What the documents look like
Brand after-sales repair work is organized around warranty responsibility and physical repair locations. The documents handled each day are warranty cards, repair work orders, inspection reports and exchange approvals. They come from after-sales systems, store orders, repair location feedback and the national three-guarantee catalogue. These materials update per order and per day. The same work order is filled in by different parties at different stages, so field completeness varies.
Product information and selection questions ask about warranty scope, spare-part models and exchange conditions. An answer has to point back to a specific material. Update frequency does not change what this page covers. The search node returns cited content only from the selected knowledge bases.
A hypothetical paper exercise sample is used throughout this page. A brand after-sales centre paper record states: "Work order W-2026-0417 was registered on 17 April 2026. The fault description is abnormal charging. The inspection report conclusion field is marked 'pending re-inspection'. The warranty card valid-scope field is marked 'within whole-machine warranty period'." The proposed handover request is: "Based on the materials above, confirm whether this order falls within warranty scope and give the original source text cited." The materials do not state the re-inspection completion date or the final conclusion. The authorization status is not stated.
Constraints at the citation tracing step
The knowledge base search node can link one or more knowledge bases that share the same vector model. Its output is an array of cited content, and the length may be zero. When nothing is retrieved, that output path still runs. Retrieval performs recall and fusion. It does not perform authorization decisions. A similarity score is a ranking basis and cannot act as an entity or permission filter. Hybrid retrieval fuses multiple result paths through RRF. ReRank depends on a configured rerank model and is enabled according to settings. Image retrieval requires image input and a model with the corresponding capability. These paths are optional stages listed in the overall flow and are not all executed on every request.
For the sample, the answer must trace to the registration date, the fault description and the inspection report conclusion field of work order W-2026-0417. The conclusion "pending re-inspection" is a recorded value. Whether the order falls within warranty scope requires human review against the warranty card scope field. Retrieval and any form collect values; they do not constitute approval or execution.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration or check item | Value or action on this page | Basis and boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Linked knowledge bases | Select only knowledge bases whose vector model identifier matches | Knowledge bases can be linked together only when the vector model is the same; verify the identifier first and exclude non-matching ones |
| Search mode | Hypothetical trial starting point: hybrid retrieval | Full-text recall suits numbers and models; semantic recall supplements natural-language phrasing |
| Citation upper limit | Hypothetical trial starting point: a token amount covering the sample source text | Controlled by tokens; adjust after comparing with the sample material length |
| Minimum relevance | Hypothetical trial starting point: a lower value | Takes effect only in semantic retrieval or with result reranking; filters low-relevance results |
| Cited content output | Carried as an array, length may be zero | An empty array does not mean the workflow has errored and stopped |
| Material version check | Search current and historical versions separately | Whether a citation is adopted still requires human review against the valid version |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as an authorization conclusion. In the sample, the inspection report conclusion is "pending re-inspection". Retrieval can only return that original text. Deciding warranty scope is human review. Retrieval and forms do not constitute approval or execution.
- Treating a similarity score as a permission or entity filter. Minimum relevance is a filtering threshold. It cannot exclude unrelated business records or unauthorized records. Knowledge bases with different vector models cannot be linked together.
- Treating an optional path as always executed. The sample provides no image input, so image retrieval does not participate. When no rerank model is configured, reranking does not take effect. No conclusion about ordering can be drawn from that.
How to verify the setup
- Input the sample material text and the proposed handover request. Compare whether the answer's cited source points to the registration date, fault description and inspection report conclusion field of work order W-2026-0417. The condition is met when the answer corresponds word for word and does not add a re-inspection conclusion. A conclusion not stated in the materials is unsupported.
- Input a query containing only an identifier. Compare whether the returned citation comes from the selected knowledge base. The condition is met when the citation traces to the sample material. When an empty array is returned, record it as a miss and keep the evidence gap open. Do not infer a system error.
- Use a paper input of an empty array to check the downstream handling design. Compare whether the downstream continues on a zero-length citation. The condition is met when the downstream runs through and does not claim that retrieval is necessarily empty. When the downstream stops, record the observed result.
This page covers only brand after-sales repair services, product information and selection questions, and citation tracing. Whether materials, operations or requests are authorized at handover cannot be treated as executed by retrieval or by a form.