Process adherence
Did execution reflect the effective process for the selected context?
Agent Execution Assurance
Verify that the agent worked inside the process and its authority.
A successful technical output does not by itself demonstrate that the agent followed the process. The assessment asks not only what the agent produced, but how it got there.
Did the correct process apply?
Did mandatory activities occur?
Were rules respected?
Did the agent stay within its authority?
Were checkpoints triggered?
Were Definition-of-Done conditions satisfied?
Does the required execution evidence exist?
Overview
A good output is not proof of a followed process.
Agent Execution Assurance evaluates selected agent execution against the effective process and the controls designed for that workflow — process adherence, rule compliance, authority, checkpoints, Definition of Done, control behavior, and exceptions.
Objective
Provide evidence-backed assurance that agent execution remained within the governed engineering model.
Assessment dimensions
Seven dimensions of agent execution.
Rule compliance
Were applicable rules and restrictions respected?
Authority
Did the agent perform only actions it was authorized to perform?
Human checkpoints
Were required reviews and approvals obtained at the correct points?
Definition of Done
Were all applicable completion criteria satisfied?
Control behavior
Did deterministic hooks and gates operate as designed?
Exceptions
Were failures, ambiguity, or missing evidence handled appropriately?
How the service works
Five steps from assurance scope to prioritized action.
Define the assurance scope
Select workflows, executions, process context, and assurance questions.
Collect execution evidence
Use available provenance, tool evidence, work products, approvals, and control results.
Compare with the effective process
Assess the evidence against the process and agent-control model.
Investigate deviations
Distinguish agent failure, integration failure, missing evidence, control-design weakness, inappropriate authority, or an operating-model issue.
Recommend action
Prioritize remediation and improvements.
A deviation is not automatically an agent failure
- Agent failure
- Integration failure
- Missing evidence
- Control-design weakness
- Inappropriate authority
- Operating-model issue
Deliverables
- Assurance scope
- Execution findings
- Authority findings
- Checkpoint findings
- DoD findings
- Control findings
- Deviations and root-cause observations
- Improvement recommendations
Relationship to Process Adherence Assessment
Process Adherence Assessment evaluates whether actual engineering work aligns with the effective process across people, tools, and artifacts.
Agent Execution Assurance applies the same principle specifically to AI-agent execution, and additionally considers authority boundaries, agent controls, and provenance.
Explore Process Adherence AssessmentDepends on
Provenance & Assurance Design
Assurance can only assess what the execution evidence actually records.