AI Governance Implementation Guide
A practical guide to applying the six CSM6 governance functions across the AI lifecycle.
For AI and system owners, product, engineering, security, data, risk, compliance, legal, architecture, program leadership and accountable executives.
What the guide helps you implement
The framework page explains what CSM6 is. This guide explains how to operationalize it. For every function it provides objectives, questions to answer, minimum activities, example artifacts, responsible roles, evidence to retain, reassessment triggers, common failure modes, and optional HAIEC support.
Purpose, Scope & Accountability
Intended use, accountable ownership, autonomy boundaries, and preliminary risk classification.
System, Data & Dependency Mapping
Models, data sources, RAG, APIs, tools, agents, identities, permissions, vendors and dependencies.
Risk, Evaluation & Monitoring
Risk assessment and evaluation before deployment; drift, anomalies and incidents during operation.
Controlled Delivery & Change
Classify, approve and roll back meaningful changes; trigger reassessment for significant modifications.
Human Oversight, Feedback & Learning
Human review, escalation, recourse, operator/user feedback, training and lessons learned.
Compliance, Evidence & Assurance
Organize obligations, evidence and assurance across all functions. Compliance is cross-cutting.
A 48-hour governance baseline
Within two focused working days you can establish an initial baseline — not complete governance implementation or compliance. This is a starting point, not a finish line.
Purpose & Ownership
Inventory initial AI systems and identify accountable owners and intended use.
System Mapping
Map models, data, integrations, agents and major dependencies.
Risk & Evaluation
Identify material risks and missing evaluations; set initial priorities.
Controls & Change
Identify approval and change-control requirements for meaningful changes.
Oversight
Define escalation and human oversight requirements for high-impact decisions.
Evidence & Roadmap
Capture existing evidence and build a prioritized remediation backlog.
This is a baseline, not complete governance implementation or compliance. The 48-hour quick start helps you identify priority systems, assign ownership, capture intended use, perform preliminary risk classification, map major dependencies, define initial evaluation/monitoring priorities, identify governance gaps, and create an implementation backlog. It does not guarantee every activity will be completed within 48 hours.
Templates included
Adaptable templates designed to accelerate implementation — not finished artifacts. Governance depends on organization, use case, sector, jurisdiction, risk, data, autonomy and operational context, so each template marks which fields require contextual adaptation.
AI System Inventory
Function 2Record each AI system, model, provider, data sources and dependencies.
AI Risk & Evaluation Record
Function 3Capture risk classification, evaluation plan, results and acceptance thresholds.
Change & Approval Record
Function 4Classify changes, record approvals, rollbacks and exceptions.
Human Oversight & Escalation Plan
Function 5Document oversight, escalation paths, recourse and operator guidance.
Incident Response Record
Functions 3 & 5Record incidents, response, review and remediation to closure.
Compliance Evidence Index
Function 6Index obligations, controls, evidence and assurance activities.
Industry starting points
Common use cases, risk categories and regulatory considerations — not universal requirements. Always qualify applicability and verify with qualified counsel.
Healthcare
Financial Services
SaaS / Technology
Startups
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Four recurring governance failures, with better conceptual guidance for each.
Reassessment triggers
These events re-open one or more functions. The guide walks through how to handle each.
How CSM6 relates to NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001
CSM6 is designed to support implementation activities that can be mapped to frameworks and requirements such as NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001. It complements them; it does not replace them.
NIST AI RMF is an iterative, risk-management framework organized around Govern, Map, Measure and Manage. ISO/IEC 42001 is an AI management-system standard focused on establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an AIMS.
For laws (such as the EU AI Act or the Colorado AI Act), mapping claims are only made where relevant obligations, role/applicability, current citations and a mapping methodology exist. CSM6 does not claim universal regulatory coverage and does not determine applicability without context.
Proportionality is explicit
Governance depth depends on intended use, impact, autonomy, reversibility, data sensitivity, affected stakeholders, scale, regulatory exposure, and consequence of failure.
A low-impact internal assistant does not need the same depth as a system materially affecting employment, lending, healthcare or access to services. The guide keeps CSM6 practical rather than bureaucratic.
What this guide does not replace
Download the AI Governance Implementation Guide
A practitioner guide to the six CSM6 operating functions, with templates, a 48-hour baseline, industry starting points and reassessment triggers.
Next: assess your current AI governance
Understand the framework, download the guide, establish your baseline, then optionally use HAIEC tooling to operationalize it.