What goes into the cost of a business document assistant?

For buyers comparing a project in Poland, current service prices are on Syntalith's pricing page. When comparing proposals, establish whether each covers a prototype, configuration of an existing platform, or a working assistant connected to documents the company maintains. These involve different amounts of work.

From one uploaded file to company documents

Imagine an initial trial built around the current purchasing procedure supplied by the company. The assistant can summarize it and point to the steps it describes. That helps you judge whether the answer is understandable. But someone has already done an important part of the job: choosing the right document.

The company's files may also contain older versions of the procedure. The form linked from it may live in a separate library. The employee wants an answer that lets them open the right material and start preparing a request. If they still have to search for the form or ask a colleague which version applies, part of their problem remains.

The proposal should therefore identify where the assistant will get its information and who at the company will identify the current materials. A small, organized collection may need only configuration of an existing tool. When procedures, forms, and version information sit in different places, the work also includes connecting them and checking answers to employee questions.

A link inside a procedure does not establish that the tool will read its destination. Microsoft's documentation for SharePoint knowledge sources in Copilot Studio says searches cover registered locations and their subfolders, while links inside documents are not followed automatically. The target material needs to be added as its own source. For the purchasing example, this means checking access to the form as well as the accuracy of the procedure summary.

Employee access is part of the scope

Two people may open the same assistant but have different access to documents. For agents in SharePoint, Microsoft distinguishes access to the agent from a user's access to its sources. Opening an assistant does not give someone access to content from a restricted library.

As a buyer, you need the solution checked with the accounts of people who will use it. A test under an administrator account does not show whether an employee can open the purchasing form. The proposal should include that work, and the company needs to specify who should have access to the documents. If existing permissions are unclear, sorting them out may be a separate task.

A custom application is not necessary for every company. If the documents are in one environment, access works as intended, and an existing assistant gives useful answers with sources, start by considering that tool. Commissioning an application may make sense when available connections cannot cover the materials you need, or when employees need answers in a workplace application the ready-made feature does not support. Our comparison of an existing platform and a custom knowledge system explores that decision in more detail.

What costs continue after launch

The purchasing procedure will change. Its owner needs to publish the new version, and whoever maintains the assistant needs to know how and when that change will appear in answers. A proposal should explain how updates, moved files, and changed access will be handled. That helps establish which work stays with the company and which belongs to the provider.

Ask when a revised procedure will appear in answers and how that will be verified for the chosen source. Employees should know whether they can use the assistant after a new version is published or still need to consult the document directly.

The operating budget also includes charges for the chosen product or the services a custom application uses. Depending on the solution, these may include licenses, model usage, search, and infrastructure. The provider should explain which expenses change with the number of users or questions and which follow from the agreed maintenance scope. Include the time of the employee who resolves conflicting documents, too. An outside provider cannot determine which company procedure should apply.

Comparing two proposals

Ask both providers to describe the same task: an employee asks how to request a purchase and gets an explanation with the current procedure and form. One proposal might cover files uploaded manually for an initial trial. Another might include connections to company libraries, employee access, and ongoing changes. The appearance of the chat interface will not tell you the difference.

Each proposal should make clear what must be prepared before launch and what work continues afterward. If your team will organize the documents, include its effort in the plan. If maintenance is outside the proposal, establish its scope and billing before comparing the total budget. Use the same period of operation and the same employee group for both proposals.

If the assistant also needs to submit the purchase request or change records in other applications, carrying out those actions adds a separate body of work. Our guide to AI agent implementation costs covers that purchase.

A starting scope to discuss with Syntalith

As part of Company Brain, we can discuss an assistant that helps employees use an agreed set of company documents. The purchasing question offers a starting point: where the answer lives, who maintains it, and what the employee should be able to open after asking the assistant. That makes it possible to consider configuring an existing tool or defining the scope of a custom application.

To begin, describe a question employees regularly bring to the administrative team and where the relevant documents are stored. If an organized page of procedures would make the answer easy to find, that is worth considering as well. Service information and current prices are on Syntalith's pricing page.