Build a Policy Reference Assistant with Claude Projects

1. Go to claude.ai
2. Click Sign Up and create an account with your email
3. Once logged in, click Upgrade to Claude Pro in the bottom left of the sidebar
4. Complete payment ($20/month)

What you should see: Your account now shows "Claude Pro" in the sidebar, and you can access additional features including Projects.

Before setting up the project, gather the documents you'll upload. The best documents to include:

• Advising handbook (advising office provides this, often on the office website)
• General education/core curriculum requirements (from academic catalog)
• Graduation requirements for your assigned programs/departments
• Transfer credit policies
• Academic standing policies (warning, probation, suspension, dismissal)
• Common advising FAQs if your office has a written version

Export or save these as PDF, Word (.docx), or plain text (.txt) files. If they're only available as web pages, you can copy-paste the text into a .txt file.

1. In Claude's left sidebar, click Projects (look for a folder icon or "Projects" label)
2. Click Create Project or the + button
3. Name your project: "Advising Policy Reference — [Your Institution Initials]"
4. In the project description field, write: "Policy reference assistant for academic advising at [your institution type]. Contains advising handbook, catalog requirements, and policy FAQs."

What you should see: A new project workspace with an area to add files and a conversation interface.

1. In the project, click Add content or the upload icon
2. Upload your prepared files — Claude Projects accepts PDFs, Word documents, and text files
3. Upload them one at a time; Claude will process each one
4. After uploading, you'll see the document titles listed in the project's knowledge section

What you should see: Your documents listed in the project sidebar, with a confirmation that they've been processed. Troubleshooting: If a PDF is failing to upload, try saving it as a Word document or copying the text into a .txt file instead.

1. Click Project Instructions or System Prompt in the project settings
2. Type the following:

You are an academic advising policy reference assistant for [institution name/type].

Your job is to answer advisor questions about institutional policies, degree requirements, and advising procedures based on the documents uploaded to this project.

When answering:
- Cite which document and section your answer comes from
- If the policy is in the documents, quote the relevant language
- If the answer isn't clearly in the documents, say so — do not make up policy
- Use plain language — explain what the policy means in practice, not just the technical language
- If the question involves a specific student situation, remind the advisor to verify in Banner/DegreeWorks for that student's actual record

Always flag if a policy might have exceptions or require additional approval.

Start a conversation in the project and ask questions you regularly face:

Test 1: "What is the policy for taking a course pass/fail after the first week of class?" Test 2: "How many credit hours does a student need to be considered full-time for financial aid purposes?" Test 3: "What is the process for a student to apply for a late withdrawal?"

Read the responses carefully. If Claude gives a correct answer with a document citation, your project is working. If it says it can't find the answer, the relevant document may not be uploaded or the text may be in an image-only PDF (common problem — use OCR to extract text).

What you should see: Answers that cite specific sections of your uploaded documents — e.g., "According to the Advising Handbook, Section 3.2: ..."