Engineers · compliance and technical knowledge

Ask questions across past reports and get answers with sources

The problem

Years of reports, method statements and guidance sit in shared drives. Finding “how did we handle this last time?” means asking around or searching folders by hand.

What you get

An internal assistant that answers questions from your own documents and links to the source.

Three ways to do it

Lowest cost

Lean search with Claude Haiku

AI
Claude Haiku
Runs on
n8n + a hosted vector database
Setup effort
Medium

A smaller model answers straightforward look-ups for a fraction of a penny each.

£16 a month

£15 software + under £1 AI and usage

Most private

Fully local assistant

AI
Local model (e.g. Llama or Qwen via Ollama)
Runs on
Open WebUI on a server in your office
Setup effort
Medium

Documents never leave your building, which matters for confidential client reports.

£30 a month

£30 software + £0 AI and usage

Indicative monthly running costs, not quotes. They exclude VAT and any one-off build or set-up work. Claude usage is based on Anthropic’s list prices for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5; other figures are rough estimates prepared in October 2026.

How it’s built

  1. Choose what goes in

    Start with final reports and approved method statements. Leave drafts out.

  2. Index the documents

    Documents are split into passages and indexed by meaning, not just keywords. Access should mirror your shared-drive permissions.

  3. Connect the model

    For each question, the system finds the most relevant passages and asks the model to answer only from those.

  4. Always show sources

    Every answer links to the document and page it came from.

  5. Keep it current

    New reports are indexed automatically when they’re saved to the folder.

How it fits common tools

  • Microsoft 365 Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Excel connect through Power Automate, and n8n, Make and Zapier all support them. Microsoft Bookings is included in most business plans.
  • Google Workspace Gmail, Calendar, Sheets and Drive have well-documented APIs and ready-made connectors in n8n, Make and Zapier.
  • Zoho Zoho Bookings, Forms, CRM and Sign all have APIs, and Zoho Flow links them together. Make and n8n have Zoho connectors too.
  • Field form apps Most field apps (e.g. GoCanvas, Fulcrum) can send each submission to an API or webhook, so data flows into reports and portals without re-typing.
  • Xero or QuickBooks Both have open APIs and connectors in Make, n8n and Zapier, so invoices, payments and reminders can be automated.
  • Spreadsheets Fine as a starting point. Once the automation is live, move the data into a proper database or list so it doesn’t break when someone renames a column.
  • Paper forms Usually the biggest quick win: replacing paper with a phone or web form removes the re-typing entirely.

Watch-outs

  • Check the licence terms for paid standards (e.g. BSI) before loading them into an AI tool.
  • Answers are only as current as the documents, so retire superseded versions.

Want this built for your firm?

Blue Tea is a UK-based software partner. We start with the problem, not the software: if an existing system already does the job, we’ll configure it. If it doesn’t fit, we’ll design and build something that does.

  • ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified
  • Strategy, design and engineering under one roof
  • No obligation. Just a conversation about your process.

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