Separate the stack
Map the AI technology layers before shopping
Distinguish the user experience, workflow connection, model service, business data, control plane, and human decision before comparing products.
What this guide should leave behind
A one-page architecture map shows what the business is actually choosing, what already exists, and which layer owns each material risk.
Work the evaluation in this order
- 01
Write the business job and the decision or artifact the technology is expected to support. Do not begin with a product name.
- 02
Draw six boxes: user experience, workflow or application, model service, business data, identity and controls, and human review. Mark existing systems in each box.
- 03
Show each transfer of information, instruction, generated content, approval, and retained record. Mark where a vendor, subprocessor, or internal system receives it.
- 04
Name the owner, evidence, fallback, and exit path for every layer that could interrupt work, expose information, or change a consequential decision.
Evidence worth seeing
- The map separates a model from the application and workflow that use it.
- Every material information transfer has a purpose, destination, and owner.
- Identity, administration, logging, retention, and export are visible instead of hidden under features.
- The business can explain what remains if one provider or integration is removed.
Know when general guidance stops
Use qualified architecture, privacy, security, legal, accessibility, employment, or sector review when the map includes regulated data, automated consequential decisions, customer-facing claims, safety-sensitive work, or custom integrations.