title: “Assurance Schema” description: “Machine-readable representation of AI governance assurance.”
Assurance Schema
The Assurance Schema provides the machine-readable structure for representing assurance activities and their outcomes within the AIGO Framework. It provides a structured representation for assurance planning, scope, evidence review, findings, conclusions, recommendations, follow-up, and closure.Purpose
Assurance provides a governance mechanism for obtaining confidence that governance arrangements, controls, processes, and decisions are appropriately designed, implemented, and operating as intended. The Assurance Schema supports consistent recording of assurance information and its relationships to other governed objects. Assurance records may be used to support: * governance oversight * control effectiveness review * risk treatment verification * evidence review * approval review * incident and change follow-up * corrective action * continual improvement * management reviewAssurance lifecycle
An assurance activity may include: 1. assurance initiation 2. scope definition 3. objectives and criteria 4. evidence collection and review 5. assessment 6. findings 7. conclusions 8. recommendations or actions 9. responsible ownership 10. follow-up 11. closure The exact lifecycle may vary according to the assurance method, organizational governance model, and scope of the assurance activity.Assurance traceability
Assurance should remain connected to the governance records that establish the subject and basis of the review. Depending on the assurance activity, relationships may include: * AI systems * risks * controls * assessments * evidence * approvals * incidents * changes * monitoring * improvement activities A representative governance relationship is: AI system → risk → control → evidence → assessment → assurance → improvement These relationships allow assurance conclusions to be understood in the context of the governance decisions and evidence on which they depend.Findings and conclusions
Assurance records may contain findings relating to: * governance deficiencies * control deficiencies * evidence gaps * risk-treatment weaknesses * process weaknesses * implementation issues * monitoring weaknesses * unresolved actions Findings should be traceable to the evidence and criteria used to establish them. Assurance conclusions should clearly distinguish between the evidence reviewed, the assessment performed, and the resulting conclusion.Recommendations and follow-up
Assurance findings may result in recommendations, corrective actions, remediation activities, or other improvement decisions. Where follow-up is required, the assurance record should provide traceability to: finding → action → owner → evidence → verification → closure This allows organizations to determine whether identified deficiencies have been appropriately addressed.Relationship to evaluation
Assurance records can provide governance information used by the AIGO machine-readable evaluation layer. The evaluation architecture keeps governance records separate from evaluation rules: governance records → rules → evaluation → result This separation allows assurance records to remain governance artifacts while rules define the conditions that may be evaluated. Machine-readable evaluation should support governance activities without being interpreted as a replacement for human assurance judgment where professional interpretation, contextual analysis, or independence is required.Machine-readable governance
The Assurance Schema is part of the broader AIGO machine-readable governance layer. It can be related to: * AI System Schema * Risk Schema * Control Schema * Assessment Schema * Approval Schema * Monitoring Schema * Incident Schema * Change Schema * Evidence Schema * Improvement Schema * Retirement Schema * Governance Schema These relationships support traceability across the AI governance lifecycle.Validation
Assurance records and schema artifacts can participate in AIGO validation activities. Repository validation may include checks relating to: * schema structure * references * traceability * evidence relationships * control relationships * framework consistency * document integrity * repository health * machine-readable governance artifacts A successful validation result provides evidence about the integrity of the validated repository or artifact scope. It does not by itself establish legal compliance, certification, accreditation, or regulatory conformity.Canonical source
Machine-readable schema:schemas/09-assurance/09-AIGO-Assurance-Schema-v0.1.json
Schema documentation:
schemas/09-assurance/09-AIGO-Assurance-Schema-Documentation-v0.1.md
Operational procedure:
guidance/02-procedures/10-AIGO-AI-Assurance-Procedure-v0.1.md
Implementation template:
guidance/03-templates/12-AIGO-AI-Assurance-Template-v0.1.md