Free template
A free AI roadmap template in Word that takes you from a long list of ideas to a prioritised, governed and funded plan over the next twelve to eighteen months.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
A note before you start
Most AI roadmaps are a list of tools. The ones that get funded start from business problems, test each idea against data, risk and value, and say plainly what will be stopped if it does not work. Keep the first phase small, measurable and reversible, and build the governance in from the start rather than after the first incident.
Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
Collect use cases from the business, not from the technology team alone. Score each one for value, feasibility, data readiness and risk, and choose three to five for the first phase. Give each a measurable outcome, an owner, a budget and a decision point. Add the foundations you need, such as data, security, policy and training, and review the roadmap every quarter.
[Organisation name] | Version 0.1 | [Date] | Owner: [Name, role]
[What AI should do for the organisation over the next eighteen months, and the principles it must follow, such as human oversight, data protection and transparency.]
Score 1 to 5. A risk score of 5 means low risk.
| Use case | Business owner | Value | Feasibility | Data readiness | Risk | Total | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase | Timing | Use cases | Foundations needed | Decision point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Prove | Months 0 to 3 | |||
| 2. Scale | Months 4 to 9 | |||
| 3. Embed | Months 10 to 18 |
| Use case | Outcome measure | Baseline | Target | Owner | Budget | Stop or scale criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Current state | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data quality and access | |||
| Security and data protection | |||
| AI policy and acceptable use | |||
| Skills and training | |||
| Governance and risk | |||
| Platform and vendor choices |
| Forum | Frequency | Decisions |
|---|---|---|
Template by PEF Consulting Partners, pefconsultingpartners.co.uk. Free to use and adapt.
Related reading: how to write an AI strategy that gets funded, the AI policy template, the free AI readiness check, a practical AI governance framework.
A phased plan that turns an AI strategy into specific use cases, foundations and decisions over a set period, usually twelve to eighteen months, with owners, budgets and measures for each.
Twelve to eighteen months in detail, with a lighter view beyond that. The technology moves too quickly for a detailed three year plan to stay true.
Score each one for business value, feasibility, data readiness and risk, then start with those that are valuable, achievable with the data you have and low enough risk to learn from safely.
The strategy, even if it is only a few pages: why you are using AI and where. The roadmap then turns it into a sequence of work you can fund and track.
If your AI plans have stalled between pilot and production, the roadmap usually needs sharper outcomes and stop rules, and we can help you get there.