How to build an AI bill of materials
You cannot govern what you have not enumerated. An AI-BOM is the single inventory of every AI object you run - the foundation the rest of governance stands on.
What an AI-BOM is
An AI bill of materials (AI-BOM) is a complete inventory of the AI objects operating in your business: the agents, the models behind them, the prompts, the tools and MCP servers they call, the datasets and vector stores they read, and the connectors and policies that bind them. Like a software bill of materials, its value is completeness - the thing you missed is the thing that bites you.
- Agents and the workflows they run in.
- Models and prompts.
- Tools, MCP servers, and external APIs.
- Datasets, vector databases, and embeddings.
- Connectors and the policies that govern them.
Why an AI-BOM matters
Every governance question depends on the inventory. Which agents can touch customer data? Which models are unapproved? Where is a risky MCP server in use? Without a single source of truth, each answer is a manual hunt. With one, governance, risk grading, and evidence all have something to attach to.
How Fintra builds the inventory
| Field | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Kind | Agent, workflow, model, prompt, MCP server, tool, dataset, vector DB, connector, policy, and more. |
| Owner | Who is accountable for the object. |
| Trust score & risk grade | How trusted and how risky the object is. |
| Permissions & autonomy | What it may do and how independently. |
| Linked controls & evidence | The compliance controls and evidence tied to it. |
AI-BOM checklist
- One inventory covering every kind of AI object.
- Consistent fields across objects - owner, trust, risk, permissions.
- Each object linked to its controls and evidence.
- A summary by kind, grade, and owner for a quick read.
- The inventory kept current as objects are added.
- Unapproved or high-risk objects surfaced for review.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI bill of materials (AI-BOM)?
An AI-BOM is a complete inventory of the AI objects you run - agents, models, prompts, tools, MCP servers, datasets, vector databases, connectors, and policies - with consistent metadata for each. It is the foundation of AI governance. Fintra maintains a unified inventory of exactly these object kinds with trust scores, risk grades, and linked controls.
Why do you need an AI inventory?
Because every governance question - who can touch what data, which models are unapproved, where a risky tool is used - depends on knowing what you run. Without a single inventory, each answer is a manual hunt. Fintra’s unified inventory gives governance, risk grading, and evidence a single source of truth to attach to.
What objects belong in an AI-BOM?
Agents and workflows, models and prompts, tools, MCP servers and external APIs, datasets, vector databases and embeddings, and the connectors and policies that bind them. Fintra’s inventory covers all of these kinds with a consistent set of fields, so you can reason across the whole estate.
How does an AI-BOM connect to compliance?
Each inventoried object can link to the controls it relates to and the evidence that proves those controls operate. Fintra ties inventory items to linked controls and evidence, so the AI-BOM is not just a catalog - it is a map from every AI object to its governance and audit footprint.
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