AI Search - Business Features and Benefits

AI Search is a semantic search capability built into Aras Innovator. It provides natural language search across Innovator items and the files attached to them.

Administrators define which ItemTypes and file types are searchable. AI Search then makes that scope available to every user through a single search experience, with results filtered by each user’s existing Innovator permissions.

Traditional Innovator search matches on exact keywords and requires the user to know the right terms, the right ItemType, or the right filter combination. Engineers, quality reviewers, and program managers often know what they are looking for in plain language, not in the vocabulary the data model uses.

AI Search closes that gap. A user can search using everyday language, and AI Search returns the items and documents that are conceptually relevant, not only the ones containing an exact keyword match.

• Faster discovery. Users find relevant parts, documents, and records without needing to know exact item numbers, property names, or filter syntax.
• Administrator-controlled scope. Administrators decide which ItemTypes and file types are included. Nothing is indexed unless an administrator has explicitly configured it.
• No bypass of existing permissions. AI Search results respect the Innovator permission model. A user does not see a result they would not already be authorized to see in standard Innovator search.
• Works alongside file content. When file handling is enabled for an ItemType, AI Search can also surface relevant files attached to items, not only item properties.
• Available on SaaS and on-premises/private-cloud. AI Search supports full on-premises deployment, in addition to SaaS.

• Engineers and designers searching for parts, specifications, or prior work without knowing exact item numbers or classification paths.
• Quality and compliance reviewers locating documents and records by topic rather than by filename.
• Innovator administrators who configure and maintain what is searchable for their organization.
• External developers and integrators who consume the AI Search API through Edge API to build their own search experiences or agent tools.

An engineer starting a new design wants to check whether a similar part already exists before creating a new one. Rather than searching by exact item number or browsing through classification trees, the engineer types a plain language description into AI Search. AI Search returns a ranked list of items that are conceptually related, each linking directly back to the source record in Innovator, filtered to only the items the engineer is already authorized to see.