Home Lifecycle Design Time
SECTION III - PHASE 2

Lifecycle Governance: Design Time

Architecture governance and design standards ensure agents are built on solid foundations. Design Time controls prevent technical debt, security vulnerabilities, and maintainability issues before code is written.

9 Control Objectives
Architecture Standards
Security by Design

Control Objectives

DSN-01

Architecture Standards Compliance

Ensure all agents conform to established architecture standards and patterns for consistency, maintainability, and interoperability.

Primary Risk Addressed

Inconsistent, unmaintainable agent designs

Key Metric

% agents conforming to architecture standards

DSN-02

Right-Sizing Validation

Validate that agents are appropriately scoped to their intended purpose, preventing over-complex designs and scope creep.

Primary Risk Addressed

Over-complex agents with scope creep

Key Metric

Average capabilities per agent

DSN-03

Scope Boundary Definition

Define and document clear scope boundaries for each agent to prevent functionality drift and overlap with other agents.

Primary Risk Addressed

Functionality drift and overlap

Key Metric

% agents with documented scope boundaries

DSN-04

Explainability Requirements

Design agents with built-in explainability features enabling audit trails for all decisions and actions taken.

Primary Risk Addressed

Inability to audit agent decisions

Key Metric

% agents with decision audit trail capability

DSN-05

Interoperability Verification

Verify that agent designs support seamless integration with existing enterprise systems through standard interfaces and protocols.

Primary Risk Addressed

Integration failures with enterprise systems

Key Metric

Integration test pass rate

DSN-06

Security-by-Design Review

Conduct security design reviews before development to identify and address potential vulnerabilities at the architecture level.

Primary Risk Addressed

Vulnerabilities introduced at design

Key Metric

% agents with security design review completed

DSN-07

Design Review Completion

Ensure all Tier 2 and above agents undergo formal design review and approval before proceeding to development.

Primary Risk Addressed

Flawed designs reaching production

Key Metric

% Tier 2+ agents with design approval

DSN-08

Shadow IT Discovery

Implement mechanisms to discover ungoverned agents operating in production and bring them under governance control.

Primary Risk Addressed

Ungoverned agents operating in production

Key Metric

Shadow agents discovered per quarter

DSN-09

Sandbox Utilization

Ensure experimental and development agents operate in isolated sandbox environments to prevent risky experimentation in production.

Primary Risk Addressed

Risky experimentation in production

Key Metric

% experimental agents in sandbox environments

Quick Reference

ID Objective Primary Risk Addressed Key Metric
DSN-01 Architecture Standards Compliance Inconsistent, unmaintainable agent designs % agents conforming to architecture standards
DSN-02 Right-Sizing Validation Over-complex agents with scope creep Average capabilities per agent
DSN-03 Scope Boundary Definition Functionality drift and overlap % agents with documented scope boundaries
DSN-04 Explainability Requirements Inability to audit agent decisions % agents with decision audit trail capability
DSN-05 Interoperability Verification Integration failures with enterprise systems Integration test pass rate
DSN-06 Security-by-Design Review Vulnerabilities introduced at design % agents with security design review completed
DSN-07 Design Review Completion Flawed designs reaching production % Tier 2+ agents with design approval
DSN-08 Shadow IT Discovery Ungoverned agents operating in production Shadow agents discovered per quarter
DSN-09 Sandbox Utilization Risky experimentation in production % experimental agents in sandbox environments