# Marshall AI Governance Readiness Assessment
Specification Document

Version: 0.2  
Phase: Founder Phase  
Steward: Richard K. Marshall  
Website: https://marshall.net

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# Purpose

The AI Governance Readiness Assessment provides a lightweight mechanism for organizations to evaluate their preparedness to manage artificial intelligence systems responsibly.

The assessment identifies early governance gaps before operational failures occur.

The goal is not compliance auditing but governance visibility.

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# Assessment Philosophy

The assessment is designed to be:

Simple  
Fast to complete  
Understandable by leadership  
Focused on governance behavior

The assessment prioritizes practical oversight rather than technical AI expertise.

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# Governance Domains Evaluated

The readiness assessment evaluates five governance domains.

Governance Authority  
AI Visibility  
Data Governance  
Human Oversight  
Vendor Governance

Each domain corresponds to a core principle of the Marshall AI Governance Standard.

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# Assessment Format

The assessment consists of structured questions designed to identify whether governance practices exist within each domain.

Responses generally fall into three categories:

Established Practice  
Partial Awareness  
No Defined Practice

The purpose is to identify governance gaps rather than score technical maturity.

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# Governance Signals

Assessment responses typically produce one of three governance signals.

## Governance Ready

The organization demonstrates clear governance awareness and operational oversight.

Governance structures are present and actively monitored.

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## Developing Governance

The organization recognizes governance needs but implementation remains incomplete.

Oversight exists but may not yet be formalized.

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## Governance Exposure

The organization has little visibility into AI usage or governance responsibilities.

This condition creates potential operational or data risk.

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# Submission Process

Organizations complete the assessment and submit responses electronically.

Responses are recorded and evaluated.

Assessment feedback highlights governance strengths and potential areas for improvement.

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# Founder Phase Operations

During the Founder Phase the assessment process remains intentionally simple.

Manual review and response workflows are acceptable.

Automation may be introduced in future versions of the framework.

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# Future Development

Future assessment versions may include:

structured scoring models  
automated reporting tools  
governance maturity tracking  
implementation guidance

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Marshall AI Governance Standard  
Assessment Specification  
Version 0.2  
Founder Phase  
Published March 2026