> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aigoframework.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Domains

***

title: "Governance Domains"
description: "The governance domains of the AIGO Framework."
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# Governance Domains

The AIGO Framework organizes AI governance into defined governance domains that help organizations establish responsibilities, processes, controls, and oversight across the AI system lifecycle.

## Purpose

Governance domains provide a structured way to organize AI governance activities and make responsibilities visible across the organization.

They help connect:

\* governance objectives
\* organizational responsibilities
\* lifecycle activities
\* risk management
\* controls
\* evidence
\* assurance
\* continual improvement

## Using the domains

Organizations can use the AIGO governance domains to:

\* establish governance responsibilities
\* identify required capabilities
\* organize policies and procedures
\* align controls with governance objectives
\* identify governance gaps
\* support maturity assessment
\* establish ownership and accountability
\* structure implementation activities

The domains should be considered together rather than treated as isolated governance functions.

## Relationship to the lifecycle

Governance domains provide an organizational structure for governance.

The AI Governance Lifecycle describes how governance activities operate over time.

Together, the domains and lifecycle provide a foundation for implementing AIGO.

For example, a lifecycle activity may require participation from multiple governance domains, while a single governance domain may operate across multiple lifecycle stages.

## Relationship to controls

Governance domains provide context for governance objectives and responsibilities.

Controls translate applicable governance expectations into more specific mechanisms and activities.

A simplified relationship is:

**governance domain → governance objective → risk / requirement → control → evidence → assessment → assurance**

This relationship is further supported by AIGO's machine-readable governance structures.

## Relationship to maturity

Governance domains can also be used when assessing organizational maturity.

A maturity assessment can consider whether the organization has:

\* defined governance responsibilities
\* established repeatable processes
\* implemented appropriate controls
\* collected sufficient evidence
\* performed monitoring and assurance
\* established continual-improvement mechanisms

Maturity should therefore be considered across the domains rather than inferred from the existence of individual documents or controls.

## Machine-readable governance

The governance domains form part of the conceptual foundation for the AIGO machine-readable governance model.

The repository now also includes machine-readable rules, evaluation structures, fixtures, and orchestration validation. These capabilities support more systematic validation and evaluation of defined governance conditions.

Automated evaluation complements, rather than replaces, organizational governance judgment.

## Source

The canonical governance-domain document is maintained in:

`framework/03-domains/AIGO-Governance-Domains-v0.1.md`

The GitHub repository is the authoritative source for the complete controlled framework content.