How an FP&A Firm Cut Knowledge Searches to Seconds

The experts built a retrieval-augmented generation chatbot directly inside the firm's existing SharePoint environment rather than migrating content to a new system, preserving permissions and connecting to where the firm's institutional knowledge actually lived. Analysts query in plain language and get cited answers drawn from past financial models, memos, and methodologies. Knowledge that once required asking a senior colleague or hours of manual searching became retrievable in seconds.

A custom retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) chatbot built on a custom/proprietary model and integrated with SharePoint. It pairs RAG-based knowledge management and search with a conversational interface, returning citations and respecting role-based access controls that mirror existing SharePoint permissions.

New-hire ramp time collapsed as analysts accessed institutional knowledge independently from day one, dramatically reducing onboarding cost. The firm also became a white-label distribution partner, deploying the system to its own clients and generating a new revenue stream from the engagement.

The engagement ran about two to four months, with extra indexing and retrieval tuning needed up front to handle the firm's unstructured folder organization before query quality reached an acceptable level.

FP&A firms, financial advisory practices, and consulting organizations with years of institutional knowledge locked in document repositories and long new-hire ramp times.