Files to Prepare for an Internal AI Assistant
Learn what an internal AI assistant can and can’t do, which company files to prepare, what never to upload, and how to test it before rollout.
Key takeaways
- An internal assistant answers your team from your own company files: procedures, prices, policies, and approved replies, not general information.
- Its quality comes from the files before the tool: one current version of each file, written clearly, with no contradictions between files.
- Never upload passwords, customers’ personal data, or confidential contracts; the assistant does not need them to work.
- Test it with twenty real questions from your team before you adopt it, and assign one person to update its files whenever anything changes.
To get an AI assistant that actually helps your team, first prepare the company files it will answer from: your procedures manual, a list of products or services with approved prices, your policies, frequently asked questions and replies, and message templates. An internal assistant knows nothing about your business except what you give it, so if your files are old or contradictory, its answers will be too. And if you want someone to set it up for you, on Hylance at the time of writing, setup starts at around SAR 85 (about $23).
What is an internal assistant, and what does it do for your team?
An internal assistant is a space in ChatGPT or Claude where fixed instructions are written and your company files are uploaded, so an employee can ask in normal language and get an answer from those files. The difference between this and the chatbot you put on your website is that an internal assistant serves your own team, not website visitors, so it can know work details you do not publish to customers. Examples of what people might ask it every day:
- A customer service employee asks, “A customer wants to return a product after ten days. What should I tell them?” It answers from the return policy.
- A new employee asks, “What are the steps to prepare an order for shipping?” It answers from the procedures manual step by step.
- A sales manager asks, “Write me an offer for a customer who wants the mid-tier package.” It writes it using your approved prices and your company style.
- The business owner asks, “Summarize what our policy says about delivery outside the city,” when they forget what they wrote months ago.
When is an internal assistant worth it for your business?
It is worth it when the same questions keep coming up inside your team, and when the answer is written somewhere but no one can find it quickly. If your team is just two people sitting in one room, it may be enough for one to ask the other. But if you hire new employees from time to time, or your team works at different times, or you find yourself answering the same question every week, the assistant saves you time and keeps answers consistent for everyone.
On the other hand, it is not worth it for a business that has not documented its procedures yet. The assistant will not invent a return policy for you or decide your prices; it reads what you have written. If you do not have anything written down yet, start by documenting your procedures first, then build the assistant on top of them.
What files should you prepare before ordering?
These are the main files and what each one should contain. You do not have to prepare all of them on day one; start with the file your team gets asked about most often.
| File | What it contains | What the team asks about |
|---|---|---|
| Procedures manual | The steps for each repeated task in order: receiving the order, preparation, shipping, follow-up | How do I do this task? What comes after this step? |
| Products or services | Name, short description, approved price, and packages | How much is this? What is the difference between the two packages? |
| Policies | Shipping, returns, exchanges, and working hours | What should I tell the customer in this case? |
| Frequently asked questions | The customer questions that come up most often with the approved reply to each one | What is the approved reply to this question? |
| Message templates | Welcome, follow-up, apology, and reminder messages in your company style | Write me a follow-up message for a customer whose order is delayed |
Before you send the files, review them with three questions: Is this the latest version? Do two files say different things about the same issue? Is the writing clear for a new employee who does not know the business? One clear, current file is more useful than ten old, overlapping ones.
What should you never upload to the assistant?
The simple rule is this: upload what an employee needs to do the job, and do not upload anything that could harm you if someone who should not see it did see it. The assistant does not need these things to answer your team:
- Passwords and login details for your accounts, store, or bank.
- Customers’ personal data: names with phone numbers, addresses, and individual order details.
- Confidential contracts, salary details, and sensitive financial files.
- Any file you do not want every team member who uses the assistant to be able to see.
Also read the privacy settings in the tool you use before uploading any file, so you know how it handles your data and which people on your team can access the assistant.
How do you test the assistant before adopting it?
Test it with your team’s real questions, not general questions. Collect twenty questions your employees actually asked in the past few weeks, and write the correct answer next to each one, then ask the assistant and compare. Testing steps:
- Ask questions whose answers exist in the files, and make sure the answer matches what you wrote, not just what sounds reasonable.
- Ask a question that is not in your files; a good assistant says it cannot find the answer and refers the user to the responsible person, rather than inventing one.
- Ask about a price or policy you changed recently, to make sure it is reading the latest version.
- Ask it to write a customer message, and make sure the tone sounds like your company.
After launch, assign one person to be responsible for updating the assistant’s files: whenever a price, policy, or procedure changes, the old file should be replaced with the new one on the same day. An assistant whose files are not kept up to date gives outdated answers confidently, and that is worse than not answering at all.
Common mistakes when setting up an internal assistant
- Uploading all company files at once without sorting them, so the assistant answers from an old file that was forgotten among the rest.
- Relying on its answers for prices and policies without testing, then discovering the mistake from an angry customer.
- Using it instead of a manager’s decision in exceptional cases; the assistant answers from rules, while exceptions should be decided by a person.
- Not giving it clear instructions: which language to answer in, what style to use, and what to do when it cannot find the answer.
- Forgetting to train the team on how to ask it, so employees stop using it after a week.
How much does it cost to set up an assistant for your team on Hylance?
The following figures are approximate, based on services published on Hylance at the time of writing, and the exact price is shown on each service card in your currency. Setting up an internal AI assistant for your team on ChatGPT or Claude using your company files starts at around SAR 85 (about $23), turning your procedures manual into questions and answers plus a short test for a new employee starts at around SAR 55 (about $15), and ten ready-made prompt templates for your team’s daily tasks start at around SAR 35 (about $9). In your order message, explain what your team works on, which questions come up most often, and which tool you use, and attach the files after removing anything the assistant does not need.
You pay from your Hylance wallet, and the amount stays held by the platform until you confirm delivery. If you cancel the order before delivery, the amount is returned to your wallet. If the seller delivers work that does not match what you agreed and does not fix it, open a dispute from the order page after delivery. And on your first order on the platform, you get a 10% discount.
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Frequently asked questions
What is an internal AI assistant for a company?
It is an assistant on ChatGPT or Claude set up with fixed instructions and files from your company, so it answers your employees’ day-to-day work questions from those files: how to carry out a certain procedure, what the return policy is, or what the approved reply is to a common question. It serves your team internally and does not reply to customers directly.
What files should I prepare for an AI assistant?
Prepare your procedures manual or work steps, a list of products or services with approved prices, policies such as shipping and returns, frequently asked questions and their approved replies, and message templates your team uses. The key is to have one current version of each file, with no passwords or customers’ personal data.
How much does it cost to set up an AI assistant for my team?
On Hylance, at the time of writing, setting up an internal assistant for your team from your company files starts at around SAR 85 (about $23), and ten ready-made prompt templates for your team’s daily tasks start at around SAR 35 (about $9). The exact price is shown on each service card in your currency.
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