AIG-007 AI System Requirements and Design Documentation
Description
Before development or significant enhancement begins, the intended purpose, success criteria, deployment context, user population, and known constraints of the AI system are documented. Design decisions addressing socio-technical implications (e.g. fairness, explainability, safety modes) are recorded alongside technical specifications. Requirements documentation is version-controlled and approved by the system owner before development proceeds.
Rationale
Undocumented intent makes post-deployment evaluation impossible; design decisions that are not recorded cannot be challenged, revised, or audited.
Framework Mappings (7)
| EU-AI-Art.11.1 | Technical Documentation — Preparation and Maintenance | partial |
| A.6.2.2 | AI system requirements and specification | full |
| A.6.2.3 | Documentation of AI system design and development | full |
| MAP 1.1 | AI System Purpose and Deployment Context | full |
| MAP 1.6 | AI System Requirements Elicitation | full |
| MAP 2.1 | AI System Task and Method Definition | full |
| MAP 3.3 | AI Application Scope Specification | full |
Evidence (1)
Version-controlled AI system requirements and design documentation created before development commenced, covering intended purpose, success criteria, deployment context, user population, constraints, and socio-technical design decisions.
Example: AI System Design Document — Recommendation Engine v1.2 (GitHub repo docs/design/), approved by Product Owner on 2025-06-01, containing purpose statement, fairness requirements, explainability approach, and known constraints
Test: Request design documentation for a sample of AI systems. Verify: (1) document exists and is version-controlled (Git history or version metadata), (2) intended purpose and success criteria are explicitly stated, (3) socio-technical concerns (fairness, explainability, safety modes) are addressed, (4) the document was approved before development began (compare approval date to first code commit date), (5) known constraints are documented.
Questions (2)
Is the intended purpose, deployment context, and known constraints of each AI system documented and approved before development begins?
Undocumented intent makes post-deployment evaluation and audit impossible. Look for version-controlled design documents that predate development commencement and are approved by the system owner.
Which of the following are recorded in your AI system design documentation before development proceeds?
All six elements should be present for Tier 2+ systems. Socio-technical design decisions (fairness, explainability, safety modes) are most commonly absent from inherited software development practices and represent meaningful governance gaps.