Path to Production.
Hand this to the builders

Let people triage themselves.

The fastest way to keep a support team from drowning is to let the people building AI apps sort the small stuff from the serious stuff before it ever reaches IT. Two simple tools do that.

Tool 1 · the five-question check

Before you ask IT to make your app real.

Answer these five before filing a request. Your answers decide whether this stays a quick prompt or earns the full path to production.

Tap a box to check it

More than a handful of people will use this regularly.Just you or a teammate or two? Keep it a prompt or a shared tool.
It touches confidential or regulated information.Sensitive financials, client or investor data, deal materials, anything you would not email outside the firm.
A wrong or leaked answer would cause a real problem.Not an annoyance. A decision, a filing, a client, or a headline.
People will still rely on this in six months.Or is it a one-time analysis you'll throw away next week?
Someone other than you would need to run or fix it.If only you can keep it alive, it isn't ready to be shared.
Mostly unchecked → keep it light. A prompt or a shared tool gets you the result with no support burden. Just log it so others can find it instead of rebuilding it.
Two or more checked → it earns the full path. File a request. It needs real sign-on, data protection, a named owner, and a proper handoff before it goes live.
Tool 2 · the four sizes

Match the size to the need.

Same idea, four possible forms: a prompt, a shared tool, a lightweight app, or a full production app. Picking the right one up front is what keeps a small team from supporting things that never needed support.

SizeUse it whenWhat it costs to run
PromptOne-off or personal useNothing. It lives with you.
Shared toolA repeatable pattern a team reusesLow. Shared and versioned, no hosting.
Lightweight appNeeds a screen or memory, low-sensitivity dataMedium. Hosted, basic sign-on, watched.
Production appTouches sensitive data or many peopleFull. Sign-on, audit, support, the whole path.

See Match the size for worked examples of each and how ideas graduate between them.

What "ready" means

Four names before it goes live.

Every production app answers these four before launch. If any is blank, it isn't ready, however good the demo looked.

Owner

The business person accountable for it existing at all.

Supporter

Who keeps it running and gets the call when it stops.

Sign-off

Who approved the data it can touch and the risk it carries.

Failure plan

What happens, and who acts, the day it breaks.

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The three moves