AI document redaction for a professional membership body

The challenge

Staff were redacting personal information by hand before documents could be shared, which took a lot of time, relied on people spotting every name and address, and had to stay compliant with GDPR throughout. The organisation asked us to design an app that does the finding automatically and leaves the decisions with staff.

What we built

• Azure AI Language scans each uploaded document and identifies personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
• Azure Blob Storage holds each document temporarily and encrypted while it is processed, so data transfers meet GDPR and the organisation's security requirements.
• Power Apps is the screen staff use to submit a document, see what the AI has found, and approve or adjust each redaction before anything is changed.
• Power Automate runs the workflow from start to finish, moving each document between the services and back to SharePoint.
• A desktop flow (RPA) replaces the approved text inside the Word or PDF file itself, so each redaction lands exactly where the information was found.
• SharePoint is where documents start and where the redacted version is saved, so staff keep working in the place they already use.

How it works

1. A member of staff submits the document through the Power App. PDF, Word and plain text files are all supported.
2. Azure AI Language reads the document and flags the personal information it finds.
3. Staff see each suggested redaction in the app and approve it, adjust it or bring specific items back before anything is changed.
4. A desktop flow replaces the approved text in the Word or PDF document itself.
5. The redacted document is saved back to SharePoint ready to share, and Power Automate closes off the workflow.

There is more on the service on our AI document redaction page.