7. Governance and Policy

Latest updated policy on 10 Apr 2026  

1. Overview

All GitHub organizations under the Syensqo-SA enterprise are governed by a set of centrally managed organization policies. These policies are automatically applied to ensure consistent security and code quality standards across all teams.

Current Status: Policies are currently running in Evaluate Mode -- your actions are not blocked yet, but violations are being recorded. This allows teams to review and adapt before full enforcement is switched on.

2. Policies in Effect

There are three categories of policies applied across all repositories in every organization listed above.

2.1 Branch Policies

These rules apply to the default branch (e.g., main) of every repository.

Example scenarios:

• You open a PR and a reviewer leaves a comment -- the PR cannot be merged until that comment thread is resolved, even if you have 2 approvals.
• You push a commit to your own PR -- you can no longer approve it yourself.
• You try to delete the main branch -- GitHub will block the action.

2.2 Push Policies

These rules are checked at the time of git push, before any PR is involved. If your push violates these rules, it will be flagged immediately.

Example scenarios:

• You try to push a compiled .exe file -- the push is flagged by the policy.
• You add a large test dataset file of 10 MB -- the push is flagged.
• You create a deeply nested folder like src/components/feature/utils/helpers.js -- the path length will be flagged.

Note: Push policies apply to every branch, not just the default branch.

2.3 Tag Policies

These rules protect existing tags across all repositories.

Example scenarios:

• You release 2.0 and want to move the tag to a different commit -- this is blocked.
• You want to remove an old tag like 1.0 -- deletion is blocked.

3. Bypass capability for Organization Admins

Organization Admins retain the ability to bypass these rules when necessary:

• Branch rules — Admins can bypass via pull request (direct push to default branch is still blocked).
• Push rules — Admins can always bypass push restrictions.
• Tag rules — Admins can always bypass tag restrictions.

This ensures that in urgent or exceptional situations, your team is not fully blocked. All bypass activity is logged by GitHub for audit purposes, so we recommend using this capability sparingly.

4. Where to View Policies in GitHub

You can view the active rulesets applied to any organization directly in the GitHub UI.

View at the Organization Level

1. Go to your organization on GitHub
2. Click Settings (you need at least Maintain access)
3. In the left sidebar, under Code, Planning and automation, click Repository > Rulesets
4. You will see a list of all rulesets applied to this organization.

Each ruleset entry shows:

• The ruleset name
• The enforcement status (Evaluate / Active)
• Which branches or tags it targets
• The specific rules configured inside it

5. Insights - What Happens When You Are Blocked

Since policies are currently in Audit (Evaluate) mode, your pushes and PRs are not hard-blocked yet. However, any violation is recorded and visible in the Rule Insights view.

How to Check Rule Insights

1. Go to your organization on GitHub
2. In the left sidebar, under Code, Planning and automation, click Repository > Rule Insights.

What You Will See

The Rule Insights page shows a log of all recent activity that was evaluated against rulesets:

If you see Evaluate bypass entries against your recent pushes or PRs, that is a signal that your action will be blocked once enforcement switches to Active mode. Use this window to fix the issue proactively.