Team Nebula - forward-deployed AI for operators CTA word: CHECKLIST
A practical gate list for plant, warehouse, and ops leaders before an AI agent writes to a system of record. No invented benchmarks - use your own numbers in the blanks.
0. Outcome first
- One sentence: what decision or cycle time improves if this works?
- Owner named (person, not a committee)
- Success metric and a kill threshold written down (see SCORECARD magnet)
1. Scope fence
- In-scope SKUs / lines / sites listed
- Explicitly out-of-scope listed
- No "and also email the customer" creep in v1
2. Systems of record
- Source systems named (ERP, WMS, MES, QMS)
- Write destinations named
- Read-only pilot path exists if write is blocked
3. Data that must be true
- Master data owner for the entities the agent uses
- Freshness SLA (how stale is too stale?)
- Known bad fields documented (do not silently fix)
4. Exception classes
- Top 5 exception types listed
- Which the agent may resolve alone
- Which require a human approval gate
5. Approval gates
- Dollar / quantity / safety thresholds defined
- Approver roster + backup
- Audit log destination
6. Failure modes
- What happens when the model is unsure
- What happens when the API is down
- Rollback / undo path for a bad write
7. Floor reality check
- One supervisor reviewed the workflow with real tickets
- Night / weekend coverage agreed
- Training note for the people who will override the agent
8. Security and access
- Least-privilege service account
- Secrets not in prompts or tickets
- PII / regulated fields redaction rules
9. Observability
- Per-run log: inputs, decision, action, approver
- Weekly review meeting on the calendar
- False-positive / false-negative sampling plan
10. Change control
- Prompt / policy version pinned
- Who can promote a change to prod
- Companion SCORECARD filled for the pilot window
11. Stop conditions
- Kill criteria signed before go-live
- Communication template if the agent is paused
How to use
Print this, fill blanks with your plant's numbers, and refuse to expand scope until gates 0-6 are checked. Pair with GATES and SCORECARD.
Team Nebula / teamnebula.ai