Chapter 36. Checklists and Job Aids
One-page references for the activities practitioners repeat.
36.1 Gate entry checklists
G1 — Qualification and Provisional Risk
- Named capability or stakeholder need, with current and target measure
- Expected outcome stated as a measure with a baseline
- Named business sponsor able to stop the work
- “No AI” alternative considered and rejection recorded
- Provisional D1–D5 scores present, marked provisional
- Data path identified, at least in principle
- No architecture or vendor commitment embedded in the canvas
G2 — Architecture and Data Readiness
- ADR complete, with model, hosting, grounding, and boundary named in comparable form
- Alternatives considered and rationale recorded
- Pattern conformance assessed: conformant, modified with detail, or novel
- Data Lineage and Sensitivity Record complete, each source named
- Each grounding source has an owner, a refresh cadence, and a maximum staleness
- Risk score revisited against now-known architecture, and tier confirmed or changed
- For procured systems: vendor due-diligence fields complete, or Tier-2 cap or documented acceptance recorded
- For agentic systems: authority boundary drafted
G3 — Deployment Authorization
- Technical evaluation complete, pass criteria defined before the run
- AI Assurance Summary at the depth the tier requires
- Control Matrix complete, controls mapped to specific risks
- Named accountable owner recorded
- Human oversight point confirmed for Tier 2 and above
- Machine-readable permission boundary in place for agentic systems
- Kill-switch conditions defined and separately approved at Tier 3–4
- Any conditions carry a named owner and a date
G4 — Material Change
- Change classified against the change-type table, with reasoning
- Classification confirmed by a second person at Tier 3–4 where cosmetic is claimed
- Delta assurance scoped, with what was and was not re-run recorded
- Risk score updated where any dimension is touched
- Post-change tier determined, and approval routed to that tier’s authority
G5 — Retirement
- Retention or deletion confirmed against the schedule
- Access revoked, including machine identities
- Downstream consumers identified from telemetry, not only from documentation
- Evidence set archived and retrievable
- Knowledge preservation note recorded
36.2 Risk scoring worksheet
Table 110.
| Dimension | Question | Score | Justification |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Decision Consequence | How bad if wrong, assuming the output is acted on? | ||
| D2 Autonomy | How much human judgment sits between output and effect? | ||
| D3 Reversibility Deficit | Can the consequence be undone, not the system state? | ||
| D4 Exposure and Scale | How many affected, how far, can effects cascade? | ||
| D5a Data Sensitivity | How sensitive are the inputs? | ||
| D5b Model Uncertainty | How well understood is the behavior? | ||
| D5 composite | Higher of D5a and D5b |
Impact = average(D1, D4, D5), rounded up = ______ Control Deficit = average(D2, D3), rounded up = ______ Matrix tier = ______ Safety override applies? D1 = 4, or (D2 = 4 and D3 = 4) → floor at Tier 3. Yes / No Final tier = ______ Countersigned by ______ Date ______ Scores adjusted ______
Countersigner’s focus list
- Any 3 where 4 is arguable, particularly on D1
- Any D3 justified by rollback capability, not consequence
- Any D2 of 1 or 2 where D1 is 3 or 4
- Any matrix result sitting one point from a tier change
- D4 counting direct users rather than reach of consequence
36.3 Drift triage card
Table 111.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Classify into one of the eight categories |
| 2 | Identify the affected system and its current tier |
| 3 | Set severity from the tier-and-category table (Chapter 19, §19.4) |
| 4 | Route to the accountable owner for that category |
| 5 | Determine endpoint: revert, ratify, except, or escalate |
| 6 | Produce the corresponding record; no finding closes without one |
Exception: agent boundary divergence is an incident at any tier.
36.4 Change classification quick reference
Table 112.
| If the change… | Then |
|---|---|
| Adds a tool, raises a limit, removes a human step, or raises an escalation threshold | Major |
| Changes provider or model family | Major |
| Changes training data | Major, full revalidation |
| Changes user population | Major, re-enter deployment authorization |
| Changes business purpose | Major, re-enter at S0 |
| Changes a system instruction substantively | Material |
| Adds a grounding source at or above current sensitivity | Material |
| Updates model version at Tier 3–4 | Material |
| Updates model version at Tier 1–2 | Minor |
| Changes formatting only | Minor |
| Lowers a limit or threshold | Minor |