Sub-function
Continuous Improvement
Owns improvement work end to end inside AI GBS & Global Business Services. Runs 3 lines across 17 stations, drains the repeatable share into the AI-OPS tower, and holds 2 human gates.
Estate rating
BBB
73 / 100
Detection, design and measurement are agentic. Running an experiment on a live process needs an owner who accepts the operational risk.
Agents
9
Lines
3
Units / wk
3,531
Timetable vs actual
19.6h → 18.8h
Cost / unit
$9.36
was $28
Run-rate saving
$3.3M
annualized at this volume
The 9 agents running this sub-function
Grouped by what they are for, not by where they sit. The agent org is process-shaped.
Continuous Improvement Orchestrator
Owns the continuous improvement lane end to end. Sequences the other agents, holds the timetable, and decides what surfaces to a human.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Waste Detection Agent
Watches continuous improvement continuously. Detects drift, quantifies it, and routes what matters without waiting for a reporting cycle.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Root Cause Agent
Executes the continuous improvement step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Experiment Design Agent
Executes the continuous improvement step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Idea Intake Agent
Executes the continuous improvement step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Change Adoption Agent
Executes the continuous improvement step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Benefit Measurement Agent
Runs the repeatable portion of continuous improvement inside the shared transaction spine at spine cost and spine controls.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Head of Continuous Improvement when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Improvement Policy Agent
Holds the rules that bind every other agent in continuous improvement. Versions them, tests them against live decisions, and blocks work that breaches them.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates on any decision that would breach a live policy version, with the clause cited.
Continuous Improvement Challenger Agent
Adversarial reviewer for continuous improvement. Argues the opposite case on every position and flags where the evidence does not carry the claim.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates when a ratified position is still running against a break condition it flagged.
Estate rating breakdown
Seven control dimensions. Judgment readiness runs against autonomy on purpose.
People
What the humans stopped doing, and what they do now.
Redeployed into data stewardship and evidence quality.
Lines running in this sub-function
Each line is a workflow. Click a line to walk it station by station.
Strategy positions this sub-function holds
An agent that only executes is a robot. These are the calls it made, the argument against each one, and what would prove it wrong.
Continuous Improvement Operating Position
Ratifiedv4What operating shape carries twice the current improvement volume without adding headcount, and what breaks first if we are wrong?
Hold the ceiling at A3 for continuous improvement. Detection, design and measurement are agentic. Running an experiment on a live process needs an owner who accepts the operational risk. Raise it only after two consecutive quarters where the override rate stays under five percent and every override has a written cause.
confidence
80%
The challenge — Continuous Improvement Challenger Agent
Continuous Improvement Challenger Agent argues the recommendation leans on 3 quarters of data from a period with no volume shock. The confidence band overlaps the alternative, and the position does not say what it would take to be wrong. Recorded as a dissent, not a block.
Break conditions
- ·Override rate rises above 6 percent for two consecutive months
- ·Cost per improvement stops falling while volume keeps rising
- ·A control failure in this lane reaches a customer or a regulator
Evidence gaps
- ·No external comparator on a like-for-like unit definition
- ·Exception cases under $30k are sampled, not fully measured
| Alternative considered | Cost | Risk | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the current position | $243k run rate | Known and priced. Cedes ground if comparators move faster. | not selected |
| Raise the ceiling one level now | $1754k to build controls | Override rate is 9 percent; raising the ceiling before that settles imports the error into production. | rejected on evidence |
| Move the exception tail to the spine | $994k transition | Loses local context. Rework risk on the cases that are hardest to recover. | selected |
Ratified 6 months ago. Measured since: cost per improvement rose 6 percent against a forecast that it would fall 21 percent.
Policy register
The rules the agents above are bound by. Version, owner, approver, and the agents each rule constrains.
| Ref | Rule | Scope | Owner agent | Approved by | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB10-POL-200 | Continuous Improvement Decision Envelope Agents in this lane may act without a human when the improvement sits inside the stated value, risk and confidence envelope. Outside it, the unit holds at a gate with a named approver and a running clock. binds 5 agents · LATAM · US | envelope | Improvement Policy Agent | Head of Continuous Improvement | v4.8 | Active |
| GB10-POL-201 | Continuous Improvement Evidence Standard Every autonomous decision writes inputs, the rule version applied, the model and prompt version, the output and a reversal path. An action with no evidence record is treated as a control failure, not a fast decision. binds 5 agents · EU · UK · US | evidence | Improvement Policy Agent | Head of Continuous Improvement | v1.2 | Active |
| GB10-POL-202 | Continuous Improvement Escalation Rule Escalation is mandatory when confidence falls below the floor, when two options sit inside the confidence band, or when a break condition on a ratified position fires. Head of Continuous Improvement owns the response clock. binds 5 agents · Global | escalation | Improvement Policy Agent | Head of Continuous Improvement | v4.2 | Active |
| GB10-POL-203 | Continuous Improvement Autonomy Ceiling The ceiling for this lane is 78 on the platform scale. Detection, design and measurement are agentic. Running an experiment on a live process needs an owner who accepts the operational risk. The ceiling is a governance decision, not a technical limit, and only Head of Continuous Improvement can propose moving it. binds 5 agents · EU · UK | ceiling | Improvement Policy Agent | Head of Continuous Improvement | v1.2 | Active |