Start or continue an assessment
Start an assessment when registration is sufficiently complete for the organisation to examine the AI use in detail. The assessment turns registered facts into structured governance questions and identifies follow-up work.
The person completing it should understand the business use and know who can confirm information outside their expertise. Save progress and return when evidence or specialist input is still being gathered.
How to start or continue an assessment
- Open the AI use and select the Assess stage or its assessment action.
- Select Start assessment when no assessment exists, or Continue assessment when work is already in progress.
- Review the assessment journey: Known facts, Assessment, Specialist review and Risk outcome.
- Save answers as you work and return through the AI use or My actions.
What happens next
The assessment remains in progress until required answers and specialist confirmations are complete.
Review facts Swell already knows
Swell brings registered information into the assessment so you do not have to enter the same facts again.
Check those facts before relying on them. If something is wrong, correct the AI use through the appropriate edit or material-change process, then continue the assessment with accurate information.
How to review facts Swell already knows
- Open Known facts.
- Read the purpose, operating model, product, ownership and other reused facts.
- If a fact is wrong, return to the AI use and update the source record.
- Continue when the known facts accurately describe the current use.
What happens next
The assessment uses these facts without making you enter them again.
Answer formal assessment questions
Formal assessment questions examine how the AI use handles information, affects people, supports decisions and operates under human oversight.
Answer with the evidence available to the organisation and use the guidance beside each question. A carefully recorded uncertainty is more useful than an unsupported confident answer.
Before you start
- Use current business facts; do not guess a specialist answer.
How to answer formal assessment questions
- Open Assessment.
- Read the question and any Why we ask guidance.
- Choose the answer that reflects how the AI use operates now.
- Add detail or evidence when the question asks for it.
- Continue until Swell says your input is complete for now.
What happens next
Answers can create specialist-review requirements and contribute to the risk outcome.
Common situations
- Formal assessment is different from initial triage: it records governed evidence and can create assigned specialist work.
- If several departments hold different parts of the answer, coordinate their input through the organisation’s normal process and record the agreed facts in Swell.
Understand specialist review requirements
Some answers need judgement from a person with specialist expertise. Swell records that requirement so the assessment does not rely on an unsupported conclusion from the assessment author.
The specialist reviews the question within their area. Their conclusion informs the assessment but does not approve the AI use as a whole.
What to do
- Open Specialist review in the assessment.
- Read the requirement and Why this is required.
- Check whether it already has a reviewer and due date.
- Assign or invite the appropriate person when the requirement needs assignment.
What happens next
The assessment waits for required specialist responses before it can complete.
Assign or invite a specialist reviewer
Assign the review to a person who has the expertise and organisational authority needed for the question.
If that person does not yet have access, invite them through the assignment process. An invitation gives access only after acceptance and does not create broader authority beyond the assigned work.
Before you start
- The assessment must have triggered the specialist requirement.
- You need permission to coordinate the assignment.
How to assign or invite a specialist reviewer
- Find the specialist requirement that needs assignment.
- Select Assign reviewer.
- Choose an active organisation member who has the expertise needed for the review.
- Review and confirm the assignment.
- If the person is not yet in Swell, use the invitation option and provide their name and work email.
What happens next
The reviewer receives the confirmation in My actions. A person invited to Swell cannot see organisation information until they accept the invitation and receive the assignment.
Common situations
- If no suitable specialist exists internally, invite an appropriate external or new reviewer.
- Several specialist reviews can run in parallel.
- For an external specialist, follow the organisation’s access and confidentiality requirements before inviting them. Retain any engagement terms or external advice in the normal records system where required.
While the assessment is waiting
An assessment may wait while a specialist review or information request is completed. This prevents the assessment from moving forward without an answer that could affect its outcome.
Check the waiting item and named assignee before following up. Do not provide specialist input on someone else’s behalf unless the work is formally reassigned.
What to do
- Review each specialist requirement and its assignee.
- Resolve any requirement that still needs assignment.
- When the page says You’re finished for now, leave the assessment and monitor My actions or the AI use.
- Return after the outstanding reviewers respond.
What happens next
Swell updates the assessment when required responses arrive. Waiting is not the same as approval.
Review the risk outcome
The risk outcome shows the material risks identified from the assessment and the governance work they require.
Review each risk statement and its reasoning. The assessment identifies and structures the risk; an authorised risk owner or reviewer still needs to confirm ratings, treatment and controls.
How to review the risk outcome
- Open Risk outcome when it becomes available.
- Review each risk statement and why it was identified.
- Open the linked Risk for rating, ownership or treatment.
- Review required controls, approval or monitoring actions.
What happens next
Risk work is managed in the AI Risk Register. An assessment outcome does not itself accept a risk or approve the AI use.
Complete a reassessment
Reassessment is used when a material change, incident or review means the earlier assessment may no longer reflect the AI use.
Compare the changed facts with the earlier assessment, update affected answers and obtain fresh specialist input where required. Earlier decisions remain in history so the organisation can understand how its judgement developed.
How to complete a reassessment
- Open the AI use showing Reassessment required or Reassessment in progress.
- Continue the assessment and review the facts Swell has reused.
- Update changed answers and confirm unchanged facts remain accurate.
- Complete any new or repeated specialist reviews.
- Review the updated risk outcome and resulting reapproval work.
What happens next
The new assessment records the updated conclusion while preserving the earlier decisions and evidence in history.