AI Governance and Adoption

Overview

As organizations increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, AI governance and adoption becomes an essential part of enterprise architecture management. Establishing robust AI governance and adoption practices enables you to gain a comprehensive overview of AI usage within your organization, assess AI potential, define clear AI governance policies, and mitigate associated risks. By implementing these strategies, you can maximize the value of your organization’s AI investments.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to implement AI governance and adoption in SAP LeanIX using the AI governance extension to the meta model. This extension enriches the meta model with AI-specific attributes in line with best practices for AI governance and adoption. To capture any additional AI-related information based on your organization’s policies or specific frameworks, you can add custom fact sheet attributes and then use them in reports to analyze data and get insights.

What Is AI Governance and Adoption?

AI governance and adoption involves the management of applications and technologies using AI within an organization. This concept is closely related to broader IT governance and management practices, with a specific focus on AI technologies. It includes two key aspects:

AI governance implies setting the rules and guidelines for how AI should be used within an organization. The goal of AI governance is to mitigate risks, ensure ethical and responsible use of AI, and maximize the business value of AI technologies.
AI adoption refers to the process of integrating AI technologies into an organization's operations and workflows. The goal of AI adoption is to leverage AI technologies to improve efficiency, enhance decision-making, and drive innovation within the organization.

Together, AI governance and adoption play a crucial role in helping organizations navigate the complexities of AI technologies, ensuring they're used responsibly and effectively, and deriving maximum value from their AI investments.

Why Is AI Governance and Adoption Relevant?

AI governance and adoption is an important aspect of enterprise architecture management, as it ensures the alignment of AI technologies with business strategies, helping stakeholders in decision-making and strategic planning. Given the transformative potential of AI technologies, robust governance and adoption practices can provide a significant competitive advantage for an organization.

In this context, enterprise architects play an important role in AI governance and adoption, aligning AI initiatives with business goals while ensuring ethical and regulatory compliance. They act as a vital link between business strategy and IT capabilities, guiding the organization in prioritizing AI investments and facilitating effective collaboration for maximum value delivery.

What Are the Benefits of Implementing AI Governance and Adoption Practices?

By implementing AI governance and adoption practices in SAP LeanIX, you can gain valuable insights that facilitate informed decision-making and foster alignment between business and IT stakeholders on your organization’s AI strategy. These practices provide you with a robust framework for effectively managing your AI initiatives, allowing you to:

Assess AI potential: Evaluate AI potential at the business capability and application levels to identify areas where using AI could significantly impact your organization, thereby informing leadership's strategic planning.
Get AI usage overview: Get a clear overview of which applications employ AI, including applications where AI is available but not yet employed or where the AI status is unknown. You can collect this initial data from fact sheet owners in SAP LeanIX using features such as surveys and to-dos.
Evaluate AI risks: Evaluate AI-associated risks on applications and develop your risk mitigation strategy.
Standardize AI technologies: Visualize AI technologies in your IT landscape and identify technologies that should be standardized.
Manage AI-related transformations: Plan and manage transformations involving AI technologies effectively, ensuring they align with your strategic objectives and deliver maximum value to your organization.

Which SAP LeanIX Products Are Needed for the Use Case?

SAP LeanIX Application Portfolio Management is the base product for implementing AI governance and adoption. The AI governance extension to the meta model is available as an optional feature for this product.

If you want to plan transformations involving AI technologies, you also need SAP LeanIX Architecture and Road Map Planning. To learn more about this additional product, see SAP LeanIX Architecture and Road Map Planning.

How to Implement AI Governance and Adoption?

Implementing AI governance and adoption is an ongoing process that should be integrated into organization's enterprise architecture management practices. This integration is crucial as it ensures that AI technologies align seamlessly with the organization's strategic objectives, adhere to established IT standards and policies, and contribute effectively to the realization of business goals.

Prerequisites

To implement AI governance and adoption practices in SAP LeanIX, you need to activate the AI governance extension to the meta model. Admin users can activate this optional feature in the Optional Features & Early Access section of the administration area. For more information, see AI Governance Extension to the Meta Model.

Step-by-Step Guide

Collect initial information: Begin by collecting initial information on AI potential, usage, risks, and technology type to get an overview of your current AI landscape.
Assess AI potential: Assess the potential of AI at both the business capability and application levels to identify where AI can deliver the most value.
Evaluate AI-related risks: Evaluate the risks related to AI usage in applications to develop an effective risk mitigation strategy.
Standardize AI usage: Identify which AI technologies that are currently in use are not compliant with your organization’s standards.
Plan AI-related transformations: Create a strategic plan for transformations involving AI, focusing on areas with high AI potential and aligning AI initiatives with your business objectives.

Related Resources

Wiki: AI Governance Hub
Press release: Flying blind: Only 14 percent of companies surveyed have a comprehensive overview of generative AI usage
Blog entry: AI Governance And Enterprise Architecture: Our Perspective
Documentation entry: AI Governance Extension to the Meta Model