DiligenceVault MCP connects Microsoft Copilot to your DiligenceVault data. Once connected, you can ask questions about your projects, questionnaires, documents and relationships, and get answers based on what is actually recorded in DiligenceVault.
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI tools connect to other systems. Because it is a standard, DiligenceVault MCP works with most AI tools that support it.
Two points define how the connection behaves:
- It only reads. Your assistant can find, read and summarize your data, but it cannot create, edit or submit anything in DiligenceVault.
- It follows your own access. Everyone connects with their own DiligenceVault login, and the assistant sees only what that login can see.
Users typically connect DV MCP to:
- Check project status, outstanding questions and due dates without opening the platform
- Summarize questionnaire sections or compare answers across years
- Look up past answers, follow-ups, notes and documents in one question
- Prepare first drafts and meeting notes grounded in recorded diligence data
Before You Begin
Make sure the following are in place before you connect:
- Your own DiligenceVault login. Everyone connects with their own login, never a shared one.
- Microsoft Copilot premium version. DV MCP connects through Microsoft Copilot Studio.
- MCP enabled for your firm. A DiligenceVault Admin turns it on once for the whole firm under Firm Settings > Firm Preferences > Control Workflow Defaults > Enable MCP Setup For My Firm. If you are not sure it is on, ask your Admin.
- The DV MCP server URL: https://mcp.diligencevault.com/mcp
Getting Connected
The connection takes about five minutes.
- Add the server URL above as a new MCP server or connector in Microsoft Copilot. The next section has the exact steps.
- Sign in with your DiligenceVault login when asked. If the DiligenceVault authorization screen appears, click Allow so your AI tool can access your DiligenceVault data.
- Check that it works by asking: "What DiligenceVault account am I connected as?" You should see your name and firm.
Your sign-in lasts 24 hours. After that, your AI tool asks you to sign in again.
Setting Up Microsoft Copilot (to be configured by the MS Admin and then user)
Menus change from time to time, so if a screen looks different, search the tool's help for "custom connector" or "MCP".
This setup is usually done once by your Copilot Studio admin or agent maker, who then shares the agent with users.
- Sign in to Microsoft Copilot Studio and go to Agents. Click New agent and select Agent (Standard), or open an existing agent.
- Name your agent and click Create.
- On the Overview tab, you can select the agent's model and add instructions, for example telling it to always use the DiligenceVault tool for DV questions.
- Open the Tools tab and click Add a tool.
- Select Add new MCP.
- Enter a server name, a short description, and the server URL. Set Authentication to OAuth 2.0 with Dynamic discovery, then click Create.
- Under Connection, click Create new connection.
- Optionally, add a Display name, for example your firm name, then click Create.
- Sign in with your DiligenceVault login in the window that opens.
- Click Add to add the MCP tool to your agent.
- The tool now appears on the Tools tab. Click Publish to publish the agent, and configure Channels to use it across different channels in your organization.
- The first time someone uses the agent, it may ask them to connect. Click Open connection manager to verify the credentials, then click Retry.
First Questions to Try
Start with a simple, specific question to confirm everything works. Replace the placeholders with your own project and firm names.
- "Find me the project named 'project_name'." For example: "Find me the project named 'Alpha Capital 2026 ODD'."
- "What is the latest project shared with the firm 'Firm_Name'?"
- "What's still outstanding on the 'project_name' project, and when is it due?"
What Your Assistant Can See
Your assistant can read the following from DiligenceVault, always limited to what your own login can see.
| Area | What's included |
|---|---|
| Projects | Name, status, type (for example External, Internal or Analyst Evaluation), template, the firm, product, vehicle or strategy it covers, due date, as-of date, % complete, question and answer counts, who created it, and project custom fields |
| Questionnaires | Sections and subsections, question text, response type, whether each question is answered, answer text, draft answers, flagged questions, ratings, documents attached to an answer, and counts of total, answered and unanswered questions, including mandatory ones |
| Past answers | Earlier questions and answers on a topic, found across projects |
| Follow-ups | Follow-up questions on a single answer or on the whole project, replies, who raised them, and whether and when they were resolved |
| Notes | Notes on an entity and internal notes on projects, firms, products, vehicles and strategies |
| Documents | Documents attached to a project, an answer, or a firm, product, vehicle or strategy, with their details. Your assistant can also open and read a document |
| Project activity | The project's audit trail (for example invited, started, submitted or reopened), who did it and when, and the people subscribed to the project |
| Firms | Firm type, website, inception date, currency, description, relationship status, custom fields and tags |
| Products, vehicles and strategies | Profiles, custom fields and tags. A vehicle also shows the products it belongs to |
| Tasks | To-dos, meetings, calls and other events logged on a firm, product, vehicle or strategy |
| Recommendations | Recommendations and open items: subject, description, status, priority, owner, who raised it, resolution date, tags, custom fields, and the project or question it relates to |
| Analyst Evaluations | The projects and entities covered by an Analyst Evaluation |
| Your account | Your name, user type, firm, firm-wide role and time zone |
Security and Data Privacy
DV MCP provides read-only access to your DiligenceVault data and respects your existing user permissions. However, once information is retrieved through a third-party AI tool such as ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, or Gemini, it is subject to that AI provider's data privacy and security policies.
Before connecting DV MCP, please consider the following:
- Enterprise / Business Accounts (Recommended): For confidential data, we recommend using organization-approved Enterprise or Business AI accounts, such as ChatGPT Business/Enterprise, Claude Team/Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot for business, or Gemini Enterprise. These plans generally offer enhanced security, privacy controls, and contractual data protection commitments, including restrictions on AI model training. Specific protections depend on the provider, plan, and configuration.
- Personal / Free Accounts (Not Recommended): Free or personal AI accounts, including some paid individual subscriptions, may have different data retention and model training policies. We do not recommend using these accounts to access confidential DiligenceVault information unless explicitly approved by your organization.
- Review Security and Compliance: Before connecting, ensure your AI tool is approved by your organization's IT, Security, or Compliance team. Review the provider's data processing, storage, retention, and AI training policies to ensure they align with your organization's confidentiality requirements and applicable Data Processing Agreements (DPAs).
Important: While DiligenceVault maintains its existing access controls when data is accessed through DV MCP, DiligenceVault does not control or assume responsibility for how third-party AI providers store, process, retain, or use information after receiving it. Such activities are governed by the respective AI provider's terms, policies, and applicable agreements.
What is not included
- Making changes. It cannot create, submit, edit, close, assign or resolve anything. It can draft for you; you take the action in DiligenceVault.
- Answer-by-answer change history. The audit trail shows project events such as "submitted" or "reopened", not which answer changed or what it said before.
- Firm settings, user and permission management, and Power BI reports or dashboards.
- Anything you cannot already see, or other clients' data. Results only cover data your firm can access, and are never combined across clients.
- Bulk export. DV MCP is built to answer questions, not to download everything at once.
Getting Better Answers
Specific, scoped questions return faster and more accurate answers. A few patterns help:
| Do this | Instead of | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Add a time range | "Show me everything that's open" | "Show me projects still open this quarter" |
| Be specific | "Tell me about Firm X" | "What are the open recommendations on Firm X's 2026 ODD project?" |
| Pick a section | "Summarize the whole DDQ" | "What did Firm X say in the business continuity section of the Annual DDQ project?" |
| Name both sides | "Compare it to before" | "Compare Firm X's 2026 and 2025 answers on the cybersecurity section of the ODD project" |
- No time range means the last 6 months. Most searches cover the last 6 months unless you say otherwise, and one request covers up to 2 years.
- "Not on file" is a real answer. It means the information is not recorded, or you do not have access to it.
- Big, portfolio-wide questions take longer. The assistant works through each project one by one.
- Double-check anything that goes into a decision or filing. Treat answers as a first draft and confirm key points in DiligenceVault.
DV MCP or the DiligenceVault API?
Both reach your DiligenceVault data, but they are built for different jobs.
| DV MCP | DiligenceVault API | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Asking questions through your AI assistant | Connecting your own systems to DiligenceVault, for example to sync data into another platform |
| Who sets it up | Each user, in a few minutes | Your developers or IT team, with your DiligenceVault representative |
| Signs in as | You, with your own DiligenceVault login | A service account set up for your firm |
| Runs on its own | No, it is for your own interactive use | Yes, it is designed for automated and scheduled jobs |
| Amount of data | Targeted questions, not bulk export | Larger or regular data transfers |
Not sure which you need? Ask your DiligenceVault representative.
Troubleshooting
Most connection issues fall into one of the cases below. You can also ask DiligenceVault Support from the Help menu in the DiligenceVault app.
| Problem | Try this |
|---|---|
| Won't connect | Check the server URL has no extra spaces, and ask your Admin to confirm MCP is on for your firm |
| Sign-in keeps looping | Finish the full sign-in and the allow-access screen. Still looping? Disconnect in your AI tool's settings and connect again |
| Connected, but it can't find anything | Your login may not have access to that data. Check in DiligenceVault |
| Says "not on file" | It is not recorded, or you do not have access. Check in DiligenceVault |
| Can't see a project's answers | If it is an external project still at the invited or started stage, the answers are not visible yet |
| Won't make a change | That is expected. DV MCP only reads, so make the change in DiligenceVault |
| Slow or times out | Narrow it down: add a date range, or ask about one project at a time |
| Stopped working suddenly | Your sign-in expired (sign-ins last 24 hours) or access was turned off. Reconnect, or check with your Admin |
| Reached a usage limit | Your firm has a monthly usage allowance. Ask your DiligenceVault representative if you reach it |
Need Help?
Please reach out to our Client Success Team at ask@diligencevault.com.