# Workflow Step Has No Decision Owner

## Ontology Metadata

Code: ISS-0013
Version: ISS-0013@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/issues/workflow-step-has-no-decision-owner/

## Summary

A workflow step requires a decision, approval, judgment, or routing choice, but no owner is declared for making it.

## Category

- CAT-0070 — Workflow & Handoffs
  - URL: /workbench/categories/workflow-and-handoffs/
  - Summary: Problems where review steps, handoffs, task progress, workflow ownership, downstream steps, or process coordination break, loop, disagree, or lose resolution.

## Primary Pattern

- PAT-0120 — Missing Authority
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/missing-authority/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.

## Declared Patterns

- PAT-0120 — Missing Authority
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/missing-authority/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a region, action, state, or decision path exists without a declared governing authority.
- PAT-0310 — Orphaned Structure
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/orphaned-structure/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a node, region, object, state, or declaration exists without linkage to the governing graph or integration pathway.
- PAT-0130 — Incomplete Declaration
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/incomplete-declaration/
  - Summary: A structural condition where an element is declared but required attributes, dependencies, or linked definitions are missing.

## Derived Primary Lenses

- LEN-0100 — Absence Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/absence-lens/
  - Summary: Detects structurally required elements that are missing from the observed structure.
- LEN-0110 — Authority Overlay Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/authority-overlay-lens/
  - Summary: Maps declared authority hierarchies onto observed structure to detect absence, override, or conflict.
- LEN-0160 — Constraint Sufficiency Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/constraint-sufficiency-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether declared constraints are sufficient to eliminate structural degrees of freedom.

## Derived Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0150 — Conflict Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/conflict-lens/
  - Summary: Detects mutually incompatible constraints, claims, states, or declarations that cannot be simultaneously satisfied.
- LEN-0200 — Interface Contract Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/interface-contract-lens/
  - Summary: Compares declared interface structure to observed runtime structure to detect contract deviations.
- LEN-0250 — Propagation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/propagation-lens/
  - Summary: Traces how structural declarations, effects, or state changes propagate across boundaries or stages.
- LEN-0270 — Reconciliation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reconciliation-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural changes align with declared authority updates, version changes, or reconciliation rules.

## Search Intents

- workflow step has no decision owner
- no one owns the workflow decision
- AI workflow has no approver
- handoff has no decision owner
- workflow step needs approval but owner missing
- unclear who decides next step