AI Centre of Excellence Operating Mode Selector
Last updated: 2026-08-14
An AI centre of excellence operates in one of a small number of modes, and the mode should follow from the organisation’s conditions rather than from ambition. Where business units already hold technical delivery capacity, the centre should enable rather than deliver.
Most centres of excellence fail by choosing a mode that does not match the organisation around them: delivering where units can already build, or enabling where nobody can.
The template
Answer these and the mode usually chooses itself.
| Question | If yes, points toward |
|---|---|
| Do business units already have technical delivery capacity? | Enable |
| Is the immediate demand two or three high consequence systems? | Build |
| Is the organisation already deploying AI without oversight? | Govern |
| Is the sponsor's stated goal a named flagship deliverable? | Build, with a sunset date |
| Is the sponsor's stated goal organisational capability? | Enable |
| Is there an existing risk or assurance function? | Enable, and partner rather than duplicating Govern |
| Is the budget under five full time equivalents? | Choose one mode only |
How to use it
- Answer the questions honestly about current capacity, not the capacity you intend to build.
- Let the answers point to a primary mode and a secondary mode, and state both in the charter.
- Revisit the mode when delivery capacity in the business units changes materially, because the correct mode moves with it.
This template comes from the AI Centre of Excellence: A Practical Playbook, which sets out the reasoning behind it, the rules of thumb that govern its use, and the signals that tell you the approach is failing. The full playbook is also available as Markdown. See all AI governance templates.