Scope and authority
State the intended workflow, the decisions the tool may support, and the actions it must never take without human approval.
AI VENDOR REVIEW
Ask the operating questions before the AI tool enters the workflow.
A useful vendor review is more than a feature list. It documents the work the tool will touch, the data it will see, the decisions a person must still own, and what happens when the output is wrong or the vendor changes.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
Four operating areas that get missed in a demo.
Data and access
Record what information enters the system, who can access it, where it is retained, and which integrations or permissions are active.
Human review
Define who checks important outputs, what evidence they review, how exceptions are escalated, and how the review is recorded.
Incidents and exit
Decide how errors, vendor changes, outages, and termination are handled before the tool becomes part of a recurring process.
NINE QUESTIONS
Use the answers to create a decision record.
The questions below are a practical starting point for an accounting firm, advisory practice, or other small professional-services team. Keep the answers tied to a specific use case rather than approving a vendor in the abstract.
- What recurring task or decision is the vendor being considered for?
- What data will be sent to the vendor, and what data is explicitly out of scope?
- Where will the output appear, and what downstream workflow depends on it?
- Who is accountable for reviewing the output before a consequential action?
- Which actions are prohibited, blocked, or reserved for a named human owner?
- What records show the input, output, review, exception, and final decision?
- How will the team learn about vendor changes to models, pricing, access, or retention?
- What is the response path for a wrong output, data incident, outage, or customer complaint?
- How can the team export its records and retire the tool without losing operational continuity?
NEXT STEP
Turn the review into a repeatable control.
Run the free review to organize the first pass. When the need is a reusable set of registers, review records, authority boundaries, and incident questions, the current Ops Control HQ paid paths are available below.
This checklist is operational guidance, not legal advice, an audit opinion, a compliance certification, or a guarantee of regulatory compliance. Teams remain responsible for independent review and professional advice where appropriate.