Intelligence · Module
Research
Multi-step research where every claim links to evidence you can open
Research is planned to run multi-step investigations over permitted internal sources, certified metrics and licensed web search. Every factual sentence is checked against its evidence before a person reviews and publishes the report.
Research you can defend
Competitor scans, supplier checks and regulatory watches take an analyst days, and it is hard to tell which claims are sourced. Research is designed so that every factual sentence in a report links to evidence: a verbatim quote, the source, its publication date and the date it was accessed. Research is eligible from W2 but outside the Year-1 boundary; the build is planned for W3. In Year 1, Copilot web-grounded answers are the substitute where allowed.
Plan first, then run
A research project states a question, objective, scope, allowed source types (Knowledge collections, certified metrics, licensed web search, uploaded files), deadline, budget and visibility. The system drafts a plan of sub-questions and sources. Nothing runs until a person approves the plan. Runs are durable and long-running, with progress, pause, resume and cancel, and partial results are kept. A cost estimate is shown up front and the run stops at the budget cap with a partial report.
Evidence and verification
Internal retrieval uses the requester's or agent's permissions. Web research goes through a contracted search provider with domain allow and deny lists; robots.txt and site terms are respected and paywalled content is excluded unless licensed (provider terms to be verified). Web pages are treated as untrusted input and can never trigger Actions. A citation verifier checks each claim; unsupported claims are removed or marked unverified.
Review and publish
Reports include an executive summary, findings by sub-question, contradictions, confidence labels, open questions and a source list with access dates. A reviewer approves, edits or rejects evidence and findings. Reviewed reports can be published into a Knowledge collection, where they become citable, or later to Strategy Studio. Monitors re-run topics on a schedule and send digests of new or changed evidence.
Guardrails
Regulatory findings never become product commitments; they become candidate rows for the Fact Register owners. Research on named private individuals is blocked by default and needs a documented purpose and Privacy Reviewer approval.
Features
What Research includes
Research projects
Question, objective, scope, allowed source types, deadline, budget and visibility.
Plan approval
AI-drafted sub-questions, source plan and expected outputs, edited and approved before any run.
Permission-aware internal retrieval
Searches Knowledge with the requester's or agent's scope.
Licensed web research
Contracted search provider, domain allow and deny lists, robots.txt respected, paywalled content excluded unless licensed.
Evidence extraction
Claim, verbatim quote, source, publication date, access date, source type and reliability rating.
Citation verification
Each factual sentence is checked against evidence; unsupported claims are removed or marked unverified.
Structured reports
Executive summary, findings, contradictions, confidence labels, open questions and source list.
Durable runs and budgets
Pause, resume and cancel; cost estimate before the run and a hard stop at the cap.
Human review
Reviewers approve, edit or reject evidence and findings; review status shown on the report.
Publish to Knowledge
Reviewed reports become citable in a collection, or go to Strategy Studio later.
Monitors
Scheduled re-runs on competitors, regulations or suppliers with change digests.
Templates
Competitor profile, market scan, vendor due diligence and regulatory watch.
Export and sharing
PDF and DOCX export; external sharing requires R3 approval.
Workflow
Plan, run, verify, publish
- 1
The user states the question, scope, sources and budget
- 2
AI drafts a plan of sub-questions and sources
- 3
The user edits and approves the plan
- 4
The run gathers evidence from permitted internal and web sources
- 5
The citation verifier checks every factual sentence
- 6
A reviewer approves findings
- 7
The report is published to Knowledge or exported
AI
AI skills and Digital Employees
Plan generation
Drafts sub-questions, a source plan and a cost estimate; runs only after approval.
Evidence extraction
Pulls claims, quotes, sources and dates through a quarantined reader.
Citation verifier
Entailment check of every factual sentence against its evidence.
Report drafting
Drafts reports with contradictions and confidence labels; publishing is human.
Regulatory watch
Routes regulatory findings as Fact Register candidates, never as commitments.
Digital Employees that use this module
They act through the same governed Actions as people; risky steps wait for approval.
Frequently asked questions
When is Research planned?
It is eligible from W2 but outside the Year-1 boundary. The build is planned for W3.
Can web content make the system do things?
No. Web content is treated as untrusted input and can never trigger Actions.
Is Research output legal or regulatory advice?
No. Regulatory outputs are labelled for verification and routed to internal owners first. Verify with counsel.
Can I research a private person?
Not by default. It requires a documented purpose and Privacy Reviewer approval.
See Research in your workflow
Tell us about your team and the outcomes you want. We will walk you through the apps, the Digital Employees and the plan for your industry.