Build the value chain
Metrics should connect technical quality to behaviour and outcomes. Retrieval quality affects recommendation acceptance; acceptance affects cycle time; cycle time affects throughput and cost.
Measuring only the final result hides causality, while technical metrics alone cannot prove business value.
Five measurement layers
A balanced system covers output quality, adoption, operational effect, risk and total cost. Define the measures and baseline before the pilot.
- Quality and groundedness
- Acceptance and repeated use
- Time, errors and throughput
- Incidents and escalations
- Infrastructure, support and expert review
Compare with the alternative
Compare the agent with the current process or simpler automation. Otherwise the team cannot know whether AI created the value.
A transformation dashboard should support a decision: scale, change boundaries, improve data or stop the use case.