Skip to main content

Approval Schema

The Approval Schema provides a machine-readable structure for governance approval and decision records.

Purpose

The schema supports traceable authorization decisions relating to AI systems, significant lifecycle activities, exceptions, or other governed decisions. An approval record can provide a durable representation of:
  • what was decided
  • who had decision authority
  • what was within the scope of the decision
  • what conditions applied
  • what supporting information was considered
  • what the decision status was
  • when review or renewal is required

Governance decision traceability

Approval should be connected to the governance context that supports the decision. Depending on the decision, this may include relationships to:
  • AI systems
  • classifications
  • risks
  • controls
  • assessments
  • evidence
  • assurance findings
  • exceptions
  • remediation actions
  • monitoring requirements
This supports a traceable decision chain rather than treating approval as an isolated record.

Conditional approval

The AIGO governance model can represent approval decisions that are subject to conditions or limitations. Examples include:
  • required remediation
  • additional monitoring
  • restricted deployment
  • defined usage limitations
  • review deadlines
  • evidence requirements
  • compensating controls
The specific machine-readable representation is defined by the canonical schema.

Relationship to evaluation

Approval records may form part of the governance evidence considered by an evaluation. The AIGO evaluation architecture separates governance evaluation rules from the underlying governance records. Evaluation rules can therefore test defined governance conditions without embedding evaluation logic directly into the Approval Schema.

Canonical source

Machine-readable schema: schemas/05-approval/05-AIGO-Approval-Schema-v0.1.json Schema documentation: schemas/05-approval/05-AIGO-Approval-Schema-Documentation-v0.1.md Operational procedure: guidance/02-procedures/06-AIGO-AI-Approval-Procedure-v0.1.md Implementation template: guidance/03-templates/07-AIGO-AI-Approval-Template-v0.1.md