Fixed rules
Applies the same triggers, permissions, approvals, limits, recording, and stop conditions every time.
Reliability
Agree what the system may do, before it does it.
We define which actions may run, which require a person, what the workflow records, how its outputs are checked, and how it can be stopped.
Four areas, each with records you can review.
Reliability is built into every engagement. The exact controls and evidence depend on the workflow, the environment, and the obligations your organization already carries.
Area 01
Testing and evaluation
Testing whether the output is good enough, on cases you agreed in advance.
Evidence: Test cases, score history, failed-case review, and decisions about whether work continues.
Area 02Security and controls
Who may act, on what, and what stops the workflow.
Evidence: Role map, control settings, approval records, exceptions, and administrative events.
Area 03Responsible AI
Where AI belongs at all, who it affects, and who stays accountable.
Evidence: Purpose and boundary statement, review responsibilities, risk notes, and training records.
Area 04Privacy and data handling
What data enters the workflow, where it is processed, and where it is kept.
Evidence: Data-flow map, integration scope, credential ownership, and retention decisions.
Area 01
Testing and evaluation
An AI answer can change when the model, the input format, the source data, or the instructions change. Spot checks miss that, and two reviewers rarely apply the same standard.
The parts that can vary are tested against worked examples agreed in advance. Results are recorded against agreed measures and thresholds, with the reviewer decision kept alongside them. The same checks can then be repeated when the model, source material, or instructions change.
AI answers can vary. Fixed rules handle routing and approvals. We keep the test cases, instructions, sources, model settings, measures, thresholds, and results so changes can be compared before they go live.
Evaluation
Scores the parts of the output that can vary, against agreed measures and known cases.
Model work
Extracts, classifies, drafts, summarizes, or recommends. Its output is still subject to the fixed rules and checks above.
Record what was tested and what happened next.
A score means little without knowing what was tested, the threshold, and the decision that followed.
- Test set
- Worked examples covering normal cases, difficult cases, and known failures, maintained as the workflow changes.
- Measure
- A defined test for accuracy, format, policy compliance, consistency, or another agreed objective.
- Threshold
- The minimum score or rule result required to continue.
- Decision
- Continue, send for review, pause the workflow, or prevent a change from going live.
- Test record
- Input, instructions, sources, model and settings, test case used, output, score, reviewer decision, and timestamp.
Document extraction
Test: Compare extracted totals with line items and required fields.
Then: Send mismatches or missing fields to review before anything is written to the target system.
Intake classification
Test: Score the proposed category against labelled examples and policy rules.
Then: Send low-confidence or high-impact cases to a person.
Draft correspondence
Test: Check source accuracy, required language, prohibited content, and tone.
Then: Hold the draft for correction or approval when a check fails.
Reporting should show changes in scores, failed checks, review volume, and changes to rules or settings alongside ordinary workflow performance.
Hours returned
to your team each week
Exception rate
compared with recent results
Manual errors
reduced by automation
Review turnaround
from flag to reviewer decision
Area 02
Security and controls
Security and operating control are defined through scoped access, review authority, limits, records, exception handling, and a documented way to stop the workflow. Thresholds and roles are set during discovery. Each control answers two questions: what failure does it prevent, and what evidence does it leave?
Human approval
Purpose: Keep authority for sensitive, uncertain, or high-value actions with a named person.
Record: Proposed action, supporting context, reviewer, decision, timestamp, and any note.
Audit records
Purpose: Reconstruct what triggered the workflow, what it read, what it produced, and what happened next.
Record: Trigger, inputs, rules and settings used, output, checks, approvals, errors, and unusual cases.
Role-based access
Purpose: Give the workflow no more access than the person whose task it runs. A clerk who can approve invoices only below a set limit passes that same limit to the workflow.
Record: Role map, integration scope, credential owner, access changes, and administrative events.
Operating limits
Purpose: Cap volume, value, frequency, or resource use, so an unexpected trigger cannot run without bound.
Record: Documented limits, threshold events, paused runs, override decisions, and resulting actions.
Exception handling
Purpose: Pause or reroute work when data is missing, a rule fails, or the case falls outside the approved boundary.
Record: Exception type, source record, assigned reviewer, resolution, and any rule change that follows.
Stop controls
Purpose: Give an authorized operator a documented way to pause a workflow or switch off an integration.
Record: Who stopped it, when, which parts were affected, and the conditions for restarting.
Area 03
Responsible AI
Deciding where AI belongs changes the design. It sets which data is allowed, where review happens, what gets tested, and how a person steps in. These six decisions come before any build.
- Purpose
- State the task, the intended user, the people affected, and the expected benefit.
- Boundary
- Separate recommendations, drafts, low-risk actions, and decisions that must stay with a person.
- Oversight
- Assign review authority, escalation paths, fallback procedures, and stop conditions.
- Evidence
- Define the tests, records, documentation, and review schedule the use case needs.
- Access
- Limit data and system permissions to what the approved workflow requires.
- Adoption
- Prepare operators and reviewers to read the output, handle exceptions, and challenge the system.
What you keep from this area.
- Purpose and boundary statement
- Who the workflow serves, what it does, what it must not do, and where human authority begins.
- Controls map
- Roles, approvals, access levels, escalation logic, audit records, and operating limits.
- Readiness record
- Risk questions, who is affected, testing evidence, what can be traced, and decisions still open.
- Operations handover
- Reviewer procedures, administrative documentation, training material, and the review schedule your team commits to.
Area 04
Privacy and data handling
Name the boundary for each data flow, so nobody has to guess later where a record went.
- Collection
- Identify the fields the workflow needs and exclude data it does not.
- Processing
- Document where the model runs, and where information is found, prepared, and checked.
- Credentials
- Put integration credentials in an account you own and scope them to the actions required.
- Storage
- Record which systems keep source data, work in progress, outputs, and audit records.
- Retention
- Set retention and deletion rules against your legal and operational requirements.
- Handover
- Transfer rules, settings, access, documentation, and administrative procedures to your team.
Questions we work through before you rely on a workflow.
These controls support compliance work. Formal compliance, certification, and regulatory determinations remain with the applicable framework and its authorized reviewers.
- Purpose
- What decision or service task does the workflow support?
- Authority
- Which actions can the system take, and which require a person?
- Data
- What information enters the workflow, where is it processed, and where is it kept?
- Quality
- How are outputs checked, and what happens when a threshold is missed?
- Traceability
- Can an operator reconstruct the inputs, decisions, approvals, and outputs?
- Ownership
- Who on your side watches the workflow, handles exceptions, and approves changes?
Ask what would make the work reliable.
Email the question, risk, or operating constraint you are trying to resolve, or use the contact page when you already know the systems and review roles involved.