1. The Project Charter¶
1. Route Selection¶
- Route: [ ] Fast Lane [ ] Standard lifecycle (Discovery & Strategy through Management & Optimisation)
- Motivation: [1 sentence]
- Fast Lane admission criteria confirmed via Risk Pre-Scan: [Yes/No]
2. Purpose¶
This template serves the formal start of an AI initiative. It helps to record the scope, objectives and frameworks before resources are allocated to the Validation (Phase 2).
When to use this?
You are starting a new AI initiative and want to formally record scope, objectives, hard boundaries and stakeholders before budget is released.
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Download as Markdown — Open in your editor or AI assistant and fill in the fields.
Sponsor: [Name Sponsor]
The Problem Statement (The Why)¶
Describe the problem from the perspective of the user or the organisation. Focus on the bottleneck, not the technology.
- The bottleneck: [E.g. Customer service takes 3 days to respond to an email.]
- The impact: [E.g. Complaining customers and high workload for employees.]
- Current situation: [E.g. Manual sorting and typing in Outlook.]
The Solution (The What)¶
Describe at a high level what we are going to build and how human and AI collaborate.
- Concept: [E.g. An AI assistant that summarises incoming emails and prepares a draft response.]
- Collaboration Mode: [Choose: 1. Instrumental / 2. Advisory / 3. Collaborative / 4. Delegated]
Note: When in doubt, start one level lower to build trust and data.
Collaboration Mode¶
| Intended mode | Rationale | Validation intensity |
|---|---|---|
| Mode [X] — [name] | [Why does this mode fit?] | → Evidence Standards |
Run the Collaboration Mode Assessment to determine the appropriate mode. Modes 4 and 5 require explicit Guardian approval.
Strategic Fit & Data¶
Why now and is it feasible?
- Strategic Pillar: [Which business objective does this contribute to?]
- Data Evaluation Score: [Green/Orange/Red]
- Available Sources: [Which dataset(s) will we use?]
- Data Quality: [Is the data clean and representative enough?]
Risk & Compliance (Pre-scan)¶
See Risk Management & Compliance for definitions.
- Risk Category (EU AI Act): [Minimal / Limited / High]
- Personal Data: [Yes/No] - If Yes: has the DPO/Privacy Officer been informed?
- Ethical Risk: [Are there groups that could be disadvantaged by bias?]
The Business Case (Estimate)¶
The value hypothesis.
- Expected Gain: [E.g. 30% time saving per email = 40 hours p/w.]
- Estimated Costs (The Cost Overview): [Team hours + Licence costs/Tokens.]
- Success Criteria: [When is the pilot successful? E.g. >90% of draft responses are used.]
The Core Team¶
- AI Product Manager (Business): [Name]
- Tech Lead (IT): [Name]
- Guardian (Ethics/Compliance): [Name]
Decision Gate 1 (Go/No-Go Discovery)¶
Decision
- Go: Fast Lane FL-1
- Go: Standard lifecycle Gate 1
- No-Go / Pause