Assessment questionnaire for measuring maturity. Answer each question honestly based on current, implemented practices.
Generated from
cells/EH-Processes-L*.cell.json. Do not edit by hand. Canonical model:HAIAMM-v3.5-Framing.md· Handbook:HAIAMM-v3.5-Handbook.md.
Practice: Environment Hardening (EH) Domain: Processes Business Function: Operations Purpose: Publish and apply a hardening baseline for each processes AI archetype, so the operating environment enforces the controls rather than documenting them. Scoring Model: Evidence + Outcome Metrics (see Scoring Methodology below)
Record how each answer is known, not only what is claimed (v3.5 framing §6). A level claim is graded at its weakest field.
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| E0 | Asserted by a practitioner, unevidenced |
| E1 | Asserted, with a link to a named artifact |
| E2 | Emitted by a system as telemetry |
| E3 | Machine-attested and independently checkable |
| Tier | Score | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Fully Mature | 1.0 | Evidence complete + ≥3 outcome metrics meet targets |
| Implemented | 0.67 | Evidence complete + 2 outcome metrics meet targets |
| Partial | 0.33 | Evidence partially complete + <2 outcome metrics meet targets |
| Not Implemented | 0.0 | No substantive evidence of practice |
Practice maturity level achieved = the highest level where all 3 questions score ≥ 0.67.
Objective: Publish and apply a hardening baseline for each processes AI archetype, so the operating environment enforces the controls rather than documenting them.
Prerequisite cells: SM-Processes-L1, PC-Processes-L1, SR-Processes-L1, SA-Processes-L1
Q1.1: Is a hardening baseline published per processes archetype as applicable configuration rather than prose, applied to at least 90% of production assets, and measured against the running environment rather than a checklist?
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q1.2: Are at least 90% of baseline controls in enforcing rather than audit mode, with audit-mode controls recorded as exceptions, and is conformance reported per control rather than as an aggregate that can conceal a missing hard control? For Processes, the assessor should be shown the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q1.3: Does every production asset have volume thresholds above which a process escalates rather than auto-approving configured with an explicit declared at-limit behaviour, and does every baseline exception carry an owner, compensating control, approver and expiry?
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
| Metric | Baseline | Current | Target | Met? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processes AI assets with the archetype hardening baseline applied | ___ | ___ | ≥90% of production assets within 9 months | ☐ | |
| Baseline controls running in enforcing rather than audit mode | ___ | ___ | ≥90%, with every audit-mode control recorded as an exception | ☐ | |
| Assets with consumption limits configured and an explicit at-limit behaviour declared | ___ | ___ | 100% of production assets | ☐ | |
| Baseline exceptions carrying an owner, compensating control, approver and expiry | ___ | ___ | 100%, with none past expiry | ☐ | |
| Conformance reported per control rather than as a single aggregate score | ___ | ___ | 100% of baseline controls reported individually | ☐ |
Where each number is read from:
Absolute spend is a ledger input, never a metric. Every row is divided by a unit of business work. If AI spend is not allocated to an owning team, record this level as blocked on allocation rather than scoring it down (v3.5 framing §12).
| Metric | Denominator | Current | Economic failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assets with a consumption limit configured and a declared at-limit behaviour | per production asset | ___ | an environment with no effective ceiling, which leaves denial-of-wallet with no defence at the layer where it would actually be stopped | ☐ |
| Configured limit against observed consumption | per business transaction completed | ___ | limits set so far above real load that they never bind, or so close to it that legitimate work trips them and operations disables the control | ☐ |
| Limit breaches where the declared at-limit behaviour did not occur | per limit breach event | ___ | a limit that is exceeded without effect, which is a reporting artefact rather than a control and is discovered only when it matters | ☐ |
"A human approves it" is not a control unless you measure whether they refuse. A metric that cannot fail is not a metric.
| Metric | Current | Oversight failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline exceptions approved without a compensating control recorded | ___ | exception approval becoming a formality, where the control is waived and nothing replaces it, which is indistinguishable from not having the control at all | ☐ |
| Controls switched from enforcing to audit mode, with the change approved and time-bounded | ___ | silent downgrade, where a control is moved to audit mode to resolve an operational problem and left there, so the baseline reports as met while enforcing nothing | ☐ |
Objective: Calibrate processes hardening intensity to asset tier, detect and remediate baseline drift continuously, and make consumption limits tier-proportionate and tested.
Prerequisite cells: EH-Processes-L1, SM-Processes-L2, IR-Processes-L2
Q2.1: Is a baseline variant published per tier with its reasoning and derived automatically from the inventory, rather than one baseline with per-asset exceptions that resolve toward the lighter option? Evidence this in the Processes domain against the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q2.2: Are at least 95% of Critical-tier assets under continuous drift detection with a 3 business day detection window, with detections routed into the shared backlog rather than a dashboard, and is standing human access to Critical-tier environments zero? For Processes, the assessor should be shown the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q2.3: Has every Critical-tier asset's at-limit behaviour been exercised within 12 months, and do cost-driven changes to limits, logging, retention or enforcement mode require approval as material changes? In Processes, ask to see the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
| Metric | Baseline | Current | Target | Met? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assets running the baseline variant derived from their tier | ___ | ___ | 100% of Critical and High tier assets | ☐ | |
| Critical- and High-tier assets under continuous drift detection | ___ | ___ | ≥95% of Critical, ≥85% of High | ☐ | |
| Time to detect baseline drift on a Critical-tier control | ___ | ___ | ≤3 business days at the 90th percentile | ☐ | |
| Drift remediated within the tier and severity window | ___ | ___ | ≥90% per tier | ☐ | |
| Standing human access to Critical-tier AI environments | ___ | ___ | 0, with time-bound elevation only | ☐ | |
| Critical- and High-tier assets whose at-limit behaviour was exercised in the last 12 months | ___ | ___ | 100% of Critical, ≥90% of High | ☐ |
Where each number is read from:
Absolute spend is a ledger input, never a metric. Every row is divided by a unit of business work. If AI spend is not allocated to an owning team, record this level as blocked on allocation rather than scoring it down (v3.5 framing §12).
| Metric | Denominator | Current | Economic failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical- and High-tier assets whose at-limit behaviour has been exercised and recorded | per Critical or High tier asset | ___ | a declared limit whose behaviour has never been observed, which is an assumption rather than a control at exactly the tiers that cannot afford one | ☐ |
| Limit headroom: configured limit against observed peak consumption, by tier | per business transaction completed | ___ | limits set without reference to real load, which either never bind or trip on legitimate work and are then disabled by operations | ☐ |
| Cost-driven relaxations of limits, logging or retention on Critical-tier assets | per approved change | ___ | assurance controls eroding under cost pressure with approval, which is the most common and least visible way a hardened environment degrades | ☐ |
"A human approves it" is not a control unless you measure whether they refuse. A metric that cannot fail is not a metric.
| Metric | Current | Oversight failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time-bound elevations to Critical-tier environments that expired without being reviewed | ___ | elevation becoming effectively standing access, where a time bound exists on paper and is renewed automatically without anyone assessing whether it is still needed | ☐ |
| Drift remediation deferrals at Critical tier, with a named acceptance authority | ___ | deferral becoming the default response to drift under operational pressure, which converts continuous detection into continuous reporting | ☐ |
| Enforcement-mode relaxations approved without an expiry | ___ | a temporary relaxation becoming permanent because nothing in the approval obliges anyone to revisit it | ☐ |
Objective: Make processes AI environments self-correcting, with baselines applied at provisioning and drift remediated automatically where it is safe to do so.
Prerequisite cells: EH-Processes-L2, SA-Processes-L3, ML-Processes-L2, IM-Processes-L2
Q3.1: Are at least 95% of new assets provisioned already conformant with non-conformance windows at or under one hour, and is provisioning of non-conformant Critical-tier assets blocked? Evidence this in the Processes domain against the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q3.2: Are the drift classes eligible for automatic remediation enumerated explicitly with everything else alerting to a human, and is every automated action logged with change, reversion and reason and reviewable rather than silent? For Processes, the assessor should be shown the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
Q3.3: Is repeated automatic remediation of the same control treated as a signal routed to baseline or operational review, and do adaptive limits operate within a governed hard ceiling requiring human approval to cross? In Processes, ask to see the workflow configuration showing auto-approval thresholds set explicitly.
Evidence Required:
Evidence grade for this question: ☐ E0 ☐ E1 ☐ E2 ☐ E3
Answer:
Evidence Location: _________________________________
Notes: ___________________________________________
| Metric | Baseline | Current | Target | Met? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assets provisioned already conformant to their tier baseline | ___ | ___ | ≥95% of new assets | ☐ | |
| Time an asset spends non-conformant after creation | ___ | ___ | ≤1 hour at the 90th percentile | ☐ | |
| Enumerated safe drift classes remediated automatically | ___ | ___ | ≥80% of drift events in the enumerated classes | ☐ | |
| Automated remediations logged with change, reversion and reason, and reviewable | ___ | ___ | 100% | ☐ | |
| Repeated automatic remediation of the same control on the same asset | ___ | ___ | tracked, with any control remediated more than three times routed to review | ☐ | |
| Adaptive limits operating within a governed hard ceiling | ___ | ___ | 100% of adaptive limits carry a ceiling requiring human approval to cross | ☐ |
Where each number is read from:
Absolute spend is a ledger input, never a metric. Every row is divided by a unit of business work. If AI spend is not allocated to an owning team, record this level as blocked on allocation rather than scoring it down (v3.5 framing §12).
| Metric | Denominator | Current | Economic failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptive limits operating within a governed hard ceiling | per asset with an adaptive limit | ___ | an adaptive limit with no ceiling, which accommodates an attack exactly as readily as it accommodates growth and is the specific failure denial-of-wallet exploits | ☐ |
| Cumulative ceiling increase over the trailing year, per asset | per business transaction completed | ___ | ceiling creep through individually justified increases, where the cumulative effect is an unbounded limit that nobody decided to create | ☐ |
| Drift events on consumption-limit configuration, and time spent drifted | per limit configuration drift event | ___ | limits silently relaxed and left relaxed, which removes the one control that denial-of-wallet actually encounters | ☐ |
"A human approves it" is not a control unless you measure whether they refuse. A metric that cannot fail is not a metric.
| Metric | Current | Oversight failure it detects | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated remediations reverted by a human within 24 hours | ___ | automation acting against a genuine operational need, which indicates the enumerated safe class was wrongly scoped and is invisible unless reversions are tracked | ☐ |
| Adaptive limit ceiling increases approved, with the approver and justification recorded | ___ | ceiling creep, where each individual increase is justified and the cumulative effect is an unbounded limit nobody decided to create | ☐ |
| Alerts for non-automatable drift acknowledged but not remediated within the tier window | ___ | alert fatigue on the drift classes that specifically require human judgment, which are the ones automation deliberately left to people | ☐ |
| Level | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Level score | Weakest evidence grade | Achieved? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ☐ |
| L2 | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ☐ |
| L3 | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ___ | ☐ |
Environment Hardening (EH) maturity in the Processes domain: ____________
Document Version: HAIAMM v3.5 (generated)
Instructions: