TallgrassInnovation Partners

The AI Readiness Assessment

Know where you stand on AI before you spend a dollar on it.

The AI Readiness Assessment scores a growing company or a Colorado city or county on ten sub-scores across three pillars, then hands you a graded scorecard and a remediation roadmap in three weeks.

A modern glass and stone office building at sunset in a tallgrass prairie, with the Colorado Front Range behind it.

Built for two kinds of organizations

Growing companies

25 to 250 staff, usually on Microsoft 365

You have been told to do something with AI. The assessment tells you what your data, your leadership, and your people can support today, and what to fix before you buy a single license.

For businesses

Cities and counties

Colorado municipalities and county departments

Council, staff, and residents will ask how AI is being used and whether records are safe. The assessment gives you a defensible answer and a roadmap you can put in a work session packet.

For cities and counties

Three pillars, ten sub-scores, one grade

The rubric is the same for a 40-person engineering firm and a county clerk's office. Only the evidence changes.

Pillar 1: Information & Data Foundation

Whether your files, records, and systems are organized, governed, and secure enough for AI tools to draw on them safely.

  • 1.1 Data inventory and ownership
  • 1.2 Information architecture and findability
  • 1.3 Data quality and governance
  • 1.4 Security and access control
How this pillar is scored

Pillar 2: Business Direction

Whether leadership has named the problems AI should solve, who owns them, and how results will be measured.

  • 2.1 Strategic intent and use cases
  • 2.2 Sponsorship and budget
  • 2.3 Measurement and return
How this pillar is scored

Pillar 3: People & Tool Readiness

Whether staff have the skills, licenses, policies, and support to use AI tools well on the platforms you already own.

  • 3.1 Staff skills and AI literacy
  • 3.2 Platform and tooling
  • 3.3 Policy and change management
How this pillar is scored

Three weeks, three steps

Most assessments take about six hours of your team's time in total, spread across the three weeks.

  1. Week 1

    Step 1: Discovery

    Interviews with leadership and staff, a review of your tenant and systems, and a sample of real documents. We work from what you have, not a questionnaire.

  2. Week 2

    Step 2: Analysis and scoring

    Each of the ten sub-scores is graded A to F against the rubric, with the evidence behind every grade.

  3. Week 3

    Step 3: Readout and roadmap

    A 90-minute readout, the scorecard, and a remediation roadmap ordered by what moves your grade fastest.

What you get

The scorecard
Ten sub-scores and three pillar grades on one page, with an overall grade from A to F.
Findings with evidence
Every grade is backed by what we saw in your tenant, your documents, and your interviews.
A remediation roadmap
Fixes ordered by what moves your grade fastest, each sized in weeks and mapped to an engagement.
A 90-minute readout
For leadership, or for council, with the slides and the scorecard yours to keep.
Read about the assessment
AI Readiness Scorecard for Sample: Front Range Manufacturing Co.Sample: Front Range Manufacturing Co.. Overall grade C. Pillar 1, Information & Data Foundation, grade C+: 1.1 B, 1.2 C-, 1.3 C, 1.4 B. Pillar 2, Business Direction, grade C: 2.1 C, 2.2 B, 2.3 D. Pillar 3, People & Tool Readiness, grade C: 3.1 C-, 3.2 B, 3.3 D.AI READINESS SCORECARDSample: Front Range Manufacturing Co.COVERALLGRADEPillar 1Information & Data Foundation1.1 B1.2 C-1.3 C1.4 BC+Pillar 2Business Direction2.1 C2.2 B2.3 DCPillar 3People & Tool Readiness3.1 C-3.2 B3.3 DC

A sample scorecard. Download the full sample PDF.

Who does the work

Paul Engerman

Leads the assessment and the remediation work. Two decades of Microsoft 365 and SharePoint information architecture for companies that outgrew their file shares.

Tracy Engerman

Leads the local-government practice. Mayor of Castle Pines, Colorado, and a National League of Cities board member, so she knows what a council will ask.

About the partners

Book a 20-minute readiness call

Twenty minutes on a video call with Paul. No preparation, no slides, and no obligation to book the assessment.

Book a readiness call