What you receive, phase by phase
| Phase | Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Secure and set up | Usage Policy and Data Rules; Admin Runbook (excerpt); Security and Controls Brief |
| Build | Model and Usage Guide; Prompt Library by Function (excerpt); Company Skill: Executive Brief; Starter Project: Board and Leadership Meeting Prep |
| Launch and train | Executive Quick-Start; Session Plan and Recap: Foundations |
| Sustain and report | 30-Day Adoption Report (illustrative) |
Browse the samples
The plain-language version of the acceptable use policy, built with IT and security in week 1.
Secure and set upAdmin Runbook (excerpt)How IT runs the workspace after we leave: settings, who owns what, and the monthly review.
Secure and set upSecurity and Controls BriefThe document your security team reviews before anyone signs in: how data is handled, who can see what, and how usage is tracked.
BuildModel and Usage GuideWhich model to use for which task, when to turn on extended thinking, and why usage is metered. Built so good habits start with the first 25 users.
BuildPrompt Library by Function (excerpt)Tested prompts for each function, stored in a shared project so they improve as people use them. The full library has about 25.
BuildCompany Skill: Executive BriefA skill tells Claude how your company does something, so every executive brief comes out in the same format and voice. This is a shortened example.
BuildStarter Project: Board and Leadership Meeting PrepOne of three starter projects ready on day one. The project holds the instructions and reference files, so each executive starts with context already loaded.
Launch and trainExecutive Quick-StartWhat every executive gets on day one: how to sign in, three things to try first, and where to get help.
Launch and trainSession Plan and Recap: FoundationsThe agenda for the two-hour kickoff session, followed by the recap participants receive the same day.
Sustain and report30-Day Adoption Report (illustrative)What the executive team receives 30 days after launch. Figures below are illustrative, not a client result.
Usage Policy and Data Rules
The plain-language version of the acceptable use policy, built with IT and security in week 1.
Claude is approved for company work in the company workspace. These rules keep company, customer and partner information safe.
| Data class | Allowed in Claude? | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Yes | Published reports, press releases, public market data |
| Internal | Yes | Meeting notes, plans, internal reports, draft communications |
| Confidential | Yes, in an approved project only | Board materials, contracts, financial results before release, partner pricing |
| Restricted | No | Passwords and keys, bank and payment card numbers, government IDs, employee medical or HR case files |
Rules
- Use the company workspace only. Do not use personal AI accounts for company work.
- A person reviews anything Claude produces before it goes outside the company.
- Claude is a drafting and analysis aid. Decisions stay with the people accountable for them.
- Share projects with the people who need them, not company-wide by default.
- Connectors are approved by IT. Do not connect personal tools or services.
- Report anything that looks wrong (an unexpected answer about someone else's data, a connector you did not expect) to IT the same day.
Commercial workspaces are not used to train Anthropic's models by default. Retention, logging and connector settings are documented in the Admin Runbook.
Admin Runbook (excerpt)
How IT runs the workspace after we leave: settings, who owns what, and the monthly review.
Workspace settings (recorded at setup)
| Area | Setting | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | SSO through the company identity provider; domain capture on; SCIM provisioning on Enterprise | IT |
| Roles | Two owners in IT; admins for user management; everyone else member | IT |
| Connectors | Microsoft 365 approved; all others off until requested and reviewed | IT and security |
| Data | Retention per policy; file upload rules; project sharing restricted to named groups | Security |
| Usage | Seat types assigned by role; spend limits set; usage analytics reviewed monthly | IT |
Common tasks
- Add a user: assign in the identity provider group; seat appears at next sign-in.
- Remove a user: remove from the group; reassign their shared projects first.
- Approve a new connector: request form, security review against the data rules, pilot with one team, then enable.
Monthly review checklist
- Active users by team, and anyone with no activity in 30 days
- Usage by seat type; move heavy and light users to the right seat
- Connector and sharing changes since last review
- Questions from #claude-help that point to a training gap
- Anything to escalate to the executive sponsor
Security and Controls Brief
The document your security team reviews before anyone signs in: how data is handled, who can see what, and how usage is tracked.
| Question | How it is handled |
|---|---|
| Is our data used to train models? | Not by default on Claude commercial plans (Team and Enterprise). Confirmed against Anthropic's current commercial terms during setup. |
| How do people sign in? | SSO through the company identity provider, with domain capture so work sign-ups land in the company workspace. SCIM provisioning on Enterprise. |
| Can one user see another's chats? | No. Chats are private to each user. Projects are visible only to the people they are shared with. |
| What systems can Claude reach? | Only connectors IT approves. Pilots typically start with Microsoft 365. No ERP or production systems. |
| How is usage tracked? | Admin usage analytics by user. On Enterprise, audit logs and the Compliance API for export to security tools. |
| How long is data kept? | Per the retention settings agreed in week 1. Custom retention is available on Enterprise. |
| Who can change settings? | Named owners and admins only, listed in the Admin Runbook. |
| What does the vendor provide? | Anthropic's trust documentation and security reports, provided for your review under NDA where required. |
Features vary by plan and change over time. We confirm every item against Anthropic's documentation at setup and record the result in the runbook.
Model and Usage Guide
Which model to use for which task, when to turn on extended thinking, and why usage is metered. Built so good habits start with the first 25 users.
Usage is metered like a utility. The right model for the task gets you the same answer for a fraction of the usage, and keeps capacity available for the work that needs it.
| Model | Use it for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sonnet (default) | About 85% of everyday work | Summaries, drafts, emails, meeting prep, slide outlines, document Q&A |
| Opus | Hard analysis and planning | Multi-document comparisons, scenario analysis, a plan you will then execute in Sonnet |
| Fable | Rare, highest-stakes reasoning | Only when Opus has not been enough; check with your champion first |
Extended thinking
Turn it on when the question has several steps or trade-offs (a forecast assumption, a contract position, a plan). Leave it off for drafting and summarizing.
Five habits that save usage
- Plan in Opus, do in Sonnet. Ask the stronger model for the approach, then switch for the drafting.
- Use projects. Background files are loaded once instead of pasted into every chat.
- Start a new chat for a new topic. Long threads carry everything before them into every reply.
- Draft in Claude, finish in Office. Iterate on a first version in Claude, then move it to Word or PowerPoint for final polish.
- Use search for simple facts. A quick lookup does not need an AI model.
Model names reflect the Claude lineup as of October 2026. We update this guide when Anthropic releases new models, so habits keep up with the lineup.
Prompt Library by Function (excerpt)
Tested prompts for each function, stored in a shared project so they improve as people use them. The full library has about 25.
| Function | Prompt |
|---|---|
| Finance | "Here are this month's actuals and budget by cost center. Write variance commentary for each line over 5%, in the format of last month's attached commentary. Flag anything you can't explain from the data." |
| Finance | "Compare this supplier agreement with our standard terms (attached). Table every difference with the clause, their language, ours, and the risk in one line." |
| Sales | "Build a one-page account brief for my meeting with [retailer]: our last four quarters of shipments (attached), open issues from the email thread, and three things to ask for." |
| Marketing | "Turn this campaign idea into a one-page brief for our agency: objective, audience, key message, mandatories, timeline, budget range. Use our brand voice skill." |
| Operations | "Rewrite this SOP so a new supervisor can follow it. Keep every safety step. Number the steps and put warnings before the step they apply to." |
| Leadership | "Draft the board update section on [topic] from these notes. One page, decisions needed first, then context. Mark anything I need to verify." |
| Leadership | "Here are three scenarios for next season. Lay out the assumptions behind each, what we would do differently in each, and the early signals that tell us which one we are in." |
| IT | "Explain what this SQL query does in plain English, then rewrite it to return the same result by region and month." |
Company Skill: Executive Brief
A skill tells Claude how your company does something, so every executive brief comes out in the same format and voice. This is a shortened example.
--- name: executive-brief description: Write a one-page executive brief in [Company]'s house format. Use when someone asks for a brief, a board summary, or a decision memo. --- # Executive brief ## Structure (always in this order) 1. The ask or decision needed, in one sentence 2. Recommendation and why, in three sentences or fewer 3. Options considered, as a short table (option, cost, risk, timing) 4. What we need from the reader, with a date 5. Background, only what the reader needs ## Rules - One page. If it does not fit, move detail to an appendix. - Numbers come from the attached files only. Mark anything estimated. - Plain language, active voice, no jargon or acronyms without a definition. - End with "Prepared with Claude; reviewed by [name]". ## Voice Direct and respectful. Lead with the conclusion. Never overstate certainty.
Other skills we typically build in a pilot: brand voice and visual style, meeting prep, and the company's preferred format for monthly reporting.
Starter Project: Board and Leadership Meeting Prep
One of three starter projects ready on day one. The project holds the instructions and reference files, so each executive starts with context already loaded.
Project instructions
You support the executive team preparing for board and leadership meetings. Use the reference files for facts and format. Every output starts with the decisions needed. Mark any figure not found in the files as "to verify". Never include information from one board member's materials in another person's request unless it is in the shared reference files.
Reference files
- Last two board packets (approved versions)
- Strategic plan summary
- Board calendar and committee charters
- Executive brief skill (house format)
Suggested starting prompts
- "Draft my section of the next board packet from these notes."
- "What questions is the board likely to ask about [topic], given the last two meetings?"
- "Summarize the decisions and open items from the last packet."
Access
Shared with the executive team only. Owner: the executive sponsor's office. Reviewed monthly.
Executive Quick-Start
What every executive gets on day one: how to sign in, three things to try first, and where to get help.
Your company Claude workspace is live. This page gets you from sign-in to a useful result in 15 minutes.
1. Sign in
- Go to claude.ai or open the Claude desktop app and choose Continue with SSO. Use your company email.
- You land in the company workspace. Personal Claude accounts stay separate; please use this one for work.
- Install the desktop app and the mobile app so your projects follow you.
2. Three things to try this week
| Try this | What to type |
|---|---|
| Prep for a meeting | "Here is the agenda and last quarter's results. Give me the five questions I should ask and the one risk I should raise." |
| Get through a long document | Attach the contract or report. "Summarize this in one page for an executive. Flag anything unusual compared with standard terms." |
| Draft from your notes | "Turn these bullet points into a two-paragraph note to the leadership team. Plain, direct, no jargon." |
3. Four habits that make the difference
- Give context. Attach the file, name the audience, say what good looks like.
- Use projects for recurring work. Your starter projects already hold the background, so you don't repeat it.
- Check before it leaves the building. Claude drafts; you review anything that goes to the board, customers or partners.
- Keep the default model. Sonnet handles most work. See the Model and Usage Guide before switching.
4. What not to put in
Follow the Usage Policy. In short: no passwords or credentials, no personal data you would not email internally, and nothing marked restricted unless your project is approved for it.
5. Help
Weekly office hours (see calendar invite), the #claude-help Teams channel, and your team's champion.
Session Plan and Recap: Foundations
The agenda for the two-hour kickoff session, followed by the recap participants receive the same day.
Session plan (2 hours, full executive team)
| Time | Segment | Hands on keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Why we are doing this, from the executive sponsor | None |
| 0:10 | What Claude is good at and where it is weak | Ask it something you know the answer to; check it |
| 0:30 | Your workspace: projects, chats, connectors, what is private | Open a starter project; find your chats |
| 0:50 | First win: a long document in one page | Each person summarizes a real document from their area |
| 1:15 | First win: meeting prep from email | Prepare for a meeting on your calendar this week |
| 1:40 | Usage habits and the policy in five minutes | Switch models; start a new chat |
| 1:50 | Commitments: one task each person will try before the next session | Write it in the session project |
Recap sent the same day (excerpt)
What we covered. Signing in, the three starter projects, and two first wins on your own documents and meetings.
What worked in the room. Contract summaries with a "compare against our standard terms" instruction; meeting prep using the last two email threads with the attendee.
Your commitment. One real task before Session 2. Post the result, or the problem you hit, in #claude-help.
Next. Session 2, Working Smarter, covers context, projects and model choice.
30-Day Adoption Report (illustrative)
What the executive team receives 30 days after launch. Figures below are illustrative, not a client result.
Illustrative data for a 25-seat executive pilot. Not a client result.
By function
| Function | Weekly active | Top use |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | 5 of 5 | Variance commentary and supplier agreement review |
| Sales and marketing | 6 of 7 | Account briefs; agency briefs |
| Operations | 4 of 6 | SOP rewrites; report summaries |
| Leadership and other | 6 of 7 | Board prep; meeting prep |
What we recommend next
- Coach the four users not yet active weekly, using their own tasks
- Add a read-only reporting connector for the finance team, after security review
- Start planning the next wave: two departments of 20 to 40 people each