Knowledge Base Retrieval for Pre-Departure Training and Overseas Safety: Handle Questions and Collect Missing Information

Study Abroad Safety: review retrieval for question intake. Check source versions, input mappings and the values received by downstream nodes.

What this category's data looks like

This page focuses on Q&A intake and missing-item follow-up for pre-departure training and overseas safety reminders. Source materials include pre-departure training courseware, safety reminder checklists, and accommodation contact forms, with update cadence based on semester batches and project milestones. The courseware contains course names, teaching dates, assessment requirements, and attendance signatures; the safety reminder checklist contains reminder items, effective dates, and issuers; the accommodation contact form contains accommodation addresses, contacts, check-in dates, and acknowledgements. When materials enter knowledge base retrieval, the courseware plays the recall role for course and assessment fields, the safety reminder checklist plays the recall role for item and effective date fields, and the accommodation contact form plays the recall role for contact and acknowledgement fields. The fields, dates, and signatures of the three materials must align with one another; the name, quantity, and date of the same record should be consistent, versions should be synchronized, and signatures or acknowledgements should be complete, so as to support missing-item identification and follow-up questions.

Configuration and implementation checks

This step is performed by the knowledge base retrieval service (retrieval node and search test), outputting candidate chunks and similarity scores (after mode, merge, rerank, filter, and limit trimming). Intake records and supplemented questions are then completed by subsequent nodes or manually.

ObjectCheckVerification action
Pre-departure training coursewareWhether the course name, teaching date, assessment requirements, and attendance signature are complete, and whether they match the name, quantity, and date of the safety reminder checklist and accommodation contact formIn the knowledge base search test, search by course name and date, check the candidate chunks and similarity scores, and verify whether the signature field is hit
Safety reminder checklistWhether the reminder items, effective date, and issuer are complete, whether the version is synchronized, and whether it is consistent with the courseware dateSwitch searchMode to semantic, full-text, or hybrid, compare the number of candidates and scores, and confirm that the item and effective date chunks are recalled
Accommodation contact formWhether the accommodation address, contact, check-in date, and acknowledgement are complete, and whether the name and date of the same record are consistent with the coursewareCompare the ranking of the top few results before and after enabling usingReRank, and check whether the acknowledgement field appears in the candidate chunks
Q&A intake recordWhether missing items are identified and followed up, whether answers are based on materials, and whether they are transferred to the handlerTest once each with synonymous rewritten questions, record the number of candidates and scores, and check whether the quoted text after similarity and limit trimming retains key chunks

Three common errors

  • Symptom: The name and date of the same record do not match between the courseware and the safety reminder checklist. Cause: The two materials are updated separately, without field alignment and version synchronization.
  • Symptom: The accommodation contact form lacks a signature or acknowledgement, making it impossible to confirm during follow-up. Cause: The signature and acknowledgement fields were not validated during material collection.
  • Symptom: The answer lacks key paragraphs, and candidates rank high but are irrelevant. Cause: The recall channel is single, without multi-path merging and rerank secondary sorting.

How to verify the setup

Acceptance for this feature: test once each with synonymous rewritten questions, compare candidates and scores, then toggle rerank on and off to observe the ranking of the top few results.

Business test: ask a question missing key information and see whether it first asks a follow-up question before answering.

  • In the knowledge base search test, switch searchMode and compare the number of candidates and scores across semantic, full-text, and hybrid modes.
  • Compare the ranking of the top few results before and after enabling usingReRank, and check the tokens and array length of the quoted text after similarity and limit trimming.