Run a 30-day proof of concept that mirrors production governance — small scale, full architectural fidelity, no throwaway integration work.
Guiding principle
The PoC is a limited production deployment, not a sandbox with fake identity or service accounts. Artifacts you validate (manifests, protection, certification reports) should carry forward if you proceed.
Prerequisites
- Evaluation criteria reviewed (Evaluation criteria and checklist)
- Dedicated Azure subscription or landing zone approved for pilot
- Sponsor, architect, security reviewer, and one integrator assigned
Week 1 — Platform foundation
| Goal | Activities | Success signal |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy in-tenant | Marketplace installation or approved equivalent | Deployment Succeeded |
| Activate tenant | Tenant activation wizard — identity, sizing, access model | Tenant ACTIVE |
| First session | First session checklist | Admin + integrator access confirmed |
Exit: Platform reachable with enterprise identity — not a shared demo login.
Week 2 — Governed integration
| Goal | Activities | Success signal |
|---|---|---|
| One external system | Wizard or dataplane-integrations reference → model + auth | |
| Metadata + dimensions | Field mappings and dimension keys aligned | validate clean |
| Protection | Upload protection for at least one datasource | verify-governance planned for week 3 |
Exit: Sync and governed search work for a scoped business role — not admin-only.
Week 3 — Realistic use case
| Goal | Activities | Success signal |
|---|---|---|
| Business scenario | One process your stakeholders recognize (e.g. regional sales view, contract lookup) | Signed use-case brief |
| Role-scoped test | Subject user with business role; identity sync if needed | Governance verification VERIFIED for scope |
| Role Assistants optional | Pilot Role Assistant only if capabilities certified | Task completes with evidence capture |
Exit: Stakeholders trust outputs for the defined scope and role.
Week 4 — Readiness review
| Review | Participants | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Security / compliance | Checklist from week 1 criteria | Approve model or list gaps |
| Architecture | Trust boundaries, sizing path | Link to Platform sizing |
| Cost / scale | Azure spend trend, preset headroom | Approve next environment tier |
| Go / no-go | Sponsor | Proceed to Phase 2 production or stop cleanly |
Exit: Written decision — production roadmap or documented exit with no proprietary lock-in surprises.
Risk and cost framing
| Risk | Typical AI projects | PoC with AI Fabrix |
|---|---|---|
| Identity loss | Common | Identity preserved through capability gateway |
| Permission leakage | High | Dimensions + protection + verify-governance |
| Audit gaps | Forensic after incident | Certification and evidence by design |
| Throwaway PoC | Rebuild for prod | Same manifests and gates, larger sizing |
Cost during PoC is primarily Azure infrastructure for your chosen sizing preset — not per-message platform fees. Scale assumptions belong in Platform sizing and environments.
After the PoC
- Proceed: Follow Adoption roadmap — certify, Role Assistant pilot, scale
- Pause: Export integration folders and certification reports; decommission Azure resources per your policy
- Do not: Skip certification because “PoC was small” — expand scope only after gates pass at production sizing
Limits
The 30-day PoC timeline is a planning frame, not a guaranteed implementation duration. Week-by-week tasks assume an ACTIVE tenant, assigned integration developers, and at least one scoped external system — adjust scope if Marketplace install or identity setup runs longer in your organization.