“Keep the core pure. Add overlays.”
The model already covers systems, capabilities, data and journeys. Perpetual change adds people, culture and strategy. These nine optional layers, including cost and contract, handle that without touching the minimum record.
Keep the core pure. The 12-field minimum record does not change, and every existing record stays valid without migration.
Each overlay is an optional field or tag. It appears in the catalog only when someone has recorded it, and surfaces as an extra view rather than a change to the landscape.
Everything links back to a capability, system, data topic or journey already in the model. HERM stays the shared vocabulary, so every layer still rolls up.
Each one names the optional fields it adds and where to use it.
Who does the work, and how far their skills are from what the work will need.
workforce.roles Roles whose work the system changes.workforce.gap Skill gap: low, medium or high.How much a change alters the work, and how ready the people are for it.
changeImpact Low, medium or high.readiness Low, medium or high.Extends the existing AI profile (none, AI-assisted, agentic) with how far an AI may act and who checks it.
aiProfile.autonomy Suggests only, acts with approval, acts and reports, or acts alone.aiProfile.hitl Where a person stays in the loop.aiProfile.sources The data the AI reads.aiProfile.riskTier Low, medium or high.Sits on top of data classification and recovery tier: why a boundary exists and how it is explained to people.
trust One line on the boundary and how it is communicated.Adds digital, AI and transferable-skill milestones to the student, faculty and staff lifecycles.
milestone A journey event type in the journey builder, not a catalog field.No new field. Turns coverage, AI and data views into short, honest narratives for one audience at a time.
Marks systems run with partners, and known changes coming, so they are reviewed on a schedule.
partnership.type Shared service or partnered.partnership.partner Who the partner is.horizon The change that is coming, in one line.What a system costs to run each year, including the staff time that rarely shows up on an invoice.
cost.license Annual licence or subscription.cost.hosting Hosting and infrastructure.cost.staffFte Staff time to run it, in full-time staff.cost.integration Keeping its integrations working.cost.funding Who pays: central, chargeback, auxiliary or grant.cost.oneTime Capital or one-time costs coming up.The terms that decide when you can change course: end date, notice period, renewal and exit.
contract.vendor Who holds the agreement.contract.end End date of the current term.contract.noticeDays Days of notice needed before the end date.contract.autoRenew Whether it renews if nobody acts.contract.escalator Yearly price increase, as a percentage.contract.exit How data comes back if you leave.Optional roles appear in a playbook’s role filter only when that playbook uses them.