AI Readiness Checklist

0 of 12 marked. Check items you can already answer; leave the rest as homework.

1. 1. What questions do staff, students, or customers ask every week?If the same answer is given ten times a week, that is a candidate for a chatbot or a better FAQ.
2. 2. Where do people get stuck finding information on your site, LMS, or handbook?Note the page, form, or office they abandon — not a wish list of new features.
3. 3. Which tasks take the most staff time but do not require professional judgment?Scheduling reminders, status lookups, and “where do I find X?” usually beat grading or advising.
4. 4. Do you have a current, trusted source of answers an assistant could use?A maintained handbook, policy set, or course pack matters more than a clever model.
5. 5. Who is allowed to see which information — students, parents, staff, the public?Write down the audiences. If you cannot name them, you are not ready to automate answers.
6. 6. What happens when an answer is wrong or incomplete?Name the person who owns the correction. No owner means the tool will quietly drift.
7. 7. How do new staff, students, or clients get onboarded today?If onboarding is a pile of PDFs and hallway answers, training tools will help more than a homepage rewrite.
8. 8. Which systems do you already pay for (SIS, LMS, CRM, website, help desk)?List what staff actually log into. New AI that ignores those tools creates a second inbox.
9. 9. What would a useful first win look like in 30 days?Pick one workflow — after-hours FAQs, a course helper, or a lead form that routes cleanly — not a transformation.
10. 10. Who would own this after launch, and do they have time?Someone has to update content and review misses. If that person is already overloaded, scope smaller.
11. 11. Are there privacy or compliance rules that limit what can be automated?Student records, health data, and payment details usually stay out of public chat. Write the constraint down.
12. 12. If this worked, how would you know?Choose one measure you already track: tickets, hold time, no-show rate, completion, or qualified inquiries.