Create clear ownership and give the programme enough authority to get moving. Keep the initial team small and use existing management structures wherever possible.
Purpose
By the end of this phase, the organisation has an executive sponsor, a programme lead, a defined initial scope and a small cross-functional working group.
Recommended timing
Week 1 · Indicative timing. Adjust to the organisation’s size, complexity and available capacity.
What to do
- Appoint an executive sponsor. Recommended: COO, CIO, CTO or another executive with the authority to coordinate across functions.
- Appoint one programme lead. Recommended: someone in risk, compliance, technology, privacy or transformation who can coordinate rather than personally perform every task.
- Nominate working-group contacts from IT, information security, privacy/data protection, legal, HR, procurement and relevant business areas. Combine roles where the organisation is small.
- Agree the initial scope: organisational entities, business units, countries and the types of AI use to include.
- Approve a short organisation-wide announcement and a simple discovery exercise.
- Schedule the first working-group meeting and the next programme checkpoint.
Meetings to arrange
Use these default meeting formats. Combine meetings or shorten them where the same people are involved and the decisions can be made together.
Executive mobilisation
Duration: 60 minutes
Attendees: Executive sponsor, programme lead, CIO/IT lead and risk or compliance lead.
Agenda: Confirm why the organisation is acting, approve scope, appoint owners, agree the discovery launch and resolve immediate resource barriers.
Expected output: Sponsor confirmed; programme lead appointed; scope agreed; discovery authorised.
Working-group kick-off
Duration: 75 minutes
Attendees: Programme lead and representatives from IT, security, privacy, legal, HR, procurement and business areas.
Agenda: Explain the programme, confirm responsibilities, agree how departments will be contacted, set response dates and define the escalation route.
Expected output: Named contacts, communications owner, discovery timetable and weekly check-in booked.
Decisions to make
- Who is the accountable executive sponsor?
- Who coordinates the work day to day?
- Which business areas and entities are in the initial scope?
- Who can approve the policy and resolve cross-functional disagreements?
Definition of done
- Sponsor and programme lead recorded.
- Working-group membership and responsibilities agreed.
- Initial scope and assumptions documented.
- Discovery launch date and communications owner confirmed.
Keep it proportionate
Use existing roles, committees and processes wherever they work. Do not create a new approval layer or collect more information than is needed to make a sound decision.
Resources to use
Use the downloadable communications templates and mobilisation materials at this point. Save working copies in your organisation’s approved document environment, assign an internal owner and maintain your own decisions and action records. Lucentreg provides the blank tools and guidance; your organisation retains the completed records.
Important: Lucentreg provides educational and operational guidance, not legal advice or a determination of compliance. Screening prompts and suggested actions are starting points. Your organisation remains responsible for its decisions and should obtain qualified legal or technical advice where appropriate.