Your starter guardrails

This is everything from the module on one page: the approved tools, the data map, the output standard, the spending limits, stop, tell, fix, learn with its contacts, and the rules for agents. Your sponsor signs it off, IT or compliance keeps it current, and you publish it where people already work, before day 0.

Anything still missing is flagged below, with a link back to the lesson where you add it.

Your starter guardrails page: 0 of 7 parts done0%

Approved tools →Vendor checklist run →Data map →Output standard label →Spending limits →Stop, tell, fix, learn contacts →Rules for agents →

Organisation name

Starter guardrails · The Deployment Framework

Your organisation

Your first 90 days with AI

The guardrails

Six guardrails that make the safe way the easy way, set up before anyone is asked to change how they work.

1 · Approved tools

No tools yet. Build the list in lesson 1

Tools that aren't on the list aren't banned in secret. Raise them at the front door. Every new tool answers the eight vendor questions before it's approved: training on our data, storage and deletion, the agreements we need, sign-on and removal, admin control of AI features, subprocessors and models, the way out, and full cost with a hard cap.

2 · Data map

Data	Examples	Allowed in
Public	Website copy, published prices	Any approved tool
Internal	Plans, internal emails, non-personal numbers	Approved tools on business plans
Confidential	Client work, contracts, personal data about staff	Only tools marked “confidential OK”
Regulated	Patient data, card data, anything under HIPAA or similar	Only tools with the required agreement in place (a BAA for HIPAA)

When something could fit two classes, treat it as the higher one.

3 · Output standard

1Labelled: Say where AI helped.
2Owned: Your name is on it, and you can explain it.
3Short: No longer than the reader needs.
4Checked: You read it and checked the facts that matter before sending.

Label line: Not set yet. Add it

4 · Spending limits

Ceiling (aim page): Not set yet. Add it
Monthly cap, all tools: Not set yet. Add it
80% alert goes to: The person who runs the loop, and finance

Usage is never a performance measure. Spending is reported per tool, never per person.

5 · Stop, tell, fix, learn

1Stop. Stop it, if you can do so safely.
2Tell. Within one working day, tell not named yet____________, or not named yet____________ if it's sensitive.
3Fix. The owner contains it and puts it right.
4Learn. A short blameless note goes on the friction list.

Nobody is blamed for reporting.

6 · Rules for agents

Its own login, with limited accessEvery agent signs in as itself, never as a person, and can only reach what its job needs.
Reach is set in the toolsWhat it can reach is enforced by permissions in the systems, not just written in its instructions.
It stops itself, and anyone can stop itIt halts when its output looks wrong, and anyone who sees a problem can press stop.
Reach is earnedNew builds can't reach live systems until they're promoted to a limited live trial, and only get full reach once they're kept.

First agent: Not set yet. Add it

The pilot kit's minimum set also includes a first AI list: every tool and use already running, from three sources. You start it in module 3.

Signed off by the sponsor

Maintained by (IT, security or compliance)

Date

What happens next

The guardrails make the safe way the easy way. Module 3 puts them to work. Under the promises from module 1, you invite everyone to say what AI they already use, check that against your sign-on and expense records and the software that has switched AI on, and start your AI list. Most of what turns up will land on the approved tools list you just built, or go through the front door to get there.

The guardrails get a full review once a year, and the loop refines them as you go: every blameless note on the friction list is a chance to make one of them easier to follow.

If you'd like help running it, Deployment Labs takes leadership teams through this first loop as a guided pilot. Book a call and bring your aim page and your starter guardrails.

Your organisation

Get the print-ready starter guardrails page

What happens next