Source: https://www.thetechstack.com/guides/ai-stack Author: Kyle Brierley Author profile: https://www.thetechstack.com/authors/kyle-brierley Editor: Not specified Editor profile: Not specified Publisher: TheTechStack (https://www.thetechstack.com) Published: Not specified Updated: Not specified Suggested citation: [Kyle Brierley](https://www.thetechstack.com/authors/kyle-brierley). [Plan your enterprise AI stack](https://www.thetechstack.com/guides/ai-stack). TheTechStack. Retain the source qualifications. Cite the original article and link the credited author profile where available. An editor is not necessarily the author. # Connect the stack to the work. By [Kyle Brierley](https://www.thetechstack.com/authors/kyle-brierley) Start with the outcome and the systems you already use. This guide helps product, IT, and engineering teams identify the decisions behind an AI deployment before assembling a list of tools. Editorial planning framework · Updated September 15, 2026 ## Six areas to decide together These are responsibilities to cover, not six products to purchase. An existing application may cover several of them. 01 / Workflow and application ### Where will people use the result? Name the task, its current baseline, the user, and the person accountable for mistakes. Start with one workflow. 02 / Knowledge and data ### Which information is reliable enough to use? List source systems, content owners, update frequency, and deletion rules. Resolve contradictory or obsolete material before expanding retrieval. 03 / Identity and access ### Whose permissions apply? Define user identity, service permissions, and tenant boundaries. Test denied access and revoked access, including cached answers. 04 / Models and retrieval ### What needs to be generated or found? Compare existing capabilities before adding infrastructure. Measure retrieval quality separately from answer quality when the workflow depends on company documents. 05 / Integrations and actions ### What can the system change? Separate reading, drafting, and writing. Define approval, duplicate-action handling, and recovery for every external action. 06 / Evaluation and operations ### How will the team know it is working? Assign test ownership, acceptance criteria, monitoring, spending limits, incident response, and a manual fallback. Include human review effort in the cost. ## Choose the smallest workable approach | Approach | Worth investigating when | Resolve before committing | | --- | --- | --- | | Improve the current process | The main problem is missing ownership, inconsistent content, or unnecessary handoffs. | Whether cleaner inputs or simpler rules solve the task without AI. | | Use an existing platform | The workflow and data already live in a system with relevant capabilities. | Actual license entitlement, access behavior, quality, export, and operating cost in your environment. | | Buy a specialist product | The workflow has needs your current tools do not meet. | Integration effort, proof against your test cases, data handling, and exit options. | | Build a custom workflow | Requirements need control that available products cannot provide. | Who will own maintenance, evaluation, security review, and incidents after the prototype. | ## Two examples from platform documentation Microsoft documents that Copilot respects existing permissions and recommends addressing oversharing in SharePoint and OneDrive. Access cleanup belongs in the deployment plan. [Microsoft: prepare SharePoint for Copilot](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/get-ready-copilot-sharepoint-advanced-management). AWS distinguishes evaluating retrieved information from evaluating generated responses. A useful answer test should not hide a weak retrieval step. [AWS: evaluate RAG sources](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock/latest/userguide/evaluation-kb.html). Sources checked September 15, 2026. Examples illustrate planning questions; they are not product rankings or results from our own tests. ## Apply the guide to one workflow [Explore workflow briefs →](https://www.thetechstack.com/use-cases) [Prepare a pilot review in the Workbench →](https://www.thetechstack.com/workbench) The Workbench organizes your decisions and open questions. It does not inspect your systems or certify readiness.