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Implementation Guide

Complete delivery process from contract to production

This guide outlines the entire implementation journey, what we deliver, what you provide, and how we ensure success.

Overview​

Timeline​

Standard Implementation: 4-8 weeks

PhaseDurationDeliverable
Discovery & Planning1-2 weeksArchitecture & project plan
Implementation3-5 weeksWorking system
Deployment & Training1-2 weeksProduction launch
Support & Optimization3-6 monthsOngoing improvements

Total time to production: 5-9 weeks

Phase 1: Discovery & Planning​

Duration: 1-2 weeks

Week 1: Assessment​

Our Activities:

  • Kickoff meeting with stakeholders
  • Document landscape analysis
  • Use case definition workshop
  • Integration requirements gathering
  • Security and compliance review

Your Responsibilities:

  • Provide access to document repositories
  • Identify 3-5 key stakeholders
  • Share 20-30 sample queries
  • Define success criteria
  • Provide integration credentials (read-only)

Deliverables:

  • Document inventory report
  • Use case catalog (10-20 scenarios)
  • Integration architecture diagram
  • Risk assessment
  • Preliminary ROI estimate

Week 2: Architecture & Planning​

Our Activities:

  • Design system architecture
  • Define data indexing strategy
  • Plan integration approach
  • Create project timeline
  • Set up development environment

Your Responsibilities:

  • Review and approve architecture
  • Identify pilot user group (10-20 people)
  • Provide test data samples
  • Confirm deployment environment (cloud/on-premise)

Deliverables:

  • Detailed architecture document
  • Project plan with milestones
  • Resource requirements
  • Testing strategy
  • Fixed-price statement of work

Milestone: Architecture approval & SOW signed

Phase 2: Implementation​

Duration: 3-5 weeks

Week 3: Infrastructure & Data Ingestion​

Our Activities:

  • Set up infrastructure (servers, databases)
  • Configure vector store
  • Build document ingestion pipeline
  • Index first batch of documents (1,000-5,000)
  • Set up monitoring

Your Responsibilities:

  • Provide production data samples
  • Grant necessary access credentials
  • Review indexed documents for accuracy

Deliverables:

  • Running infrastructure
  • Document ingestion pipeline
  • Initial knowledge base indexed
  • Monitoring dashboard

Week 4: RAG Pipeline & Search​

Our Activities:

  • Configure hybrid search (BM25 + vector)
  • Implement query expansion
  • Set up cross-encoder reranking
  • Train domain-specific models
  • Optimize retrieval parameters

Your Responsibilities:

  • Provide domain terminology lists
  • Test search with sample queries (50+)
  • Provide feedback on result relevance

Deliverables:

  • Working search functionality
  • Query expansion configured
  • Reranking optimized
  • Search accuracy report (target: 75%+)

Week 5: Conversational Interface​

Our Activities:

  • Build chat interface
  • Implement conversation memory
  • Add follow-up question handling
  • Configure source citations
  • Build admin dashboard

Your Responsibilities:

  • Test conversational flow
  • Provide UI/UX feedback
  • Define user roles and permissions

Deliverables:

  • Chat interface (web + API)
  • Multi-turn conversation support
  • Source attribution
  • Admin dashboard

Week 6: Security & Integration​

Our Activities:

  • Configure PII detection
  • Set up content filtering
  • Implement access controls
  • Integrate with SSO
  • Connect to ticketing/chat systems

Your Responsibilities:

  • Provide SSO configuration
  • Define security policies
  • Test access controls
  • Provide integration endpoints

Deliverables:

  • Security guardrails active
  • SSO integration complete
  • External system integrations
  • Security audit report

Week 7: Testing & Optimization​

Our Activities:

  • Load testing (100-1,000 concurrent users)
  • Quality evaluation (RAGAS metrics)
  • Performance optimization
  • Bug fixes
  • Documentation creation

Your Responsibilities:

  • Pilot user testing (10-20 users)
  • Collect feedback
  • Validate accuracy and performance

Deliverables:

  • Performance test report
  • Quality evaluation report
  • Bug-free system
  • User documentation

Milestone: User acceptance testing passed

Phase 3: Deployment & Training​

Duration: 1-2 weeks

Week 8: Production Deployment​

Our Activities:

  • Deploy to production environment
  • Configure production monitoring
  • Set up backup and disaster recovery
  • Finalize security configuration
  • Production smoke testing

Your Responsibilities:

  • Provide production environment access
  • Approve final deployment
  • Communication to end users

Deliverables:

  • Production system live
  • Monitoring dashboards
  • Backup strategy implemented
  • Deployment documentation

Week 9: Training & Handoff​

Our Activities:

  • End-user training (2-3 sessions)
  • Admin training (1-2 sessions)
  • Create training materials
  • Knowledge transfer to your team
  • Handoff meeting

Your Responsibilities:

  • Organize training sessions
  • Attend knowledge transfer
  • Assign internal system owner

Deliverables:

  • Training materials
  • Admin guides
  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Maintenance documentation

Milestone: Production launch complete

Phase 4: Support & Optimization​

Duration: 3-6 months (included)

Ongoing Activities​

Our Responsibilities:

  • Technical support (email + Slack)
  • Monthly performance reviews
  • System optimization
  • Bug fixes and updates
  • Usage analytics reports

Deliverables (Monthly):

  • Performance report
  • Usage analytics
  • Optimization recommendations
  • System health check

What You Provide​

Required from Your Team​

Documents & Data:

  • Access to document repositories
  • Sample documents (100-1,000 for testing)
  • Domain terminology and acronyms
  • Existing knowledge base (if available)

Technical Resources:

  • Deployment environment (cloud or on-premise)
  • Integration credentials (SSO, APIs)
  • Network access for our team
  • Test user accounts

Stakeholders:

  • Executive sponsor (approvals)
  • Technical point of contact (integrations)
  • Domain experts (terminology, validation)
  • Pilot users (testing)

Time Commitment:

  • Weekly status calls (1 hour)
  • Review sessions (2-3 hours/week)
  • Testing and feedback (5-10 hours total)
  • Training sessions (2-4 hours)

What We Deliver​

Complete System​

Software & Infrastructure:

  • Fully configured knowledge assistant
  • Production-ready deployment
  • Monitoring and alerting
  • Backup and disaster recovery

Documentation:

  • User guides
  • Admin manuals
  • API documentation
  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Architecture documentation

Training:

  • End-user training (2-3 sessions)
  • Administrator training (1-2 sessions)
  • Training materials and videos

Support:

  • 3-6 months technical support (included)
  • Email and Slack support
  • Monthly optimization reviews
  • System updates and patches

Success Criteria​

How We Measure Success​

Technical Metrics (measured during testing):

  • Search accuracy: 75%+ (RAGAS score)
  • Response time: <2 seconds (95th percentile)
  • System uptime: 99.9%
  • Error rate: <1%

Business Metrics (measured post-deployment):

  • User adoption: 70%+ within 3 months
  • Self-service rate: 60%+ of queries resolved
  • User satisfaction: 4.0+/5.0
  • Time saved: 1+ hour per employee per day

Acceptance Criteria (required for sign-off):

  • All functional requirements met
  • Performance targets achieved
  • Security audit passed
  • User training completed
  • Documentation delivered

Risk Management​

Common Challenges & Mitigations​

RiskMitigation
Poor document qualityDocument cleanup in Week 3, quality scoring
Low initial accuracyDomain model training, terminology tuning
Integration complexityAPI-first approach, standard protocols
User adoptionTraining program, champion identification
Performance issuesLoad testing in Week 7, scaling plan ready
Data security concernsSecurity audit in Week 1, compliance review

Post-Implementation​

Ongoing Support (3-6 months included)​

What's Included:

  • Unlimited email/Slack support
  • Monthly performance reviews
  • System optimization
  • Bug fixes
  • Minor enhancements
  • Usage analytics

What's Additional (optional):

  • 24/7 support: +$5K/month
  • Dedicated account manager: +$10K/month
  • Custom development: $150-200/hour
  • Additional training: $2K/session

Continuous Improvement​

We help you:

  • Monitor search quality over time
  • Identify knowledge gaps
  • Add new document sources
  • Expand to new use cases
  • Scale to more users

Monthly Reviews Include:

  • Usage analytics
  • Quality metrics
  • Cost analysis
  • Optimization recommendations
  • Roadmap planning

Customization Options​

Standard Customization (included)​

  • Domain terminology configuration
  • UI branding (logo, colors)
  • User role definitions
  • Basic integrations (1-3)
  • Response templates

Advanced Customization (+cost)​

  • Custom ML model training (+$20K-40K)
  • Complex integrations (4+) (+$10K-30K)
  • Multi-language support (+$15K-30K)
  • Advanced analytics (+$10K-20K)
  • White-label deployment (+$30K-50K)

Getting Started​

Next Steps​

  1. Schedule Discovery Call - Discuss your needs (free, 1 hour)
  2. Receive Proposal - Detailed SOW with fixed pricing
  3. Sign Contract - Kick off within 1-2 weeks
  4. Begin Implementation - Weekly updates, transparent delivery

Contact us: contact@recohut.com

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