Idmen vs. Copilot on SharePoint
Copilot can reach your files, and that helps. It searches the folders as they are. Nobody cleans them up, and it doesn’t see what sits between the documents.
Where searching your files stops
Copilot searches your files as they are at the moment you ask, and writes an answer from whatever looks closest. That helps when you need one document back. Across years of project work, it runs into this.
- 01
Seven versions, and it picks one
The proposal exists as a draft, as v2, as “final” and as “final-new”. Copilot picks the version that looks most like your question, not the one that went to the client. The answer doesn’t show which one it used.
- 02
Two documents, two rates
The quote says €145, the rate card says €155. Copilot doesn’t see a contradiction, it sees two sources. Which one ends up in your answer depends on how you phrased the question.
- 03
Permissions as they stand in SharePoint
Copilot shows whatever someone is allowed to open in SharePoint. In many organizations that’s wider than anyone intended. A folder that was opened to everyone years ago now shows up in every answer.
- 04
An answer, not finished work
You get a summary in a chat window. The proposal itself, in your template, checked for confidentiality and built on the final sources, is still yours to write.
A brain sees what no single document says
Copilot answers the question you ask, from the documents it finds for that question. The brain looks across all of your work, and finds what nobody asked about.
- 01Insights between documentsWhich approach wins more often, where timelines keep slipping, which client question comes back every year. No single file says it. A hundred files together do.
- 02New analysesQuestions about the whole instead of about one document. With which clients did we overrun most often, and what did those projects have in common?
- 03Workflows that work betterWhen a team starts doing something differently and it pays off, the brain notices and suggests capturing it.
- 04From one colleague to everyoneYour best people’s approach becomes, once you approve it, the workflow for the whole team. Pim works with it too.
- 05And kept up to dateWhen the work changes, the workflow changes with it. Six months from now it won’t lag behind how people really work.
I noticed something in last year’s proposals. In 7 of the 9 we won, the team started with a one-week baseline. In the 6 we lost, nobody did. Sanne always works this way.
Shall I add the baseline as a fixed step in the Building a proposal workflow?
@Pim yes, add it. Good catch.
Added to Building a proposal, version 5. From now on everyone works this way, me included.
Copilot on SharePoint, and a brain
- IdmenCopilot on SharePoint
- Works withCleaned-up knowledge: every project, client and workflow gets its own pageThe files as they are
- VersionsOnly the final version counts, outdated pieces come outPicks the version that looks most like the question
- ContradictionsFound and resolved before anyone uses themSees two sources, not a contradiction
- PermissionsPer client and per engagement, including what could be inferred from connectionsAs they stand in SharePoint, even when they’re too wide
- How you workCaptured workflows: which source wins, in what order, which check followsOnly what’s in the documents
- InsightsPatterns across projects, new analyses, workflows that turn out to work betterThe answer to the question you ask
- Best practicesOne colleague’s approach becomes everyone’s once approved, and stays up to dateStays with whoever came up with it
- What you getFinished work in your template, with a source on every lineAn answer in the chat window
- In which AIOne layer underneath ChatGPT, Claude and other tools that support MCP, plus Pim in Teams and emailOnly in Copilot
- Maintained byUs, with a monthly report on what we cleaned up and how good the answers wereNobody
You don’t have to choose. Copilot stays a good way to find one document. The brain makes sure what your AI reads is right, allowed, and finished.
When Copilot is enough
Copilot on SharePoint is enough if…
your archive is small and tidy, your SharePoint permissions are tight, and you mostly want to find one document. Then it’s a good search assistant you already pay for.
Idmen is for when…
your work is spread across hundreds of projects, versions and contradictions pile up, client confidentiality matters, and you want finished work instead of a search result. And when your best people’s approach should become everyone’s.