kept so the build can be retraced.

Matching

Reconciling what you hold against what is current, with disagreements surfaced rather than silently resolved.

Honest residue

The portion we could not verify, reported as unverified rather than as clean.

A short brief is enough to start; detail can follow once the size is known.