Summary

A client's Data & Analytics (D&A) team was receiving contract attachments and content sections manually downloaded from a portal system. This manual handoff was a bottleneck for their Contract AI project. AceNet Consulting designed and delivered an automated extraction solution using Microsoft Power Platform and Azure Blob Storage - pulling attachments via API, maintaining a versioned database, and providing a user interface for triggering AI audit requests.

Challenge

Contract attachments and content sections stored in Portal were being manually downloaded and shared with the D&A team for AI analysis. This created a dependency on human intervention for every data transfer cycle, slowing down the Contract AI workflow and introducing operational inefficiency.

Objective

Automate the extraction of contract attachments and content sections from Portal using available APIs. Store the extracted documents in a designated file space. Remove the manual download-and-share process entirely. Future scope identified: extend automation to trigger frequent, recurring extractions of new contract attachments as they are created or updated.

Solution

Develop an automated, API-driven pipeline that:

• Retrieves contract files and attachments from Portal, including content sections
• Maintains a contract attachments database, updated according to Portal metadata (last changed date, last created date, contract status)
• Provides a user interface (UI) within Power Apps (Canvas App) for users to select audits and trigger AI requests to the Contract AI system, with filter options

Execution

• Identified and integrated the Portal API for "Get Attachments" to retrieve all related files, including contents sections
• Built the automated extraction method to pull documents on a one-time basis initially, with metadata tracking to support future incremental updates
• Stored retrieved files in Azure Blob Storage
• Developed a Canvas App in Power Apps as the front-end interface
• Used Power Automate to orchestrate the extraction, storage, and AI trigger workflows
• Incorporated filter options in the UI to allow users to select specific audits before triggering AI processing

Results

• Metadata now surfaces the latest change and creation dates for all contract records
• The "Get Attachments" API retrieves all related attachments, including content sections, without manual intervention
• Users have an interface to select the specific audits they wish to trigger
• The Contract AI system can process item requests based on user audit selection

Tech Stack

Component Tool

Front-End InterfacePower Apps (Canvas App)Automation & OrchestrationPower AutomateFile StorageAzure Blob Storage

Key Takeaways

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Business/Solution Architecture | Deliverable

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