Product family · two fixed lanes

Turn docs and tribal knowledge into one reliable ops loop.

Northstar packages a supervised system that either turns recurring documents into validated actions or answers internal questions from an approved source set. Pick one lane first, then connect the loop.

Best fit for teams drowning in mail, PDFs, SOPs, and repeated internal questions.

Ops & Knowledge System System surfaces

Documents-to-actionsExceptions

Guardrails and approvalShare

Exceptions

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6 records	Source	Validation	Target system	Last check	Status
Invoice_8841.pdf1Email attachment	ERP write	Missing PO	amount > $5k	Needs review	Live
Vendor onboarding formForm upload	Sheets row	Missing fields	tax-id	Needs review	Idle
Weekly order exportSpreadsheet	CRM update	Validated	dedupe-pass	Queued	Idle
PO_scan_2201.pngDrive upload	ERP write	Validated	PO-2201	Completed	Idle
Receipt batch · May 12Inbox watch	QuickBooks	Validated	11 receipts	Completed	Idle
Application packet.zipUpload folder	CRM task	Low confidence	OCR gate	Queued	Idle

Pain versus outcome

Replace drag with one approved operating path.

What it replaces

Operators copying the same fields from attachments and inboxes into trackers or business systems.
Teams searching across drives, chats, and old tickets for the same answer again.
Silent duplicates, missing values, and malformed records discovered only after downstream work breaks.

What it creates

One auditable path from a recurring input to a validated system update.
A first-pass answer that points back to the source material used.
A visible exception queue for anything that is incomplete, conflicting, or outside the approved rules.

Scope boundary

Fixed scope before expansion.

Family boundary before you pick a lane

One source or input bundle, one destination or answer surface, one exception owner, and one starting lane live with an audit trail.

Included

Start with one lane: documents-to-actions or internal Q&A
1 approved source or input set with clear ownership
1 destination system or answer surface
Human exception path for low-confidence cases

Deliberately out of scope

Company-wide knowledge platform rebuild as the first step
Autonomous writes without validation or audit trail
Answers without citations or an approved source bundle

Choose a fixed lane

One system shell. Fixed lanes inside.

Start with this lane

Documents-to-Actions

A packaged solution that turns one recurring email, PDF, form, or spreadsheet flow into validated records and downstream actions.

One intake source, one extraction schema, one destination system, and one approval rule, live with an exception queue.

Fixed package: from $2,500 · Typical range $2,500-4,500

Included

1 recurring input type, for example order email, invoice PDF, or intake form
1 required data schema with validation rules
1 CRM, ERP, tracker, or task destination
Deduplication, retries, approval, and an auditable exception path

Deliberately out of scope

Automating every document and operating process at once
Guessing missing values or approving ambiguous records
Replacing the source or destination system in the first package

Lane acceptance test

Replay 20 representative inputs against the agreed schema. Pass only if silent duplicates stay at 0, every event is logged, required fields are at least 90% complete, and every missing, conflicting, or low-confidence value creates an exception record.

Start with this lane

Knowledge Assistant

A packaged solution for teams that need a reliable first answer from their internal knowledge, without inventing certainty where the docs are weak.

One team or source bundle, one permission model, one answer surface, citations for every factual response, and refusal behavior when evidence is missing.

Fixed package: from $2,500 · Typical range $2,500-4,500

Included

1 curated document set or folder group
1 user audience, for example internal ops or support staff
Citation-first answers with confidence-aware escalation
Question logging so gaps in the knowledge base stay visible

Deliberately out of scope

Open-ended research outside the approved source set
Silent guessing when no grounded answer exists
A broad enterprise search replacement

Lane acceptance test

Evaluate 30 real questions against the approved source set. Pass only if every factual answer includes a supporting citation or explicit refusal, permission violations stay at 0, and reviewer acceptance reaches at least 90% on questions the source set should answer.

System surfaces

Integrations, examples, and control points.

Integrations and examples

One control loop for documents-to-actions and internal Q&A: approved sources, validated writes or cited answers, and an exception owner.

Gmail, Outlook, Google Drive, forms, uploads, or watched folders
PDFs, screenshots, spreadsheets, order emails, invoices, or application packets
HubSpot, Salesforce, Odoo, QuickBooks, Buildium, or Google Sheets
Slack, Telegram, ClickUp, or email for approvals and exception alerts
Notion, Google Drive, Confluence, or an internal docs folder

Guardrails and approval

Operational automation earns trust by making uncertainty and failure visible, not by forcing every input through the happy path.

Required fields are validated before any downstream write is allowed.
Duplicate inputs are detected before they create a second record or action.
Low-confidence extraction and business-rule exceptions wait for a named reviewer.
Every retry, approval, failure, and final write stays visible in the audit trail.

Acceptance test

Know what counts as working.

Pass condition

Pick one lane. Rehearse a fixed sample set. The package passes only if outputs are validated, exceptions route to a human, and every write or answer is auditable.

The audit defines the input, schema, target, and exception rules. Northstar then quotes one fixed-scope, fixed-price milestone. Build starts after approval, not before.

If the acceptance test does not pass, you do not pay.

Measures reviewed with the team

Parse rate without correction
Exception rate by reason
Duplicate action rate
Time to approved system update
Answers with valid citations
Correct abstention and escalation rate

Three-step delivery

One practical rollout path.

Step 01

Define the acceptance test

We choose one representative input, define the required output schema, and agree exactly which records may pass automatically versus wait for review.

Step 02

Replay real inputs

We run recent examples through extraction, validation, deduplication, and the exception queue until the system behavior is observable and repeatable.

Step 03

Launch one auditable path

The chosen flow goes live with approvals, retries, alerts, and logs before any second document type or destination is added.

Fit check

Strong fit, weak fit, and what not to force.

Good fit

The same type of operational input arrives often enough to rehearse against real examples.
The destination fields and business rules can be written down.
A named operator can review exceptions during the engagement.
The same questions recur often enough to create interruption cost.

Not a fit yet

Every input has a different structure and no stable downstream action.
The team wants to automate all back-office operations in the first milestone.
No one can decide whether an ambiguous record should pass or stop.
Your core knowledge does not exist in usable documents yet.

FAQ

Practical questions before work starts.

What happens when extraction is uncertain?

The record stops in the exception queue with the source attached. The package does not guess through a missing field or low-confidence value.

Can it write directly to our CRM or ERP?

Yes, after the record passes the agreed validation and approval rules. Higher-risk cases can remain draft-only throughout the engagement.

Can this answer customers directly?

It can, but the safer first step is usually an internal or draft-first workflow. Direct customer answers make sense only when the source material is stable and the risk is low.

Call to action

Start with the narrowest useful package.

What to send Northstar

Tell us whether the first pain is documents-to-actions or internal Q&A. Northstar will reply with the lane boundary and acceptance test.

Starting lane: documents-to-actions or internal knowledge
Sample inputs or source set the team already trusts
Destination system or answer surface
Owner for exceptions and residual risk

Browse all solutions

Commercial model

Fixed package

from $2,500

Typical range: $2,500-4,500 · Per starting lane.

If the acceptance test does not pass, you do not pay.

Northstar does not ask you to buy a broad automation program upfront. We define one acceptance test, quote one fixed package, build after agreement, and widen scope only if the first workflow passes.

Founding client rate: first 5 clients get 25% off in exchange for a public case study with metrics.

After launch, every package hands off into Agent Care - monitoring, eval regressions, and one measured improvement per month.