DevAid - Detailed Analysis

The Challenge

Government officials at BMZ were drowning in 200+ page PDF reports, spending 60% of their time manually parsing documents instead of making strategic decisions.

Critical insights were buried deep in bureaucratic text, slowing down vital development aid decisions.

The key insight: 60% time spent on manual review could be automated with AI document intelligence.

⚙️ Technical & Design Implementation

Human-Centered Design

• Conducted continuous discovery with ministry officials to map real workflows
• Shifted focus from conversational AI to instant visual synthesis after mid-project testing
• Co-created wireframes and user flows with non-technical staff to ensure adoption
• Iterated through weekly usability tests and design retrospectives

Full-Stack TypeScript

• React + TypeScript frontend
• Node.js + Express API
• PostgreSQL + vector search
• Sub-second RAG query responses

AI Pipeline

• HuggingFace SBERT embeddings (94% accuracy on German docs)
• Custom fine-tuned summarization models
• Smart chunking + contextual memory for multi-document reasoning

Production Infrastructure

• Dockerized micro-services with CI/CD
• End-to-end monitoring + security compliance
• Deployed in government environment with strict data-privacy protocols

📈 Results & Impact

90%

reduction in document review time

30→3

pages (reports → summaries)

85%

adoption rate within pilot teams

4.6/5

user satisfaction

Complete government handoff with documentation and training

"PortfolioNavigator changed the way we read," noted one official during the final review — turning information overload into instant understanding.

🧩 Key Learnings

Design thinking is continuous: every iteration made the product more aligned with actual use.
Failures guided the pivot: the wrong prototype was the right lesson.
AI works best when invisible: value came not from the model, but from the clarity it enabled.
Collaboration drives adoption: by co-creating, users became advocates.

Deep Dive:PortfolioNavigator