PREPARE THE EVALUATION

Find the gaps before the pilot starts.

An AI governance readiness checklist for a scoped enterprise evaluation: sponsor, workflow, evidence, access, data, and review.

DutyGraph editorial · September 6, 2026

Readiness for one workflow

Start with the workflow you want to understand. An enterprise-wide readiness score can hide a missing owner or unavailable source in the exact process you plan to test. This checklist is a planning aid, not a compliance assessment or certification.

Name the decision and the people

Write the decision the pilot should support. Name the executive sponsor, the person who runs the work, the participants, and the owner of any affected systems. Confirm who can authorize data collection and who can approve a change. A sponsor and an access approver may be different people.

Check the information you need

List the source for the current process, relevant policies, software permissions, and a recent example of completed work. Keep dates and owners. Mark unavailable sources as missing. Public research can prepare questions, but it cannot establish internal permissions.

Agree the collection boundary

Specify what participants may share, which providers will process it, where it is stored, who can read it, and how long it is retained. Confirm any security or procurement review before the first invitation. Do not put confidential material into a public demo or lead form.

Define success before collection

Choose measures that can be observed: participant completion, time to a reviewed map, advisor effort, unresolved handoffs, and whether the sponsor can make the intended decision. Record a baseline and measurement period. Savings need a separate comparison with real operating data.

Use a simple decision log

For every item, record Ready, Needs work, or Unknown; name the evidence and the next owner. An unknown is useful because it identifies the next question. Do not average a missing data approval into a reassuring overall score.

Proceed when the boundary is clear

Begin when the sponsor, work owner, collection terms, participant scope, and intended decision are agreed. If a critical source is unavailable, reduce the scope or resolve the gap first. DutyGraph’s founding pilot is a way to test this method with a focused team.

Sources

Primary references used in this guide.

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