Start wider than the engineering team
AI may arrive through a browser assistant, a help-desk feature, a recruiting platform, or a spreadsheet add-in. Ask procurement, IT, business teams, and security what is being used. Include purchased tools, internally built applications, experiments, and embedded features. Give people a low-friction way to declare a use case without turning the first conversation into an investigation.
Make the entry about use, not just the product
One product can support several activities with different risks. A marketing team drafting public copy and a legal team reviewing confidential documents should not disappear into a single vendor record. Connect each use case to its purpose, accountable owner, users, data categories, model or service provider, integrations, and operating environment.
Collect enough to make a decision
A useful first inventory records whether personal or sensitive information is involved, whether outputs affect people, and whether the application can take actions. Add assessment status, approval conditions, review date, and a link to evidence. Avoid dozens of mandatory fields before the owner can save a draft. Incomplete but visible records are easier to improve than work nobody reports.
Give changes somewhere to go
People add data sources and tools after launch. Define which changes require an update: a new provider, wider audience, higher-impact decision, added permissions, or a different retention arrangement. Connect the inventory to normal procurement and change processes. Otherwise it becomes a survey frozen at the date someone sent it.
Close the loop on shadow AI
Unapproved use can reveal an unmet business need. Understand the task, offer a suitable route, and address any data exposure that has already occurred. Blanket rules without usable alternatives are difficult to sustain. Report inventory coverage, overdue reviews, and unknown ownership so leaders can see where the operating process needs attention.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
A useful next step
- Inventory five uses across more than one department.
- Record an owner and data category for each.
- Flag unknown integrations and permissions.
- Schedule a short owner review rather than an annual survey only.
Keep the result: record the decision, owner, supporting evidence, and the next review trigger.
Go to the source
These links support further learning. The worked example and practical exercise are SyruSec’s own educational interpretation.
