Your First Use Case: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

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Getting started series

Your First Use Case: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

How to create, govern, and deploy your first use case in SAS® AI Navigator

Overview

Creating your first use case in SAS AI Navigator is how you start putting AI governance into practice. This article walks you through the full journey, from creating the use case all the way through getting it approved and deployed.

We'll be working with two example users throughout this article:

• Linda Torres (contributor): the Asset Owner who creates the use case and does most of the work.
• Rajiv Menon (contributor): designated as the Approver, who reviews and approves assessment answers and the policy classification.

Before you start

Make sure you have at least contributor access in SAS AI Navigator. If you're not sure what role you have, check with your administrator. You'll also need at least one policy already imported into your SAS AI Navigator environment before you can complete the governance steps later in this article.

Step-by-step walkthrough  |  SAS AI Navigator

1

Create the use case From the home page of SAS AI Navigator, select + Add Asset. This opens the asset creation wizard, where you'll choose what type of asset to create and how. SAS AI Navigator home dashboard with the Add asset button highlighted. For this demonstration, we will create a use case from scratch, though SAS AI Navigator also supports asset import. First, select ‘Manually add an asset’. Add Asset dialog showing the option to manually add a single asset. Then select ‘Use case’ as the asset type, then click ‘Next’. Add Asset dialog with Use case selected as the asset type. On the ‘3. Provide Details’ tab, the wizard asks for a few fields, of which only the asset name and asset owner are required, but you're encouraged to populate all fields. In this example, Linda (contributor) fills these in and selects herself as Asset Owner. Add Asset dialog Provide Details tab filled in with the asset name, description, and owner. In the ‘Applied Policies’ tab, select the policies that should be applied to this use case. It's okay if you're not sure which policies need to apply; policies can also be applied to the use case after the use case has been created. It's also unlikely that you will know which policy or risk classification to choose for each policy that has been selected at this point in the workflow, so you can leave those as ‘Not selected’ for now. Add Asset dialog Apply Policies tab with policies selected and Rajiv Menon set as approver. Review the details you've entered to check for accuracy, then click ‘Finish’ to create the use case. Add Asset dialog Review and Finish tab showing a summary of the entered details. The use case is created with an Approval Status of Pending Review. Once it has been created, open the Asset Inventory page, find the use case, and open it. Asset Inventory page with the newly created use case highlighted. Use case Overview tab showing Pending Review approval status and Not Deployed deployment status.

2

Fill out the Properties tab The asset creation wizard gets your use case recorded in SAS AI Navigator. The Properties tab is where you continue to fill out the remaining details. Select Properties, then Edit. Fill in the business context fields. Things like Intended Use, Expected Benefit, and Known Limitations give your team and reviewers the context they need to make good governance decisions. Properties tab Business Context section filled in with expected benefit, known limitations, and intended use. When you're done, select Save Changes.

3

Link Models and Agents Select the Asset Relationships tab to link models and/or agents to your use case. Search for the models and/or agents that will power this use case in the Available assets section, select it, then either click Link Asset or drag them to the ‘Drag assets to link’ area. A single use case can link to multiple assets, but not to other use cases. Asset Relationships tab showing a model selected from the available assets list. Asset Relationships tab showing the model linked to the use case. Don't have your Models or Agents in SAS AI Navigator yet? See Importing Models and Agents in Bulk to get your models and agents in the SAS AI Navigator asset inventory so they're available to link to use cases.

4

Apply a Policy Select the Applied Policies tab, then Manage policies. Applied Policies tab with no policies applied yet and the Manage policies button highlighted. Choose the policy you want to apply from your organization's imported policies. When applying a policy, you'll also be asked to select a Policy classification: a risk designation for this use case under that policy. The available options are defined by the policy itself, so what you see will vary depending on how the policy was configured. In practice, you may not be ready to select the policy classification right away. Working through the assessment questions in the next step will often give you and your legal and compliance team the context needed to make that call. You can update the policy classification after the fact. Manage Policies dialog showing available and applied policies with an approver selected. Select OK. The applied policies will appear on the Applied Policies tab, and the Assessments tab will now populate with all questions from those applied policies. Once you've spoken with your legal counsel about how the use case should be classified for each policy, click the magnifying glass on the policy tile which will open a panel on the right. This is where you can select the policy classification. Applied Policies tab with the policy classification panel open showing classification options. Once the policy classification has been selected, it can be submitted for approval. Since Rajiv is the approver for the use case, he will be notified of the submission. Submit Classification for Approval dialog confirming the policy classification submission. Other policy classification notes If the policy you're applying doesn't include policy classification options (which is a valid configuration), this step won't apply and you can skip the classification approval step later. If the classification you ultimately select is Prohibited, SAS AI Navigator will warn you against deploying the use case, but it won't prevent you. Make sure the right stakeholders are involved before proceeding in that situation. Haven't imported your policies yet? See How to Import a Policy into SAS AI Navigator before this step.

5

Complete the Assessment Select the Assessments tab. You'll see all questions from the applied policies, organized by topic. Assessments tab showing policy questions with Incomplete, Submitted, and Approved status toggles. Linda (Asset Owner) and any contributors with access to this use case can answer questions. Questions move through three states: Incomplete: being worked on Submitted: answer is complete and ready for Rajiv (Approver) to review Approved: Rajiv has reviewed and approved it Answer each question thoroughly, then mark it Submitted, either one at a time or an entire topic at once. Some questions may be read-only; these are answered at the organizational level by your Compliance Officer and appear here for reference.

6

Linda sets the Approval Status to Approved With the assessment complete and the classification approved, Linda (Asset Owner) navigates to the Properties tab, selects Edit, and updates Approval Status from Pending Review to Approved. She can add an Approval Status Note to document her reasoning. Select Save Changes. The approval date and approving user are recorded automatically. Properties tab Approvals and Status section with Approval status set to Approved.

7

Communicate readiness and mark as Deployed Linda (Asset Owner) notifies the appropriate stakeholders that the use case is approved and ready for deployment. Once she receives confirmation that it has gone live, she returns to Properties, selects Edit, and updates Deployment Status to Deployed. Properties tab Approvals and Status section with Deployment status set to Deployed. Note: At this point the use case becomes locked; most fields are read-only once a use case is Deployed. Any future changes will need to go through a new version of the use case.

What you've accomplished

Your use case is now fully governed and deployed:

• Created with business context documented
• Linked to the model powering it
• Policy applied with a risk classification reviewed and approved by Rajiv (Approver)
• Assessment questions answered, submitted, and approved
• Approval Status set to Approved by Linda (Asset Owner)
• Deployment Status set to Deployed

This is the foundation of AI governance in SAS AI Navigator. From here, you can apply additional policies, monitor alerts, and track the full history of changes in the Change Log tab.