Best Practices for Custom Collections: How to Build a Smarter AI Assistant

So you’re building Custom Collections in Coop AI. 

Congratulations! You're on your way to molding an AI assistant that will supercharge your team's workflow. To effectively meet your team's specific needs, it's important to understand the best way to use Custom Collections before you start uploading documents.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through our proven best practices for using Coop AI. Let’s get started!

Plan Before You Build your AI Help Desk

Before you start creating Custom Collections, consider how you want to organize your content. This will make setup and updates easier in the future.

• Think about what structure would best serve your workflow. Are there roles, regions, or document types you could build around? 
• Identify the files your team needs quick access to and group them based on what makes sense for your organization.

Determine Your Goal

Once you have a structure in mind, it’s time to think about your goal:

• Are you looking for the best answer from multiple sources? 
• Or are you comparing what different sources have to say? 

Your answer determines how to group files into a Collection.

Decide How to Group Files within Custom Collections

There are two ways to group your files: a Single Collection with Multiple Files or Separate Collections.

Single Collection with Multiple Files

• Use this grouping method when you want the most relevant answer.

• Some examples of this would be a collection with multiple HR documents or investor overlays. 
• Let’s say you create a single guidelines hub. Add the guidelines documents into a single collection. When a user asks Coop AI a question, such as, “Can I use rental income from an ADU to qualify a borrower?” Coop AI will scan the guidelines hub and give you the most relevant answer from the entire set.

Separate Collections

• Create multiple collections when you want to ask the same question to multiple sources and compare their responses.

• An example would be One Collection per investor overlay (e.g. Chase, Wells Fargo, UWM).

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We’re continuing to improve Coop AI’s comparison capabilities, so a well-thought-out structure will set up your team for long-term success.

Organize Collections by Audience or Topic

Collections can be created by team, department, or topic. 

Here are some examples:

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Choose Collection Visibility

Only users with access to Coop AI can chat with the files inside it. Keep sensitive content private or permissioned as needed.

Maintain Your Custom Collections Regularly

Once you’re set up, ensure your uploaded content is regularly updated to avoid mistakes. Remember, you feed the information to Coop AI. The tool is only as good as you build it.

Conclusion

Custom Collections are the backbone of a smart, AI-powered help desk. And when organized with intention, they become a scalable asset across your entire operation. 

By planning your structure, grouping files strategically, and maintaining content consistently, you empower your team to get faster, more accurate answers right when they need them. Start smart, build intentionally, and let Coop AI do the heavy lifting.

‍Not using Coop AI yet? Schedule a demo with our team to explore all the ways Coop AI can boost your team’s workflow.