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Corporate Knowledge Setup

Corporate Knowledge indexes enable your AI agents to search and answer questions about internal company documentation. This guide walks you through setting up a Corporate Knowledge index using the Grounded Knowledge Index wizard.

Overview​

A Corporate Knowledge index provides a centralized, searchable repository for internal documentation that AI agents can query. This enables agents to provide accurate, citation-backed answers about company policies, procedures, and guidelines.

Use Cases​

DepartmentDocumentsExample Questions
HREmployee handbooks, benefits guides, PTO policies"What is the company's PTO accrual policy?"
FinanceExpense policies, payroll procedures, reimbursement guidelines"How do I submit an expense report?"
OperationsVendor agreements, SLAs, emergency procedures"What is the escalation path for critical incidents?"
LegalCorporate contracts, compliance policies, NDAs"What are the standard terms for our MSA?"
ITSecurity policies, acceptable use policies, onboarding procedures"What software can employees install on company devices?"

Benefits​

  • Accurate Answers - Responses are grounded in your actual documents, not generic AI knowledge
  • Source Citations - Every answer includes references to the source documents
  • Reduced Hallucinations - RAG architecture ensures responses are based on real data
  • Consistent Information - All agents access the same authoritative knowledge base
  • Easy Updates - Update source documents and agents automatically have access to the latest information

Prerequisites​

Before creating a Corporate Knowledge index, ensure you have:

  • An Azure account with an active subscription
  • Owner or Contributor access to create Azure resources
  • Azure OpenAI resource (or credentials to create one)
  • Azure AI Search service (or credentials to create one)
tip

If you have already created another index (e.g., Email Archive), you can reuse the same Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search resources. The wizard will detect existing providers and allow you to select them.

Setup Options​

There are two ways to create a Corporate Knowledge index:

The Combined Setup Wizard allows you to provision Corporate Knowledge alongside other index types (e.g., Email Archive) in a single session. This is the recommended approach because Azure providers are configured once and shared across all indexes.

  1. Navigate to Build > Knowledge
  2. Click Create New Index
  3. On the Welcome step, select Corporate Knowledge (along with any other types you want)
  4. Follow the wizard steps

Option B: Single-Index Wizard​

You can also create a Corporate Knowledge index on its own:

  1. Navigate to Build > Knowledge
  2. Click Create New Index
  3. Select only Corporate Knowledge
  4. Follow the wizard steps
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If a Corporate Knowledge index already exists for your tenant, the wizard displays a confirmation modal before allowing you to create a duplicate. In most cases, one Corporate Knowledge index is sufficient.

Wizard Steps​

Whether using the Combined or Single-Index wizard, the Corporate Knowledge-specific configuration includes:

Select Index Type​

On the Welcome step, select Corporate Knowledge:

  • Label: Corporate Knowledge
  • Description: Company policies, handbooks, contracts, and procedures
  • Details: Includes employee handbook, benefits, PTO, payroll, contracts

Configure Azure Providers​

Configure or select existing Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search providers. If providers were detected via fast-path detection, you can skip these steps. See:

Configure Index Settings​

  • Name: Enter a descriptive name (e.g., "Corporate Knowledge", "Company Policies")
  • Description: Optional description of what this index contains
  • Output Mode: How the AI should format responses (Answer Synthesis recommended)
  • Retrieval Reasoning Effort: How thoroughly the AI should analyze retrieved documents (Medium recommended)
  • Enable AI Knowledge Indexing: Toggle to allow agents to automatically index discovered knowledge

Provisioning​

The wizard automatically provisions the required Azure resources:

  1. Creates the Azure AI Search index with the corporate knowledge schema
  2. Configures the knowledge source
  3. Sets up the knowledge base
  4. Verifies all connections
  5. Automatically configures this index as the Corporate Knowledge Index in Account Settings

Grant Tool Access​

Grant access to agents that should use this knowledge index:

  • AICOS - AI Chief of Staff
  • SMEs - Specialist Agents
  • Agents - Standard agents

Configure Topics (Optional)​

For Corporate Knowledge indexes, a dedicated topic taxonomy template is available:

  • Corporate Knowledge - Standard - Includes 7 categories and 25+ subcategories covering HR, Finance, Operations, Legal, IT, and more
  • You can also skip this and configure topics later from the index details page

Adding Documents​

After creating a Corporate Knowledge index, you need to add documents to make them searchable. Documents can be added through:

SharePoint Integration​

If your corporate documents are stored in SharePoint, configure a SharePoint Knowledge Source:

  1. Navigate to Build > Knowledge > Knowledge Sources
  2. Create a new SharePoint source linked to your Corporate Knowledge index
  3. Select the SharePoint libraries containing your corporate documents
  4. Configure sync settings and start indexing

See SharePoint Knowledge Sources for details.

Google Drive Integration​

For documents in Google Workspace:

  1. Navigate to Build > Knowledge > Knowledge Sources
  2. Create a new Google Drive source
  3. Connect to your Shared Drive via OAuth
  4. Documents are automatically synced and indexed

See Google Drive Knowledge Sources for details.

AI Agent Indexing​

Enable AI agents to automatically index valuable knowledge they discover during operations:

  1. Navigate to Build > Knowledge > Index Knowledge Tool
  2. Enable the Index Knowledge Tool
  3. Select this Corporate Knowledge index as the target
  4. Assign the index_knowledge tool to appropriate agents

When enabled, agents can:

  • Index research findings from SME consultations
  • Store meeting summaries extracted from email threads
  • Preserve decision records and their rationale
  • Capture valuable insights discovered during processing

This creates a continuously growing knowledge base enriched by your AI agents' daily operations.

See Index Knowledge Tool for detailed setup instructions.

tip

You can enable AI Knowledge Indexing directly during index creation. In the Configure Indexes step of the wizard, enable the "Enable AI Knowledge Indexing" toggle to automatically configure this feature.

Multi-Source Knowledge Bases​

You can combine multiple document sources into a single Knowledge Base. For example, link both a SharePoint source and email-based sources to your Corporate Knowledge index so agents can search across all content in one query.

See Knowledge Bases for details on managing multi-source configurations.

Scheduled Scanning​

For email-based knowledge sources linked to your Corporate Knowledge index, you can configure scheduled scanning:

  • Daily automated scanning keeps the index up to date with new emails
  • Incremental scanning processes only new or changed content
  • Monitor scan progress from the Scan Activity page

Assigning to Account Settings​

Corporate Knowledge indexes are automatically designated as the tenant's default Corporate Knowledge Index in Account Settings when provisioned. If you need to change this:

  1. Navigate to Manage > Account > Settings
  2. Find the Knowledge Indexes section
  3. Select your corporate knowledge index from the Corporate Knowledge Index dropdown
  4. Click Save Changes

Once designated, Specialist Agents with appropriate access automatically use this index when answering questions about company policies and procedures.

Best Practices​

Document Organization​

  • Use clear titles - Documents should have descriptive titles that reflect their content
  • Include metadata - Add categories, tags, and effective dates where applicable
  • Keep documents current - Regularly review and update documents to ensure accuracy
  • Version control - Maintain a clear process for updating documents

Topic Taxonomy​

  • Start simple - Begin with broad categories and refine over time
  • Use consistent naming - Establish naming conventions for topics
  • Avoid overlap - Ensure topics are distinct to improve classification accuracy

Agent Configuration​

  • Grant appropriate access - Only give agents access to knowledge they need
  • Test queries - Use the Test Query feature to verify agents can find relevant documents
  • Monitor usage - Review agent activity to identify gaps in documentation

Troubleshooting​

Index Status Shows "Provisioning Failed"​

  1. Check that your Azure credentials have sufficient permissions
  2. Verify the Azure OpenAI and AI Search services are accessible
  3. Review the error message for specific details
  4. Click Retry to attempt provisioning again

Agents Cannot Find Documents​

  1. Verify documents have been indexed successfully
  2. Check that the agent has access to the knowledge index tool
  3. Test the query directly on the index details page
  4. Review the topic taxonomy to ensure proper categorization

Answers Lack Source Citations​

  1. Ensure Output Mode is set to "Answer Synthesis"
  2. Verify documents contain searchable text content
  3. Check that semantic configuration is enabled on the search index