Setting Up and Managing the Knowledge Base

With the knowledge base, the organization centrally provides reliable information. Administrators can publish links and knowledge documents for employees. Published knowledge documents are also automatically included when their content is relevant to a regular chat question.

You manage the knowledge base via Management → Knowledge Base. This screen displays existing links and central knowledge documents together in one table.

What Employees See

Published items are visible to employees under Knowledge Base → Organization → Documents (or under their own branch). The view contains links and documents available to the entire organization or to the employee’s branch. Document templates intended for certain departments also appear under branch → My Departments for employees of those departments.

There are two ways employees use the content:

1. Opening from the knowledge base — an employee opens a link or reads a published knowledge document.
2. Automatic use in chat — for a relevant question, AI-Corporate searches the published central knowledge documents within the allowed scope. The employee does not need to select the document with the paperclip first.

Links and Knowledge Documents

A Link is a visible knowledge base item that refers to a webpage, video, or other external source. A knowledge document contains processed Markdown content and can therefore also be searched as a central source for the chat.

Organization and Branch Level

Each knowledge document has a scope:

• Entire organization — available to all employees in the environment.
• Branches — only available to employees of one or more selected branches.

Environment administrators can manage organization-wide knowledge and knowledge for selected branches. A branch administrator manages only knowledge for the branches for which they have management rights. The branch selection prevents local information from reaching employees of another branch.

Choose the scope based on the content, not on who uploads the document. For example, a general information security policy fits Entire organization; a local accessibility instruction fits the relevant branch.

The Knowledge Base Overview

The table combines existing knowledge base links with central knowledge documents. You can:

• search and filter;
• add items with the plus button;
• adjust the order with the drag handle;
• open an item to change settings;
• publish, archive, or delete documents;
• import or export an OKF bundle.

The Index column and the set order determine how items are ranked in Documents. Use the drag handle to place important or frequently used knowledge higher.

Adding an Item

Click the plus button above the table. You can choose from three types of content.

Link

Choose Link for an existing webpage, video, course, or other external source. Fill in a clear title, description, category, and URL. This item becomes visible in Documents, but the external page is not automatically indexed as a knowledge document.

Use a link when the source is maintained elsewhere and employees mainly need to navigate directly to that source.

Add Document

Choose Add Document to write a knowledge document directly.

1. Enter a unique filename and a recognizable title.
2. Choose a type and add a short description and relevant tags.
3. Write or paste the content in the Markdown editor.
4. Choose the publication status and scope.
5. Save the document.

This option is suitable for policies, work instructions, FAQs, and other knowledge you want to maintain directly in AI-Corporate.

Use headings to divide the content logically. Short, independent paragraphs and clear subheadings improve both readability and finding relevant fragments in the chat.

Add Source File

Choose Add Source File to use a file from File Management as a knowledge document. You can select an existing file or upload a new file first.

AI-Corporate processes the source file and converts it into canonical Markdown. This gives different file types one consistent format for display, exchange, and search indexing.

Supported sources include PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Markdown, and text files. PDF, Word, and PowerPoint files are automatically processed, including text, document structure, and where possible relevant visual information such as tables, charts, forms, and images. This preserves more usable content than plain text extraction alone.

After processing, always check:

• whether all important chapters are present;
• whether tables and lists have been transferred understandably;
• whether conclusions from charts or images are recorded;
• whether title, description, type, and tags are correct;
• whether quality warnings still require action;
• whether status and scope are set correctly.

Check Before Publication

A technically successful extraction does not automatically mean all visual meaning has been correctly transferred. Compare the Markdown of important documents with the original file.

Setting Metadata

In Set Knowledge Document you manage the content and context of a knowledge document.

Field	Use
Filename	Technical, recognizable name for a new Markdown document.
Title	Name employees see in the knowledge base and in source references.
Type	Content type, e.g., policy, manual, protocol, or frequently asked questions.
Description	Short explanation of purpose and content.
Tags	Search and management terms, separated by commas.
Source or resource	Origin or owner of the knowledge.
Source URL	Link to the original or current external source.
Modification date	Date the source was substantively updated.
Publication status	Draft, Published, or Archived.
Scope	Entire organization or selected branches.
Canonical Markdown	The content displayed, exported, and indexed.

A good title, description, and set of tags help administrators maintain the collection. For substantive answering, the actual document text remains most important.

Status and Publication Workflow

Use the three statuses as a simple editorial workflow:

• Draft — only available in management; not yet visible or searchable for employees.
• Published — visible in Documents and available for relevant chat questions within the set scope.
• Archived — kept in management but not actively available to employees.

A safe workflow is:

1. Add the document as Draft.
2. Check content, metadata, and scope.
3. Test some representative questions.
4. Set the document to Published.
5. Archive an outdated version before publishing the replacement.

Avoid having two published documents contradict each other. If different versions intentionally coexist, clearly state their validity period and scope.

Editing Existing Knowledge

Open a knowledge document from the table to adjust metadata or canonical Markdown. After saving, the content is re-indexed. The updated version can then be used for subsequent chat questions.

For source files, the original file remains available as the origin, while the central knowledge is managed as organizational property. Knowledge documents are therefore not dependent on the uploader’s personal account. If that account is later deleted, the managed knowledge remains preserved.

Delete a knowledge document only when the content, index, and stored source may be permanently removed. Use Archived when you no longer want to actively offer the knowledge but want to keep it.

What is OKF?

OKF (Open Knowledge Format) is the transferable format of the central knowledge base. An OKF document consists of plain Markdown with optional YAML frontmatter for metadata. This keeps the content readable and editable outside AI-Corporate as well.

A simple OKF document looks like this:

---
type: beleid
title: Inkoopprotocol
description: Afspraken voor bestellingen en leveranciers
tags:
  - inkoop
  - compliance
resource: https://intranet.example.org/inkoopprotocol
source_format: pdf
source_file: inkoopprotocol.pdf
---

# Inkoopprotocol

## Goedkeuring

Bestellingen boven het vastgestelde drempelbedrag vereisen voorafgaande goedkeuring.

The Markdown forms the canonical content. The frontmatter describes the document. Use normal Markdown links for references to other documents or sources.

Publication status and branch scope remain separate security settings in AI-Corporate; they are not part of the transferable document.

Exporting an OKF Bundle

Click the export button above the table to download the managed knowledge documents as a ZIP bundle. The bundle contains:

• one Markdown file per knowledge document;
• an index.md with links to the documents;
• a log.md with information about the export.

Use an export as a transferable backup, for content review outside AI-Corporate, or as a basis for exchange with another environment. Links from the visible knowledge base are not canonical knowledge documents and therefore are not part of the document bundle.

Importing an OKF Bundle

Click the import button and select a ZIP file with Markdown documents. AI-Corporate reads the documents and metadata and creates central knowledge documents from them.

Imported documents start as Draft. Check each document before publishing. Pay particular attention to:

• title and type;
• conversion of internal links;
• scope and branch selection;
• source data and modification date;
• duplicate or outdated documents;
• readability of the Markdown.

A bundle can contain a maximum of 25 Markdown documents and 8 MB of packed and unpacked content. Divide a larger knowledge collection over multiple bundles.

Checking if the Knowledge Base Works Well

After an important change, test the full user path:

1. Publish a document with a clearly recognizable fact.
2. Log in as an employee within the set scope.
3. Check whether the document appears under Knowledge Base → Organization → Documents (or under the own branch) and can be opened.
4. Ask a question in a regular chat for which the document is relevant, without manually linking the file.
5. Check whether the answer matches the document and the central source is recognizably mentioned.
6. Repeat the test with an employee outside the scope; they should not see the branch knowledge or use it via chat.

Also test an irrelevant question. The knowledge base should be used as an additional source when content-wise necessary, not as mandatory context for every answer.

Guidelines for a Reliable Knowledge Base

• Assign a content owner per topic.
• Use consistent titles, types, and tags.
• Include the validity date or version in the document if relevant.
• Publish only verified information.
• Archive outdated knowledge and prevent contradictory active versions.
• Limit branch-specific knowledge to the correct scope.
• Keep documents clear with distinct headings and independent paragraphs.
• Test important documents both in Documents and with representative chat questions.

For explanation about files an employee links to a single chat themselves, see Chat with Documents.

SharePoint Folder as Central Knowledge Source

An administrator can link a SharePoint folder to the knowledge base. The documents from that folder and subfolders are automatically processed; employees use them via the existing knowledge base and in relevant chat questions, regardless of the chosen language model. They do not need to enable their personal SharePoint integration for this.

Prepare Microsoft

First follow the complete steps for the organization app, the application permission Sites.Selected, admin consent and the separate read site grant in Setting up Microsoft 365. The server connection uses the same organization app as for sign-in and does not require an additional redirect URL.

Link folder

1. Open Admin → Knowledge Base → Add → SharePoint folders → Link folder.
2. Enter a title and paste the URL of the folder. Use the normal folder URL or the URL from the SharePoint file view with an id parameter, not an invitation link.
3. Choose the same school/location or environment rights and target audience as for a separate knowledge document. Select departments if applicable.
4. Choose Published to make the content available and save. A draft remains outside the offered knowledge.
5. Check the processing status. Refresh updates the status; Sync now rechecks the folder and retries errors.

Target audience of the folder

The content is shared according to the chosen knowledge base permissions, also with users without their own SharePoint access. Individual SharePoint permissions are not inherited. Only link a folder whose entire content is intended for this audience.

New and changed documents are automatically checked, normally every 15 minutes. Deleted or moved files from the folder disappear at the next check. There is a maximum of 250 supported documents per source and 25 MiB per document. Supported formats are PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, Markdown, text, CSV, HTML and JSON. External shortcuts and other file formats are skipped.

Edit the content in SharePoint and manage the knowledge base permissions via the linked source. Unlinking immediately hides the documents and stops new imports; saved private copies are not permanently deleted by this. In case of errors, check the organization app, the site grant, the folder URL and the secret. During a connection error, the source content is not offered. Recovery can be done via a next synchronization.

Availability

This extension was published and tested on October 14, 2026 for OnderwijsSupport on AI-Corporate. Ask platform management to confirm availability on another environment before setting up Microsoft permissions.