The platform can process a wide range of document types, including PDFs, product catalogs, technical data sheets, price lists, Excel spreadsheets, and scanned documents. The exact configuration depends on the company’s existing documents and information sources.
Produzierendes Gewerbe & E-Commerce
From Scattered Document Knowledge to a Central AI Platform: How a Manufacturer Brought Four Departments onto the Same Knowledge Base
A manufacturer based in northern Germany made its product and company knowledge centrally accessible to Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, and Controlling. Today, employees can retrieve answers based on the company’s latest documents within seconds.
Project Duration:3 weeksImplementation Time:2 weeksCompleted10–50 employeesGermany, SchwarzenbekGDPR-compliant
4 dep.
access the same knowledge base
1
central platform
A few seconds
to retrieve the information employees need
Executive Summary
Problem
Product catalogs, technical data sheets, price lists, and financial documents were distributed across different files and folders. Employees repeatedly had to search for information or ask colleagues where to find it. At the same time, sensitive company and customer data could not simply be processed using public AI services.
Solution
DACH AI Solutions developed a GDPR-compliant AI knowledge platform running on controlled infrastructure. New and updated documents are automatically processed and incorporated into a central knowledge base. Authorized employees can then access the information through a natural-language chat interface.
Result
Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, and Controlling now work with the same up-to-date knowledge base. Instead of manually searching through folders, spreadsheets, and different document versions, employees receive answers within seconds, based directly on the underlying company documents.
Key Insights
Enterprise AI is only as useful as the knowledge it can reliably access.
The critical step was therefore not simply providing a chat interface. First, different document types had to be automatically processed, structured, and converted into data that AI systems could understand and retrieve effectively. This also required establishing a process that involved employees and ensured that documents remained up to date over time.
The project also demonstrated that a centralized knowledge base extends far beyond document search. Once company knowledge is available in a structured format, the same foundation can be used for additional AI assistants, analytics, and automations.
Data protection does not have to prevent companies from adopting AI. What matters is implementing an architecture that allows the organization to retain control over its documents, access permissions, and data processing.
Starting situation
The northern German manufacturer manages an extensive amount of product and company knowledge.
This includes, among other things:
- product catalogs,
- technical data sheets,
- price lists,
- installation and product information,
- spreadsheets,
- financial and management reports.
This information was regularly required by Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, and Controlling. However, it was distributed across different files, folders, and document versions.
As a result, employees repeatedly had to search for information or ask colleagues which file contained the most up-to-date version.
At the same time, the company wanted to integrate AI into its day-to-day operations without transferring sensitive company and customer data uncontrollably to public AI services.
Tech Stack
n8nNextcloudMistral OCRCohereAzure OpenAIPostgreSQLOpenWebUI
Process Overview
- 1
Store Documents Centrally
New and updated company documents continue to be stored in the company’s existing central document repository.
- 2
Automatically Detect Changes
The platform detects newly added, modified, or deleted files and automatically initiates the appropriate processing workflow.
- 3
Process and Structure Content
Product catalogs, PDFs, spreadsheets, price lists, and scanned documents are extracted and structured so that their contents can be incorporated into the knowledge base.
- 4
Make Knowledge Centrally Available
The processed content is linked with the company’s existing knowledge and added to the central knowledge base.
- 5
Answer Questions via Chat
Authorized employees can ask questions in natural language. The AI assistant identifies the relevant information and generates an answer based on the documents stored in the system.
Results
Before the platform was introduced, company knowledge was distributed across different documents and folders.
Employees had to manually search for product information, technical specifications, price lists, or financial KPIs. When several versions of the same document existed, it was not always immediately clear which information was still current.
Today, relevant company documents are processed automatically and made accessible through a central AI assistant.
Sales, Customer Service, Accounting, and Controlling can retrieve information using natural language while accessing the same underlying knowledge base.
New or modified documents are automatically incorporated. This keeps the information up to date without requiring the knowledge database to be manually maintained after every change.
Business Value
Sales teams can retrieve product differences, accessory information, and current pricing more quickly. This allows customer questions and quotation requests to be handled without time-consuming document searches.
Customer Service gains direct access to technical specifications, installation instructions, and product information. Recurring customer enquiries can therefore be answered faster and more consistently.
Accounting and Controlling can search price lists, payment terms, and financial documents more efficiently and use the information for internal analysis.
The core business value lies in faster information flows and reduced coordination effort between departments.
Qualitative Value
Company knowledge is no longer dependent solely on individual employees, folder structures, or manual search processes.
All authorized departments access the same documents and therefore work from a more consistent information base.
Through the automatic processing of new and updated files, the knowledge base grows alongside the company. At the same time, it provides a technical foundation on which future AI applications and automations can be built.
“The custom GPT is a real game changer for our team because it connects OpenWebUI with our complete product knowledge, allowing every query to be answered immediately and accurately.”
Frequently Asked Questions
New and modified documents are automatically detected and processed in the central repository. Removed or outdated content can also be deleted from the knowledge base so that employees do not continue accessing obsolete information.
Yes. Access can be aligned with existing roles and permissions. This ensures that employees only have access to the information they are authorized to use for their work.
Yes. The architecture can be implemented on controlled, GDPR-compliant infrastructure. The specific hosting and model components used depend on the company’s data protection and security requirements.
Yes. The centralized knowledge base can later serve as the foundation for additional assistants and automations, for example in Customer Service, quotation generation, or internal reporting and analysis.
Do your employees still have to search through folders, files, and multiple document versions to find company knowledge?
We analyze which information your organization regularly relies on and how it can be transformed into a centralized, up-to-date, and securely usable AI knowledge base.