01 the business
Private school group
4 schools, 500 staff
Teachers and staff ask HR and compliance the same policy questions again and again. Answers drift depending on who replies. Mistakes on safeguarding, data handling or conduct can become real liability.
02 before
The problem
Staff ask HR, compliance or their manager the same policy questions again and again. Answers drift depending on who replies, and long PDFs make it hard to find the clause that applies. Mistakes on leave, data handling or conduct rules can become real liability.
- Answers vary by who is asked.
- Long PDFs hide the relevant clause.
- Policy owners never see what confuses people.
03 the build
What the AI does
- Step 1: Loads your current handbook, policies and procedures from SharePoint, Google Drive or Notion, with version dates.
- Step 2: Answers questions in Slack, Microsoft Teams or the intranet in plain language.
- Step 3: Quotes the relevant clause with its section number and a link to the source document.
- Step 4: Refuses to answer outside the loaded policies and points the person to the policy owner instead.
- Step 5: Logs questions it could not answer or that touched sensitive topics for review.
paused: waiting for a person to approve
How it was put together
- Loaded current policies with version dates.
- Answered in Teams in plain language, quoting the clause with section number and link.
- Refused to answer outside the loaded policies and pointed to the owner.
- Logged unanswered and sensitive questions for review.
04 human in the loop
Where a person stays in charge
Policy owners approve each document version before the assistant can cite it. Questions about grievances, discipline or legal disputes are handed straight to HR or legal, not answered.
- Policy owners approve each version before it can be cited.
- Grievances, discipline and legal disputes go straight to HR or legal.
- Safeguarding questions always include the designated lead's contact.
05 rollout
From kickoff to live in 4 weeks
- Weeks 1–2Collect current policies and remove superseded versions.
- Week 3Pilot with one school.
- Week 4Roll out to all schools.
06 after
What changes
Staff get a consistent answer with the clause in front of them. HR and compliance handle fewer repeat questions, and you can see which policies confuse people most.
Assume 500 staff asking one policy question a month, at 8 minutes of HR or compliance time each.
500 × 8 minutes = about 67 hours a month of routine answers, many of which the assistant can handle with citations.
What to measure
- Answers that include a clause citation.
- Questions referred to owners, by topic.
- HR and compliance time on routine questions.
- Policy updates prompted by the question log.
07 evidence
What the research says
A US federal judge fined two lawyers and their firm $5,000 for filing a brief that cited cases ChatGPT had invented.
ABA Journal, Lawyers who defended ChatGPT's fake cases must pay $5K, judge says (opens in a new tab) · 2023
NIST's framework organises AI risk work into four functions, Govern, Map, Measure and Manage, with a profile for generative AI added in July 2024.
NIST, AI Risk Management Framework 1.0 and Generative AI Profile (opens in a new tab) · 2023
62% of people said they spend too much time searching for information, 68% lack enough uninterrupted focus time, and 55% said next steps at the end of meetings are unclear.
Microsoft, 2023 Work Trend Index: Will AI fix work? (opens in a new tab) · 2023
08 lessons
Mistakes to avoid
- Paraphrasing without quoting. Always show the clause.
- Old versions in the index.
- Answering sensitive cases. Hand them to people.
09 questions
Common questions
- Can it make things up?
- It is limited to the loaded policies and must quote its source. That, plus refusing when unsure, is how you avoid invented answers.
- Which tools does it work in?
- Teams, Slack or your intranet.