What the documents look like
Supplier claims in fresh food pursue quality responsibility for goods received. Store-level natural shrinkage is handled elsewhere and sits outside this claim scope. The working papers are quality exception notes, photo evidence, deduction notices and claim reconciliation statements. They come from the quality inspection system, WMS receiving records, supplier contracts and finance reconciliation. A quality exception record can arise per delivery batch, while reconciliation material forms on a monthly cycle. In product data and selection Q&A, these papers serve as citation sources, and an answer needs to point back to a specific document, a specific batch and a specific clause.
Three industry facts shape this page. First, the claim object is arrival quality, which means the batch identity and the receiving date carry the traceable link between a question and a source. Second, evidence arrives as separate documents rather than one merged record, so a draft sentence may draw its quantity from one paper and its deadline from another. Third, a claim moves through distinct stages, and a document that records a clause does not record that a claim was raised under it.
Constraints at the citation tracing step
Knowledge base search can associate one or more knowledge bases that share the same vector model. Bases built on different vector models cannot be associated together. The check is to compare base identifiers and vector model identifiers, then exclude those that do not match; a cross-model retrieval is not run to compare recall differences.
The search node outputs citations as an array, and the length may be zero. A zero-length array still lets the downstream chain run. Retrieval output passed to the answer stage should allow each citation in the answer to be traced back to source text. The minimum relevance value is a filter threshold and takes effect only under semantic retrieval or result reranking. It does not act as a permission or entity isolation control, and retrieval itself is not authorization. Full-text retrieval suits numbers, model designations and proper nouns; semantic retrieval suits natural language questions. Hybrid retrieval merges multiple result paths through RRF. Reranking requires a model and must be enabled by configuration. Image retrieval requires image input and model capability. These optional paths are not guaranteed to execute on every request.
Hypothetical drill sample. Quality inspection record (Material A) states: "Supplier A, batch 2024-06-01-03, arrival date 2024-06-01, acceptance conclusion failed, exception type appearance damage." WMS receiving record (Material B) states: "Same batch, received quantity 200 cartons, damaged 12 cartons." Supplier contract (Material C) states: "Quality exceptions must be raised within 48 hours of arrival; after this period the claim is treated as waived." A draft sentence under review reads: "Supplier A's batch had 12 damaged cartons, and a claim was raised under the contract within 48 hours." The review compares the quantity, the time limit and the raised status in the draft against the source wording.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration or check item | Hypothetical trial starting point and reason | Comparison method and observation |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Select one base sharing the vector model of the sample materials | Compare base identifier and vector model identifier; exclude non-matching bases |
| Search mode | Start with full-text retrieval for batch number and exception type | Observe whether the batch number hits Material A and Material B |
| Minimum relevance | Hypothetical starting value 0.5, to observe filtering behaviour | Compare against semantic or rerank scores; record which entries are filtered |
| Citation upper limit | Hypothetical starting value 2000 tokens | Observe whether the citation array contains the key sentences of the three materials |
| Citation output | No fixed item count | Check whether array length is zero and whether the downstream chain still runs |
| Output handover | Answer stage maps each sentence to a citation | Compare answer sentence and cited source for same subject, same period, same field |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as claim authorization. Finding a contract clause or an exception note shows the material is in the base. It does not show a claim was raised, approved or paid. The check compares the draft phrase "was raised" against whether a raising record exists; without such a record the status stays pending verification.
- Forcing association of bases on different vector models. The check compares base identifier and vector model identifier first; a mismatch means exclusion, and no cross-model retrieval is performed to compare recall.
- Treating minimum relevance as a permission or entity filter. The check compares the business ownership of filtered entries. A relevance score does not distinguish supplier or authorization scope, and a filtered result does not show that a supplier lacks viewing rights.
How to verify the setup
- Input the source text of Material A, Material B and Material C, then compare the draft quantity "12 damaged cartons" against the quantity field in Material B. When Material B states 12 cartons, the quantity is supported; when the material does not state it, or holds only a related-stage evidence item, mark it unsupported.
- Input the draft phrase "a claim was raised under the contract within 48 hours" and compare the 48-hour clause in Material C against whether a raising record exists. When a raising record with the same subject, same period and same field exists, the status is supported; when only the clause exists and no raising record is present, mark it pending verification.
- Use the paper input
[]to check empty-citation handover, observe whether the downstream answer stage still runs, and record the actual observation. No claim is made that a given rule retrieval must return an empty array.
This page addresses only fresh-food supplier claims, product data and selection Q&A, and citation source tracing. Operational handover must keep clear which materials, actions and requests sit at which authorization state; retrieval and forms are not authorization execution.