Decision-to-Action Latency is the elapsed time between the moment an organisation knows enough to move and the moment it actually moves. It is not the time to detect, and not the time to discuss — it is the time until something outside the organisation is different.
DAL is measured per decision domain, because a fraud block and a strategic pricing change belong to different clocks. Each domain gets a target latency appropriate to its risk profile. Interventions are chosen for their effect on that target, and re-measured after.
DAL is the number that governs the practical return of every dashboard, model and AI investment. A perfect insight arriving after the moment for action has the same operational value as no insight at all.