The lifecycle of an AI use case

When you register an AI use case, a new AI Use Case asset is created in the specified domain.

Lifecycle stage and asset status: synonymous terms

Like all assets, the AI Use Case asset is created with a certain asset status, which indicates the condition of the asset. In the context of AI Governance, the status of an AI Use Case asset is synonymous with, and reflects, the lifecycle stage of the AI use case that the asset represents.

Simply put:

• If one of your AI use cases is in the Ideation stage, the corresponding AI Use Case asset will also have the status Ideation.
• You control in which lifecycle stage the use case is in; the status of the AI Use Case asset is automatically updated to match.

Tip You can configure which asset status is assigned to newly registered AI Use Case assets, and configure the lifecycle stages through which your AI use cases will evolve. For guidance, go to Configure the AI Use Case status evolution.

Configuring the lifecycle of an AI use case

The lifecycle of an AI use case is determined by the asset statuses that are configured for the AI Use Case asset type. By default, when you register an AI use case, the AI Use Case asset that is created has the initial status Ideation. The following example image shows the Statuses section in the global assignment of the AI Use Case asset type, where you can configure the status progression and, thereby, the asset lifecycle.

The configuration shown in this image represents the default configuration. There are two sections to consider: the Core Path and Other Statuses.

Core path

The core path is a progression of asset statuses that, along with other statuses, represent the lifecycle of your AI use cases. The asset statuses included in the core path – in the previous example image: Ideation, Development, and Monitoring – are the statuses that are shown in the Stage Stepper of the Progress Tracker.

Determining the status of newly registered AI use cases

The first status listed in the core path is Ideation. This means that the initial status of all AI Use Case assets will have the status Ideation.

Other statuses

Asset statuses included in the Other Status section are part of the asset lifecycle, but do not appear in the Progress Tracker.

Configuring assessments types throughout the lifecycle

By default, when an AI use case is registered:

• The following out-of-the-box assessment types are automatically added to the Progress Tracker, on the AI Use Case asset page
  • Business Context
  • Data and AI Models
  • Legal and Ethics
  • Risks and Safeguards
• The Business Context assessment starts automatically.

On the AI Use Case asset page, the Progress Tracker shows that the Business Context assessment has the status Draft, reflecting the fact that it is automatically started when a new use case is registered. In this example, the initial status of the AI Use Case asset is Ideation, meaning this is the first status listed in the core path.

Advancing an AI use case through the lifecycle

Ideally after all relevant assessments for the initial stage of the AI use case have been conducted, you can click Move to <stage>, to advance to the next lifecycle stage of the use case. The status of the AI Use Case asset is updated to match. If necessary, you can use the same button to revert to a previous lifecycle stage.

The asset status progression that you configure in the core path is reflected in the Move to <stage> button and drop-down list. For example, let's say the first two statuses in the core path are Ideation and Development. When you register an AI use case, the initial status of the AI Use Case asset is Ideation, and in the Progress Tracker, the button to advance to the next lifecycle stage reads Move to Development.

When you advance an AI use case to the next lifecycle stage, any assessments that haven't been completed are carried over to the next stage and are shown in the Progress Tracker.

Decision gates

Whenever you click Move to <stage> to change the AI use case lifecycle stage, a dialog box prompts you to describe the decisions and justification for advancing or reverting the stage of the AI use case. For example, you can enter stakeholder decisions, recommendations from Legal, or committee meeting minutes.

The information you provide is recorded as a decision gate and added in the Progress Tracker.