Glossary entry · Governance
The full set of an organisation's AI initiatives, tools and agents, each with an owner, a cost and an evidence level, managed together so that each can be scaled, held, redesigned or stopped.
Treating AI use cases as a portfolio is what lets a CFO or CIO move money from what is not working to what is. Without it, the portfolio accumulates rather than curates: investments are added faster than underperforming ones are removed.
Useful portfolio measures each quarter include annualised investment, measured net value, the share of spend at E2 evidence or above, investment by decision, overdue decisions, and the capital and capacity released. Attribution coverage is the headline.
A portfolio starts with a register: one list of initiatives, tools and agents with named owners, and one cost register behind it. The AI Portfolio and Cost Register is a template for both.
It is run through a regular review that applies the same decision rules to every initiative. See The AI Portfolio Review Pack and Scale, hold, redesign, stop. AI sprawl is what an unmanaged portfolio looks like.
Put it to work
Excel template. One register of initiatives, tools and agents with owners, and one cost register in the seven layers of the AI TCO Framework.
Excel template. Put cost, claimed and realised value, evidence and risk side by side, and end the review in scale, hold, redesign or stop.
Word template. A ready-to-send agenda for the quarterly AI portfolio review: attendees, pre-reads, eight standing items plus the quarterly checks, and a decision and action log.
