Settle the settings and access first, then prepare one task, its source data, and the review your team will keep.
Terms, settings, and providers
Workiva AI is available once your organization signs Workiva’s AI Terms of Use. From then on it is enabled for every workspace and user until an administrator restricts it, so settle these points first.
- Have legal, security, and IT read the AI Terms of Use alongside your Master Services Agreement. Workiva does not customize the AI terms for individual customers.
- Write down which model providers your policy allows. Organization administrators can turn Google, Microsoft, and AWS providers on or off, and the choices can differ by region.
- Decide which workspaces should have Workiva AI and which should not, such as a workspace holding material you are not ready to use with AI.
- Record who in your organization owns these settings and how a change is requested and approved.
People and access
The Workiva AI User role is assigned to every user in a workspace where AI is enabled. Decide on purpose who keeps it.
- List the preparers and reviewers who will use AI for the first task. If others should not have access yet, have an Org User Admin restrict access to users with the Workiva AI User role and assign it only to that list.
- Confirm each person can open the files the task uses. Workiva AI works within each user’s existing permissions, so it cannot read or cite content the user cannot open.
- If anyone wants to connect an outside assistant through the Workiva MCP, name the security administrator who grants workspace access and the workspaces in scope.
The first task
Pick one recurring task. A narrow first task gives you a fair test and a clear reviewer.
- Name the task, its owner, its reviewer, and the deadline it has to meet.
- Choose a prior cycle whose results you already trust, so the AI-assisted version can be compared with a known answer.
- Identify the Workiva feature the task needs, such as the companion, a tie-out, Wdata query help, or a purpose-built agent, and check whether it requires an Advanced tier or early access terms.
- Write down what a correct result looks like and what would count as a failure.
Source data and reference content
Workiva AI answers from the files and data it can read. Weak links and inconsistent labels show up in the output.
- Confirm the figures the task depends on come from linked, reconciled sources rather than typed values.
- Fix broken or stale links, inconsistent labels, and outdated reference files in the files the task uses.
- If you will use Workiva Knowledge, list the prior filings, policies, and checklists it should include, with an owner and a refresh date for each.
- For Wdata tasks, check that the tables and queries involved have known totals you can test a result against.
Review and evidence
Treat AI output as a draft that enters your existing review. Agree the records before the first live cycle.
- Decide what the reviewer checks for this task, and how AI-drafted or AI-edited content is identified in the file.
- Keep figures under your normal tie-out and link checks. AI responses cite sources, but a citation does not prove a number is correct.
- Decide which records you keep, such as activity log entries, tie-out notes and overrides, and approvals. Starting a new Tie-out Assistant run clears its earlier notes and resolved items, so capture what you need first.
- Ask your external auditor or internal audit team what evidence they expect for AI-assisted work in this process.
Training and the next cycle
Run the first cycle with the people who will own it.
- Have the preparer run the task and the reviewer check it, using their own accounts and permissions.
- Keep the prompts or workflow settings that worked, with instructions for re-runs and common errors.
- Note the time spent and the issues found, and compare them with the prior cycle before you extend AI to another task.
When you are ready to start
Bring this checklist, the task you have in mind, and a recent example of its output to a free first call. Lockfield starts every engagement with a paid, fixed-fee Workiva diagnostic, scoped to that one task. Read more about our Workiva AI services.