Grooper on Azure Marketplace

Want to get started using Grooper without setting up a bunch of infrastructure on your own? Check out Grooper on the Azure Marketplace!

• Create a Grooper VM with everything already installed and ready to go.
• Users can choose a 60 day free trial or bring their own license key.
• The Grooper VM comes with several example Grooper Projects and Batches to explore.

Getting Started: Create a Grooper VM from Azure Marketplace

This tutorial assumes you already have an Azure account and capabilities to create resources, such as virtual machines.

1. Go to the Microsoft Azure portal (portal.azure.com)
2. Search for "Marketplace".
3. Search the Marketplace for "Grooper".
4. Select "Grooper".
5. Using the "Subscription" dropdown, select the Azure subscription you wish to use to create the VM.
6. Using the "Plan" dropdown choose one of the following:
   • 60-Day Free Trial: Choose this if you do not have a Grooper license key and simply wish to evaluate the product for a trial period.
   • BYOL: Choose this if you want to "bring your own license". If you already have a Grooper license key, you can enter it into the root of the Grooper Repository (We'll show you how in subsequent steps).
7. Press the "Create" button to start configuring the VM.
8. Select or create a new resource group for the VM.
9. Configure the "Instance details" as needed.
   • You must enter a name for the VM in the "Virtual machine name" field.
   • The "Image" field will be preselected based on the plan selected in step 6. Do not adjust this. Doing so will install a different VM without Grooper pre-installed.
   • The "Size" field will determine the VM's processing power and memory. We recommend at least the default "Standard_B8ms" which has 8vcpus and 32 GB memory. Prices for these VMs are set by Azure.
10. Under "Administrator account" set logon credentials for the VM's admin.
11. Press "Next: Disks" to continue.
12. Configure disk settings as needed and select "Next: Networking" to continue.
13. Configure networking settings as needed and select "Next: Management" to continue.
14. Configure management settings as needed and select "Next: Monitoring" to continue.
15. Configure monitoring settings as needed and select "Next: Advanced" to continue.
16. Configure advanced settings as needed and select "Next: Tags" to continue.
17. Add resource tags if desired and select "Next: Review + create" to continue.
18. Review the VM's configuration and press "Create" to create it.
19. It will take some time for Azure to deploy the VM. Azure will inform you of its progress as it is created.
20. When the deployment is complete, you can select the "Go to resource" button to navigate to the VM.
21. From the VM's "Overview" panel, you can start, stop and restart the VM.
22. Go to the "Connect" panel to connect to the VM via RDP.
23. Press the "Download RDP file" button to download an RDP file.
24. Open the downloaded RDP file to connect to the VM.
25. Enter the admin credentials to login.
26. Once logged in, you can imeidiately open the Grooper app.
27. Open Microsoft Edge.
28. Go to https://localhost/Grooper to open Grooper.

What comes on the Grooper VM?

Everything needed to give Grooper a test run already comes installed and configured. This includes:

• Grooper
• Grooper Web Client
• SQL Express (needed to host the Grooper Repository's database)
• Internet Information Services (needed to host the Grooper web app)
• A Grooper Repository
• Demo Grooper Projects and Batches

Navigating Grooper for the first time

If you're new to Grooper, you need to know about the main navigation pages:

• Home - The landing page for a Grooper install. Users can review recent entries in the Grooper Repository's log and navigate to other pages from here.
• Design - Provides a comprehensive user interface for developing, configuring, and testing Grooper Projects and other configuration nodes (Content Models, Data Models, Batch Processes, etc) in a Grooper Repository.
• Batches - Provides a user interface for managing Batches (the primary container for documents in Grooper) actively being processed in production. Users can pause Batch processing, resume processing, reset steps, update a Batch's Batch Process. open paused Batches to inspect its contents, and execute ready Review tasks.
• Tasks - Provides a user interface for filtering and performing Review tasks. This is more streamlined than the Batches page. It is well suited for end-users who just execute Review tasks in bulk.
• Imports - Provides a user interface to manage importing files into new Grooper Batches. Files are importing by setting up "Import Jobs". Users can create ad-hoc Import Jobs from the Imports page and manage Import Jobs automated by Import Watcher services.
• Jobs - Provides a user interface for viewing, filtering, and managing Processing Jobs in the Grooper Repository. Processing Jobs are created by Activity Processing services whenever Batch content runs through a Batch Process. As each Batch Process Step is executed, a Processing Job is created. The Processing Job executes the Activity assigned to the step with a set of tasks for all items in scope (either the Batch, Batch Folders at a set level, or Batch Pages).
• Stats - Provides a user interface for managing and viewing saved Stats Queries. This allows users to view session statistics for Batches and their processing history.
• Search - (Enabled after adding AI Search to the Grooper Repository) Provides a user interface for searching documents in a Grooper Repository. Documents must be added to an AI Search index before they can be searched.
• Chat - (Enabled after adding an LLM Connector to the Grooper Repository) Allows users to chat with AI Assistants from the Grooper UI. Users can select AI Assists, start chat sessions with them, continue existing chat sessions and view documents linked in footnotes in a Document Viewer.

Quick Guides

Create an Activity Processing service

Activity Processing services are required to automate task processing. The Activity Processing service will pick up Processing Jobs for steps in a Batch's Batch Process as they become ready. One Processing Job is created for each step and the Activity Processing service executes the step's activity for each task in scope (the Batch, Batch Folders at a certain level or Batch Pages depending on the step's configuration).

Create an Import Watcher service

Import Watcher services are required to import files into a Batch in Grooper. The Import Watcher service executes "Import Jobs" that are either created by a user from the Import Page or from schedules configured in the Import Watcher itself.

Add an LLM Connector to the Grooper Repository

LLM Connectors are required to take advantage of Grooper's LLM-based features, such as AI Extract and AI Assistants. LLM Connector is a Repository Option added to the Root of a Grooper Repository. It connects Grooper to LLM chat and embeddings services, such as the OpenAI API.

This section is transcluded from the LLM Connector article.

While there are two primary LLM Providers (OpenAI and Azure), there are several different providers and model types you can connect Grooper to using just these two providers.

OpenAI API

Grooper's LLM based features were primarily designed around OpenAI's models. The Grooper development team uses OpenAI models internally using the OpenAI API. Connecting to the OpenAI API is regarded as the "standard" way connecting Grooper to LLMs.

• When connecting Grooper to the OpenAI API, you will need an API key. You can visit our OpenAI quickstart if you need instructions on setting up an OpenAI account and obtaining an API key.
• Be aware! You must have a payment method in your OpenAI account to use LLM-based features (such as AI Extract) in Grooper. If you do not have a payment method, Grooper cannot return a list of models when configuring LLM features.

Connecting Grooper to the OpenAI API is simple:

1. Go to the Grooper Root node.
2. Open the "Options" editor.
3. Add the "LLM Connector" option.
4. Open the "Service Providers" editor.
5. Add the "OpenAI" option.
6. In the "API Key" property, enter your OpenAI API Key.

   • You do not need to adjust the "Authorization" property. It should be "Bearer". The OpenAI API uses bearer tokens to authenticate API calls.

7. (Recommended) Turn on "Use System Messages" (change the property to "True).

   • When enabled, certain instructions Grooper generates and information handed to a model are sent as "system" messages instead of "user" messages. This helps an LLM distinguish between contextual information and input from a user. This is recommended for most OpenAI models, but may not be supported by all compatible services.

8. Press "OK" buttons in each editor to confirm changes and press "Save" on the Grooper Root.

OpenAI compatible services

Grooper can connect to any LLM service that adheres to the OpenAI API standard using the "OpenAI" provider. Compatible APIs must use "chat/completions" and "embeddings" endpoints like OpenAI API to interoperate with Grooper's LLM features.

We have confirmed the following services will integrate using the OpenAI provider:

• Various models using Groq
• Various models using OpenRouter
• Various models hosted locally using LMStudio
• Various models hosted locally using Ollama

BE AWARE: While the OpenAI API is fully compatible with all LLM constructs in Grooper, these "OpenAI compatible" services may only have partial compatibility using the OpenAI provider.

Connecting Grooper to the OpenAI compatible APIs is slightly more involved:

1. Go to the Grooper Root node.
2. Open the "Options" editor.
3. Add the "LLM Connector" option.
4. Open the "Service Providers" editor.
5. Add the "OpenAI" option.
6. Enter the API service's endpoint URL in the "URL" property.

   • This property's value defaults to the OpenAI API's base URL. You must change this to connect to a different web service.

7. Select the "Authorization" appropriate for your API. Grooper's supported authorization methods are:
   • None (Uncommon) - Choose this option if the API does not require any authorization.
   • Bearer - Choose this option if the API uses a bearer token to authorize web calls (Example: OpenAI API and Groq use the bearer method).
   • APIKey - Choose this option if the API uses an API key to authorize web calls (Example: Nvidia's NIM API uses the key method).
8. In the "API Key" property, enter the API's key.
9. (Recommended) Turn on "Use System Messages" (change the property to "True").

   • When enabled, certain instructions Grooper generates and information handed to a model are sent as "system" messages instead of "user" messages. This helps an LLM distinguish between contextual information and input from a user. This is recommended for most OpenAI models, but may not be supported by all compatible services.

10. Press "OK" buttons in each editor to confirm changes and press "Save" on the Grooper Root.

Azure AI Foundry deployments

Grooper connects to Microsoft Azure OpenAI models and Azure AI Foundry (formerly Azure AI Studio) model deployments by adding an "Azure" provider to an LLM Connector. Each model must be deployed in Azure before Grooper can connect to it.

There are a plethora of models you can deploy in Azure AI Foundry. This includes:

• Azure OpenAI models
• MistralAI models
• Meta's llama models
• DeepSeek models
• xAI's grok models

Once a model is deployed in Azure, a "Service Deployment" can be defined in Grooper. There are two types of Service Deployments:

• Chat Service - This is for Azure OpenAI models' "chat/completion" operations and the "chat completion" models in Azure AI Foundry's Model Catalog. This is required for most LLM-based functionality in Grooper, including AI Extract, AI Assistants, separating documents with Auto Separate, and classifying documents with LLM Classifier.

  • When searching for compatible models in Azure's Model Catalog, narrow the "inference tasks" to "chat completions".

• Embeddings Service - This is for Azure OpenAI models' "embeddings" operations and the "embeddings" models in Azure AI Foundry's Model Catalog. This is required when enabling "Vector Search" for an Indexing Behavior, when using the Clause Detection section extract method, or when using the "Semantic" Document Quoting method in Grooper.

  • When searching for compatible models in Azure's Model Catalog, narrow the "inference tasks" to "embeddings".

To connect Grooper to an Azure model deployment:

1. Go to the Grooper Root node.
2. Open the "Options" editor.
3. Add the "LLM Connector" option.
4. Open the "Service Providers" editor.
5. Add an "Azure" provider.
6. Select the "Deployments'" property and open its editor.
7. Add a "Chat Service", "Embeddings Service", or both.

   • "Chat Services" are required for most LLM-based features in Grooper, such as AI Extract and AI Assistants. "Embeddings Services" are required when enabling "Vector Search" for an Indexing Behavior, when using the Clause Detection section extract method, or when using the "Semantic" Document Quoting method in Grooper.

8. In the "Model Id" property, enter the model's name (Example: "gpt-35-turbo").
9. In the "URL" property, enter the "Target URI" from Azure

   • For Azure OpenAI model deployments this will resemble:
     • https://{your-resource-name}.openai.azure.com/openai/deployments/{model-id}/chat/completions?api-version={api-version} for Chat Service deployments
     • https://{your-resource-name}.openai.azure.com/openai/deployments/{model-id}/embeddings?api-version={api-version} for Embeddings Service deployments
   • For other models deployed in Azure AI Foundry (formerly Azure AI Studio) this will resemble:
     • https://{model-id}.{your-region}.models.ai.azure.com/v1/chat/completions for Chat Service deployments
     • https://{model-id}.{your-region}.models.ai.azure.com/v1/embeddings for Chat Service deployments

10. Set "Authorization" to the method appropriate for the model deployment in Azure.

    • How do I know which method to choose? In Azure, under "Keys and Endpoint", you'll typically see
      • "API Key" if the model uses API key authentication (Choose "ApiKey" in Grooper).
      • "Microsoft Entra ID" if the model supports token-based authentication via Microsoft Entra ID (Choose "Bearer" in Grooper).
    • Azure OpenAI supports both API Key and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) authentication. Azure AI Foundry (formerly Azure AI Studio) models often lean toward token-based (Bearer in Grooper) authentication.

11. In the "API Key" property, enter the Key copied from Azure.
12. (Recommended) Turn on "Use System Messages" (change the property to "True").

    • When enabled, certain instructions Grooper generates and information handed to a model are sent as "system" messages instead of "user" messages. This helps an LLM distinguish between contextual information and input from a user. This is recommended for most OpenAI models, but may not be supported by all compatible services.

13. Press "OK" buttons in each editor to confirm changes and press "Save" on the Grooper Root.

Getting started with AI Search

"AI Search" refers to the suite of Grooper features that allow users to add documents and their data to a search index. Once in a search index, users can search for documents from the Search Page and add indexed documents to an AI Assistant's base of knowledge resources.

Create an Azure AI Search service in Azure

Grooper uses Azure AI Search for the infrastructure that allows us to index and search documents. We integrate with Azure AI Search because:

• It is fast.
• It is easily scalable.
• It has robust querying capabilities for both full text and metadata (including fields extracted from a document's Data Model).

To create an Azure AI Search service in Azure:

1. If not done so already, create an Azure account.
2. Go to your Azure portal
3. If not done so already, create a "Subscription" and "Resource Group."
4. Click the "Create a resource" button
5. Search for "Azure AI Search"
6. Find "Azure AI Search" in the list click the "Create" button.
7. Follow the prompts to create the Azure AI Search resource.
   • The pricing tier defaults to "Standard". There is a "Free" option if you're just wanting to try this feature out.
8. Go to the resource.
9. In the "Essentials" panel, copy the "Url" value. You will need this in Grooper.
10. In the left-hand navigation panel, expand "Settings" and select "Keys"
11. Copy the "Primary admin key" or "Secondary admin key." You will need this in Grooper.