Smart Draft and AI
Smart Draft, in plain language.
Smart Draft is an assistive feature inside NPDESTracker. The default mode is deterministic and does not call an external AI provider. An optional external AI mode is opt-in and operator-controlled. Smart Draft never submits, certifies, or locks an annual report.
Last updated: April 22, 2026
Overview
The short version.
Smart Draft helps a coordinator turn linked evidence into a starting-point draft for an annual report answer. It is assistive. The coordinator reads, edits, and accepts or rejects the draft.
By default, Smart Draft runs locally and does not contact any external AI provider. An optional external AI mode can be configured if a tenant wants it. The optional mode sends a limited, field-whitelisted slice of record context to a configured provider; it can be disabled at any time.
Smart Draft does not submit reports, certify reports, lock reports, or replace staff review. NPDESTracker does not use customer data to train public AI models.
01 · What Smart Draft is
Smart Draft is assistive, not autonomous.
Smart Draft is a feature in NPDESTracker that helps a coordinator move from linked evidence to a draft answer on an annual report question. It is intended to reduce typing, not to replace review. Every Smart Draft output is a starting point that a human edits, accepts, or discards.
- Drafts are produced from compliance records you have already linked to the question (inspections, IDDE incidents, BMP records, activities, enforcement actions).
- Drafts surface the underlying records so the coordinator can verify what is being summarized.
- Smart Draft does not change the year state, certify the report, or lock the report.
- Smart Draft does not submit anything to a state agency.
- Smart Draft does not determine compliance status.
02 · Default mode
The default mode is deterministic and template-based.
By default, Smart Draft runs in a local, template-driven mode. The draft is assembled from the linked evidence and a set of question-aware templates inside NPDESTracker. The default mode does not call an external AI provider and does not send your records to a third party.
- Local, deterministic generation from linked evidence and question templates
- Output is reproducible from the same inputs
- No external AI provider is contacted in the default mode
- No customer records leave your tenant in the default mode
- Drafts can always be edited or discarded before they are saved as an answer
03 · Optional external AI mode
External AI mode is opt-in and operator-controlled.
An optional external AI mode can be configured for tenants that want richer narrative drafting. When enabled, Smart Draft may send a limited, field-whitelisted slice of linked record context to a configured AI provider (currently Anthropic) so it can produce a more complete narrative. This mode is off by default. It is enabled by an operator at your agency or by NPDESTracker on configured request.
- Off by default. No external calls happen unless the mode is configured on.
- When on, only a field-whitelisted subset of linked record context is sent.
- Personally sensitive fields (reporter contact details on complaints, attachment binaries, signatory information) are not included in the request.
- The configured AI provider acts as a processor of that request. NPDESTracker does not use customer data to train public AI models.
- An operator can disable the external AI mode at any time.
04 · What Smart Draft does not do
Hard limits, written plainly.
Some boundaries are worth stating directly so there is no ambiguity for procurement and IT review.
- Smart Draft does not submit annual reports to state agencies.
- Smart Draft does not certify the annual report or capture signatory information.
- Smart Draft does not lock or unlock reporting years.
- Smart Draft does not replace staff review of every draft answer.
- Smart Draft does not provide legal, regulatory, or compliance advice.
- Smart Draft does not guarantee that any answer is complete, correct, or accepted by the permitting agency.
05 · How to control it
On, off, or audited.
Smart Draft is built so the operator at your agency stays in control. The default deterministic mode is the safe default. The optional external AI mode is a configuration choice and can be disabled. Records of when a Smart Draft was generated, accepted, or edited are part of the standard reporting audit log, alongside other answer-level changes.
- Default deterministic mode runs without configuration
- Optional external AI mode requires explicit configuration
- Operator can disable the external AI mode at any time
- Smart Draft activity contributes to the standard answer audit log
- Each saved answer remains a human action, regardless of how the draft was produced
Questions
Asking deeper questions about Smart Draft.
If your IT or procurement team needs more depth on what Smart Draft does, what fields are sent in optional external AI mode, or how to disable the external mode for your tenant, email us. Detailed responses to security questionnaires and architecture diagrams are available under NDA where appropriate.