Data readiness checklist for on-network assistants

This checklist gets your data and systems ready before I connect an AI assistant on your network. An on-network assistant is an AI tool that can reach internal systems through APIs or shared drives. Use these checks to cover secure access, personal data controls, and logging.

These are general steps. Confirm legal and privacy details with your attorney or compliance advisor.

Secure access

• Create a dedicated service account for the assistant on every system it touches. This avoids shared logins and makes access easy to trace.
• Grant least privilege with scoped roles or API keys. If the assistant only needs read access, do not grant write.
• Store secrets such as keys and passwords in a vault, not in code or notes. It reduces the chance of exposure.
• Require multifactor authentication for admin consoles and dashboards. Rotate credentials on a set schedule.
• Restrict network paths with allowlists or private endpoints. Block unused inbound webhooks and ports.
• Define a clear offboarding step to disable the assistant account. You can revoke access in minutes if needed.

Data controls and logging

• Classify your data and name red lines such as PII, PHI or card data. PII means information that can identify a person.
• Mask or tokenize sensitive fields before the assistant can read them. Show only what is needed to do the task.
• Limit access by purpose and by task. The assistant should only see data related to its current work.
• Stage write actions in a queue that a human can review. Use production access only after you confirm the pattern is safe.
• Log every prompt, tool call, and system action with timestamps. Redact sensitive values, encrypt logs, and set clear retention limits and deletion steps.
• Feed audit logs to your monitoring system and alert on unusual activity. Test backup and restore for any system the assistant touches.

If you want help designing and piloting safe assistants, I offer AI Consulting & Strategy, AI Agents & Personas, and AI phone and chat agents. I can also support workflows that work with AppWT CRM.