An AI Procurement Checklist: From Use Case to Approval
Questions for business, IT, security, procurement, and finance before selecting and approving an AI tool.
Start with the work to improve, data involved, accountable owners, and measurable outcomes before comparing plans, prices, or model names. Then evaluate administration, privacy, documentation, and a bounded pilot.
Best for: Organizations approving their first AI platform or consolidating tools that teams purchased separately.Use checkpoints before scaling
Assign owners and evidence for each checkpoint before the pilot.
Defined work
Define tasks and acceptable outcomes
Approved data
Check permissions and allowed information
Measured pilot
Record time, quality and cost
Operational readiness
Have owners, support and an exit plan
| Metric | How to measure | Decision use |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Compare against reference answers | Does it meet the pre-agreed threshold? |
| Total time | Preparation + AI wait + review + fixes | Compare with the same task done previously |
| Cost per accepted task | Total cost ÷ accepted tasks | Include retries and tool costs |
| Adoption | Active working users ÷ licensed users | Review unused licenses |
Compare before deciding
Start with the problem, not the model
Document the current task, time, errors, and desired outcome so tools can be compared against the same criteria instead of market momentum.
Design a pilot that supports a decision
Set users, duration, example tasks, allowed data, and success measures before launch. A pilot without a baseline rarely shows whether to expand or stop.
Plan the exit from day one
Record ownership, export options, user removal, and renewal dates so the organization can change plans or tools without disruption.
Quotation preparation checklist
- Use-case owner and approvers
- Allowed and prohibited information
- Pilot users and admins
- SSO, audit, retention, and offboarding
- Budget, billing cycle, and documents
- Before-and-after measures
- Training and support plan
Frequently asked questions
How many users should an AI pilot include?
Keep the group manageable while including enough roles and tasks to reflect actual work.
Do we need an AI policy before buying?
At minimum, define prohibited data, output verification, accountability, and incident reporting before business information is used.
What should we measure besides time saved?
Measure quality, rework, satisfaction, adoption, and risk events as well.
Sources used for verification
Vendor facts are separated from TechTouch guidance. Features, pricing, and commercial terms may change, so confirm the latest information at the time of purchase.