What This Stage Covers
Continuous monitoring of capability performance, drift, vendor SLAs. Quarterly Evidence Register refresh per capability. Quarterly ROAI measurement against the Concept-stage hypothesis (per return category, on independent clocks). Quarterly Optimization review. Model upgrade impact assessment. SLA tracking. Quarterly one-page Defensibility Posture Statement refresh. Annual AI Audit. Vendor renewal cycles (90-day pre-renewal cycle per Ch 19).
Exit Gate — Required Evidence
G4
Sunset trigger met (one or more of the five canonical triggers — adoption below 30% after 12 months; ROAI below threshold for 2 consecutive quarters; vendor financial-stability red flags; 2+ SLA breaches in a quarter; material regulatory change); committee written assessment of why the capability is being retired and what successor (if any) takes its place.
Editorial Framing
Operate is the longest stage. Capabilities live here for years. The discipline is cadence — quarterly Evidence Register refresh, quarterly Posture Statement refresh, quarterly ROAI measurement, annual Audit, 90-day pre-renewal cycle. Continuous learning (Defensibility Element 5) is most active here because the loop between incident, close-call, and methodology refinement runs every quarter.
Required Artefacts
- Continuous monitoring telemetry
- Quarterly Evidence Register refresh
- Quarterly one-page Defensibility Posture Statement refresh
- ROAI 4-Category Scorecard (per return category)
- Annual AI Audit binder
- Model upgrade impact assessment record
- 90-day pre-renewal cycle artefacts (TCO refresh + market scan + internal performance assessment)
Common Failure Modes
- Quarterly cadence slips — Evidence Register goes 6+ months without refresh
- ROAI measurement reverts to annual or stops entirely
- Posture Statement signed but underlying artefacts stale
- Model upgrade impact assessment skipped
- Vendor renewal allowed to auto-renew without 90-day cycle