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An exception is a time-limited, approved departure from a rule. You request one when your work really needs something a guardrail blocks, for example a project room that must handle personal data for two weeks. A room owner decides, sets how long it lasts, and the exception ends on its own when that time is up. Hard rules allow no exceptions. A request for a hard rule is refused. Every guardrail allows them. A convention allows them only when Exceptions allowed was switched on for it. See Rules for the three strengths.

What an approved exception does

  • It applies in the room it was requested for, to everyone in that room or only to the people named in the request.
  • While it is active, answers no longer refuse because of that rule. The answer mentions the exception instead.
  • For the personal data rule DAT-03, the covered answers are no longer withheld.
  • The evidence record of each run it covers names the exception. An evidence record is the audit entry Ainomos keeps for every answer and action.

Request an exception

Who can do this: every member of the room. You can start a request in three places:
  • On the Exceptions page in Knowledge: select Create.
  • On the Rules page: open the rule and select Request exception.
  • In the chat, on a block card: select Request exception (time-limited). This appears when a guardrail withheld an answer.
The Request exception dialog has these fields: Select Send request. The request goes to the people who decide and shows as pending. A request from a block card asks for a Justification and a Time limit of 1, 7, 14 or 30 days. The time limit is your suggestion. The approver sets the final duration. A request is refused when:
  • the rule is a hard rule, or does not allow exceptions,
  • the scope asks for no end, such as “always” or “permanent”,
  • nobody owns the room where the rule lives, so nobody could decide.
Apps connected through MCP, the open standard AI apps use to connect to Ainomos, can also file a request. A person always decides. Each requester can hold at most 10 open requests per room through an app.

Decide on a request

Who can do this: the owners of the room where the rule lives. For a rule inherited from a room above, that is the owners of the room above. For DAT-03 it is usually the owners of your organisation’s top room. Open requests reach you in two places: your Inbox as Exception request, and the Exceptions page of the room under Pending approval.
1

Read the request

Check the rule, the justification, the scope and who it is for.
2

Set the time limit

Enter the Time limit (days). It starts at 14 days, or at the end date the request states.
3

Give a reason

Write a Reason. It is required for both choices and is stored with the decision.
4

Approve or reject

Select Approve or Reject. The decision, its reason and your name are stored with the request.
A rule found in a document that still waits for approval cannot have an approved exception. Approve the rule first.

Validity and expiry

An approved exception is valid for the number of days the approver set, from 1 to 365 days. It ends automatically at the end of that period, and the lists then show it as Expired. There is no exception without an end date.

Revoke or withdraw

  • Revoke ends an approved exception at once, and the rule applies again without exception. The owners of the room where the rule lives can revoke. You can add a Reason (optional). It is kept with the revocation and in the evidence record.
  • Withdraw takes back a request that is still pending. The requester can withdraw their own request, and the owners who decide can too.
You find Revoke and Withdraw on the rule in the Rules page, under Active exceptions, and in your Inbox under Requests in my rooms.

See active and past exceptions

The Exceptions page in Knowledge lists every request of the room, in every state, with the rule, its state, who asked and who it is for. Use the filter bar to narrow by state, by Requested by or by rule. Every member of the room can see this list. Active exceptions also show on the rule itself in the Rules page. Your Inbox lists the requests from your rooms with their state under Requests in my rooms. Each decision and each revocation writes an evidence record with the person, the time and the reason.