Build a basic business knowledge assistant
Plan a controlled assistant that retrieves approved internal knowledge and clearly reports uncertainty.
What you will produce
A reviewable result, not an automatic answer.
Follow the stages in order. Each stage ends with a tangible deliverable and a review checkpoint, so mistakes are caught before they become the next tool’s input.
Use free plans where suitable; confirm current provider limits and prices before starting. Compare the latest verified AI pricing before buying another subscription.
Suggested stack
Tools used in this workflow.
The process matters more than the brand. Use an approved equivalent when it offers the controls and output quality your organisation needs.
Inputs and ownership
Before you start
- Approved knowledge sources and access permissions
- Named owners for source accuracy and review
- A defined user group, use case and acceptable failure level
Interactive workflow
Complete each stage in order.
Tick a stage only after its deliverable and review checkpoint are complete.
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Inventory sources, owners, sensitivity, authority and update frequency.
DeliverableA governed source inventory
Review checkpointUse authoritative sources over convenient duplicates.
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Remove obsolete duplicates and define access by role.
DeliverableAn access and retention matrix
Review checkpointEnforce source permissions before retrieval.
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Set response rules for citations, uncertainty, prohibited topics and escalation.
DeliverableA response policy
Review checkpointRequire citations that users can open.
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Create representative questions with expected sources, answers and failure cases.
DeliverableA scored evaluation set
Review checkpointTest outdated, conflicting and malicious source content.
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Pilot with a small group, log failures and update sources before expanding access.
DeliverableA monitored pilot and improvement backlog
Review checkpointAssign an owner to recurring failures and source updates.
Adapt, do not paste blindly
Working prompts for this recipe.
Replace bracketed placeholders, supply approved sources and remove unnecessary personal or confidential information.
Working prompt
Use this only after replacing every bracketed placeholder and removing unnecessary sensitive information.
Answer the employee question below using only the approved knowledge sources provided. Cite the document title and section for every material statement. If sources conflict, are outdated or do not answer the question, explain the limitation and use the approved escalation route. Never reveal content the user is not authorised to access.\n\nQUESTION: [QUESTION]\nAPPROVED SOURCES: [SOURCES]
Final review prompt
Use as a second-pass checklist, not as approval to publish.
Review the draft against this intended outcome: Plan a controlled assistant that retrieves approved internal knowledge and clearly reports uncertainty. List unsupported claims, missing evidence, ambiguous language, privacy concerns, accessibility issues and actions that still require human approval. Do not rewrite the draft until the issues are listed separately.
Human review required
Verification and cautions
- Verify names, figures, quotations and source claims before use.
- Remove confidential or personal information unless the selected service and account are approved for it.
- Keep a named person responsible for the final decision and published output.
Keep the outcome, change the method
Practical alternatives
Continue with context