Start with one repeatable question
Choose a task that already sends people searching through documents. For example, a support teammate may need to find the current returns procedure before replying to a customer. Write down the question, the relevant policy and the response a trained teammate would give.
Keep the first version narrow enough to evaluate. Searching a maintained support handbook is a clearer starting point than answering every question about the company. Decide whether the assistant should find passages, draft a reply or both. A draft should stay visibly separate from a message that has been approved and sent.
Give the assistant a source of truth
Retrieval-augmented generation, often called RAG, retrieves relevant source material and supplies it as context for an answer. OpenAI's retrieval documentation describes searching indexed content and using the retrieved results. The architecture still needs decisions about document ownership, freshness and what happens when a source is removed.
Make an inventory of the documents you intend to use. Identify the owner, last reviewed date, audience and any conflicting versions. Start with approved material rather than importing every shared folder. Keep references to the original passages so a teammate can inspect the source behind an answer.
Keep access rules with the information
A document being searchable does not mean everyone should see it. Define access rules before retrieval: a support teammate, account manager and administrator may have different permissions. Check those rules in the application handling the request, including when a person asks about a customer or team they do not belong to.
Include permission changes in the design. Decide how removing a user or restricting a document changes search access. Follow the same rules for displayed sources and generated responses; hiding a document link after exposing its contents is too late. OWASP recommends denying access by default and validating permissions on every request.
Test answers before expanding the scope
Build a small evaluation set from realistic questions. Include questions with clear answers, ambiguous wording, outdated policies, restricted sources and questions that the documents cannot answer. Review whether the answer uses the right passage, whether its claims are supported and whether it correctly asks for clarification or hands off to a person.
For the returns example, one useful test is a customer exception that the handbook does not cover. The assistant should expose the missing information and direct the teammate to the right owner. Agree on acceptable answer quality, response time and cost with the team before a pilot; track these separately rather than treating a fluent response as proof of accuracy.