# SME AI operating-model RACI and monthly governance cadence

Use this as a starting pattern. Keep one Accountable owner for every activity, name people rather than departments, and strengthen independent review as consequence rises.

## Roles

- Executive sponsor: direction, risk tolerance, investment and stop/scale decisions.
- Business owner: workflow outcome, baseline, acceptance, people and realised value.
- Technical steward: architecture, data, integrations, permissions, evaluation, release and recovery.
- Risk reviewer: proportionate independent challenge across security, privacy, finance, HR, legal or operational control.
- Workflow users: verification, correction, escalation and improvement feedback.

## Lightweight RACI

| Activity | Business owner | Executive sponsor | Technical steward | Risk reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Define workflow outcome and baseline | A/R | C | C | C |
| Prioritise the portfolio | R | A | C | C |
| Design data, tools and controls | A | C | R | C |
| Evaluate representative cases | A | C | R | C |
| Approve production release | R | A | C | C |
| Run, monitor and improve | A | I | R | C |

R = Responsible. A = Accountable. C = Consulted. I = Informed.

## One-page monthly portfolio

For each workflow record: owner, stage, consequence tier, decision requested, baseline outcome, current accepted outcome, exception/correction rate, monthly operating cost, severe incidents, open control actions and next review date.

## 60-minute monthly governance meeting

1. 10 minutes: severe incidents, failed controls, unresolved exceptions and vendor changes.
2. 15 minutes: accepted outcomes, quality, cycle time, cost and user impact against baseline.
3. 15 minutes: approve, hold, stop or scale portfolio items.
4. 10 minutes: permission, data, policy, regulation, workflow and user-population changes.
5. 10 minutes: assign one owner and due date per decision; update the portfolio and AI system register.

Do not wait for the monthly meeting to handle high-impact incidents. Define immediate escalation and stop authority.