Governance attributes for the AI Agents Inventory - AI Agents Inventory and Attributes

Governance attributes for the AI Agents Inventory

(Chapter 14 of AI Agents Inventory and Attributes)

Executive Summary: Chapter Overview

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The Bottom Line

Governance attributes connect each agent to the rules that constrain it — the policies, standards, and best practices it must follow, the regulations and directives that bound what it may do or say, and the guardrail policies that encode those rules for runtime. They also name the governing body and the cadence at which the agent is reviewed.

Core Concepts

Concept	Definition & Strategic Role
Related Regulations	The laws, regulations, and directives that constrain the agent, linked to the Regulations Inventory.
Guardrail Policies	The governance rules compiled into enforceable constraints on what the agent may do or say (policy-as-prompt).

Quick Q&A

Question: How do governance rules reach a running agent?

Answer: Through guardrail policies: the applicable policies and regulations are translated into runtime constraints the agent operates within, so governance is enforced at the boundary, not left to intentions.

Governance attributes tie each agent to the policies, regulations, and governing bodies that constrain and oversee it.

Attribute Name	Maturity	Description and Notes
Governing Body	Crawl	Description — The committee or function that governs the agent — for example an AI review board or architecture governance body. Benefit(s) — Establishes where oversight decisions about the agent are made and recorded. Source — Manual. Examples — AI Governance Board
Related Policies, Standards, and Best Practices [Multi-Value]	Walk	Description — The internal governance instruments the agent must comply with. Benefit(s) — Makes the agent’s policy obligations explicit and reviewable. Source — Derived. Examples — AI Acceptable Use Policy; Model Risk Standard Notes — Links to the Policies, Standards, and Best Practices Inventory.
Related Regulations [Multi-Value]	Walk	Description — The laws, regulations, and directives that constrain what the agent may do or say. Benefit(s) — Connects the agent to its regulatory constraints and, through them, to obligations and agencies. Source — Derived. Examples — EU AI Act; GDPR; HIPAA; FINRA rules Notes — Links to the Regulations Inventory (which covers laws, regulations, and directives).
Guardrail Policies [Multi-Value]	Walk	Description — The governance rules compiled into enforceable guardrails that constrain the agent’s behavior at runtime. Benefit(s) — Turns policy into enforcement — the bridge from written rule to runtime constraint. Source — Manual. Examples — No PII in outputs; No financial advice Notes — Configuration detail is captured in the Technical and Autonomy and Behavioral Controls categories.
Governance Review Cadence	Walk	Description — How often the agent is formally reviewed by its governing body. Benefit(s) — Ensures oversight keeps pace with an agent that can change quickly. Source — Manual. Examples — Quarterly

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