Transforming Raw Files into Structured Data for Your LLM

In this presentation, I explain how to build a document processing pipeline to create structured data for usage in LLMs.

This version of the talk was given at IBM TechXchange, in October 2025.

1. Orlando, FL October 6–9 IBM TechXchange 2025 Session code 4254
 
 Kerim Satirli
 Developer Advocate HashiCorp Transforming Raw Files into Structured Data for Your LLM
2. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Agenda 01 02 03 How it started Let's Build Next Steps
3. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation HashiConf '24:
 RobotRally 3
4. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation HashiConf '24:
 RobotRally 5
5. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation How do we access the domain knowledge of a project? 8
6. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation How do we access the domain knowledge that we haven't memorized? 9
7. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Legacy Knowledge Base 11 pathfinder-knowledge.svcs.dev/chat
8. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 13 pathfinder-knowledge.svcs.dev/chat #admin.pdf How do I access the settings panel? AI-powered Chat App
9. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 14 TODO TODO sensors.log LOG _FLAGS.txt TXT firmware.txt TXT config.txt TXT coords.csv CSV otaupdate.sh esp-idf.pdf esp32.pdf vault.md admin.md spec.md battery.md swarm.md api.md ledctrl.c Pathfinder doc.pdf lidar.py routes.md tests.xslx imu_cal.csv CSV
10. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 15 Chat Interface End user
11. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 16 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Prompt
12. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 17 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt
13. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 18 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt 1. Context length
14. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 19 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt 1. Context length 2. Enough context?
15. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 20 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt 1. Context length 2. Enough context? 3. Info readable?
16. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Project Files 21 Chat Interface End user Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt 1. Context length 2. Enough context? 3. Info readable? 4. Sensitive data
17. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Agenda 01 02 03 How it started Let's build Next Steps
18. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Data flow 23 Chat Interface End User Response LLM Model Document Request Prompt
19. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Data flow 25 Vector DB Embedding model
20. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Request flow 26 Vector DB Chat Interface End User Response LLM Model Prompt Request
21. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Request flow 27 Chat Interface End User Response LLM Model Vector DB Prompt Request Document
22. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Document flow 28 Vector DB Docling
23. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Document flow 29 LLM Model Chat Interface End User Response Prompt Vector DB Request Document
24. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Document flow 30 End User LLM Model Vector DB Prompt Response Documents Docling Document Processor Chat Interface
25. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 31 End User LLM Model Vector DB Prompt Response Documents Docling Document Processor Chat Interface HashiCorp Vault Document flow
26. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 32 End User Vector DB Prompt Response Documents Docling Document Processor Chat Interface HashiCorp Vault Ollama IBM Granite Document flow
27. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 33 End User Prompt Response Documents Docling Document Processor Chat Interface HashiCorp Vault Ollama IBM Granite Document flow Vector DB
28. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 34 End User Knowledge Base Prompt Response Documents Docling Document Processor Chat Interface HashiCorp Vault Ollama IBM Granite Document flow
29. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 35 End User Knowledge Base Prompt Response Docling Document Processor HashiCorp Vault Ollama IBM Granite Open WebUI Documents /uploads /processed Document flow
30. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Demo 37 ./scripts/deploy.sh [SUCCESS] Phase 2 completed! All applications deployed successfully! [INFO] Workshop === WORKSHOP DEPLOYMENT COMPLETED === Access URLs: Web Upload App: pathfinder-prism.svcs.dev:3000 Open WebUI: pathfinder-prism.svcs.dev:8080 Nomad UI: pathfinder-prism.svcs.dev:4646 Azure Storage Account: zepf3rfa [SUCCESS] Workshop deployment completed! Terminal
31. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 38 Lessons Learned So, why not fine tuning?
32. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Agenda 01 02 03 How it started Let's build Next Steps
33. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Lessons Learned 44 garbage
34. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 45 garbage inconsistency Lessons Learned
35. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 46 garbage inconsistency tools req'd Lessons Learned
36. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 47 bad experience garbage inconsistency tools req'd Lessons Learned
37. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation 48 Learn more about Sanitization sched.co/25Vqd
38. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation Q&A Kerim Satirli
 HashiCorp, Senior Developer Advocate II
 kerim@ibm.com 49
39. IBM TechXchange | © 2025 IBM Corporation How to continue your learning journey 1 3640 Deep Dive into Docling with the Core Dev Team 2 3427 Empowering Local AI with IBM Granite HashiCorp Sandbox Booth 300 Product demos and Practitioner Guidance 51