Test
Testing puts an analysis and the institutions that would use it under controlled pressure before a real event does: exercises, scenario drills and side-by-side comparisons, run so that failure is cheap and recorded.
- Institution
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- Service level
- R0: information and enquiries
Exercise control
Methods council · Day 1 of 5 · Controlled · observed
- Injects delivered10of 18Active
- Median response23minWatch
- Observer notes20
- Stand-downDay 5plannedNormal
Inject timeline
- 09:00INJ-1Scenario opens: Methods council
- 10:30INJ-2Independent reviewer receives first signal
- 12:15INJ-3Escalation: second system affected
- 14:00INJ-4Media query and public message
- 16:30HOTHot wash, observers first
Player cells
| Programme owner | 4 | 47 | Delayed |
| GCRI technical office | 3 | 47 | Delayed |
| Independent reviewer | 4 | 53 | Responding |
| Competent authority | 5 | 21 | Active |
GCRI · Exercise controlExercise control, in outline: domain structure with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record.
The short answer.
Test is step five of the eight-step Nexus cycle: the step at which selected work is tested under controlled conditions in the annual Nexus Universe programme. It is owned by Nexus Universe, which has its own website. At this step GCRI provides the technical office for tests in Nexus Universe, and the decision at the end of the cycle stays with the competent authority.
Systemic exposure in Asia.
Where people and networks concentrate, the exposure through which shocks travel between systems, shown for Asia as an example geography for this subject.
Each pillar's contribution.
From desk review to full exercise.
| Test | What it shows | Reference practice |
|---|---|---|
| Hindcast | Whether a model reproduces a past event it was not tuned on | Split-sample validation in hydrology and climate science |
| Tabletop exercise | Whether decision-holders can use the outputs under time pressure | Exercise programmes in ISO 22301 business continuity and civil protection practice |
| Scenario stress test | How a system behaves under severe but plausible combinations | Reverse and compound stress testing in financial and infrastructure practice |
| Red team | How an AI or data system fails under adversarial use | NIST AI RMF measure function; adversarial testing |
The annual programme where tests are run.
Controlled tests are scheduled through Nexus Universe, the annual programme governed at GRF, with GCRI as technical office: it designs scenarios, prepares data, keeps the run log and writes the technical after-action review. A test result is an observation about a system under stated conditions; it is never a certification of that system.
Then: publish.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Simulation exercise | A practice, training or evaluation activity in which an emergency is described or simulated and participants respond as they would in reality, so that plans and capacities can be tested, as WHO's exercise manual describes. |
| Tabletop exercise | A discussion-based exercise in which participants talk through decisions in response to a scenario. |
| After-action review | A structured discussion after an activity of what was planned, what happened, why, and what to change. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Around GCRI.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.