What the documents look like
Cold-chain receiving at a store operates batch by batch. The working materials for each delivery are the cold-chain temperature record, the arrival acceptance form, the rejection form, and the supplier delivery note. These materials carry different fields: transport temperature, arrival batch, sampled quality results, and the reason for rejection. Errors in this category lead to spoiled ingredients, supplier disputes, and regulatory penalties. Order fulfillment and after-sales answering must respond to questions from a store or a supplier about whether a given batch was accepted, why it was rejected, and whether temperature was within range. Citation tracing requires that an answer point back to the original text of these materials and state the material version and its effective scope.
The data arrives per batch and is refreshed daily, but that cadence does not by itself create any synchronization or trigger mechanism for this page. What matters here is that each material is a separate record with its own fields, and an answer sentence must match the same subject, the same period, and the same field in the cited text.
Constraints at the citation tracing step
The knowledge base search node can associate one or more knowledge bases that share the same vector model, and it outputs a citation array whose length may be zero. Even when nothing is retrieved, that output path still runs through. Retrieval is not authorization: retrieving a temperature record does not mean the record has received quality confirmation, and does not mean a rejection has taken effect. A similarity filter applies only to semantic retrieval or to result reranking; it does not act as a permission or entity isolation control. Hybrid retrieval merges multiple result paths through RRF, and RRF is a fusion process rather than a switch that can be turned on. Image retrieval requires an image input and the corresponding model capability, and reranking requires a model and must be enabled in settings; neither runs on every request. Knowledge bases built on different vector models cannot be associated together, so the identifier must be checked and non-matching bases excluded.
Hypothetical drill sample: within a store receiving system, the original text of an arrival acceptance form dated 12 March 2025 reads "Arrival batch A-0312, cold-chain vehicle temperature record 4.2°C, sampled leafy greens 30 boxes, of which 2 boxes showed wilted leaves, receiving clerk marked pending quality confirmation, no rejection form completed." The original text of the supplier delivery note for the same batch reads "Delivery batch A-0312, quantity 30 boxes, signature status blank." A draft reply sentence reads "Batch A-0312 has been rejected, temperature out of range." The question is whether that sentence has material support.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Check item | Hypothetical starting point for this page | Comparison method and reason |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Select only the cold-chain acceptance base | Check the vector model identifier of each base; only identical identifiers may be associated together |
| Search mode | Hybrid retrieval | Compare against semantic retrieval alone; numbering questions rely on full-text hits |
| Citation limit | 2000 tokens as the starting point for this trial | Compare with 1500 and 3000 for citation completeness; the reason is to control truncation |
| Minimum relevance | 0.4 as the starting point for this trial | Compare with 0.3 and 0.5 for the number of recalled items; effective only under semantic retrieval or reranking |
| Citation handoff | Pass the citation array to the answering step | Check sentence by sentence whether the answer and the cited original text share the same subject and field |
| Material timeliness check | Use the current and historical versions of the acceptance form | Compare version identifiers; whether to adopt still depends on review of the effective version |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as business authorization. The input is the sample above, where a temperature record is retrieved. The comparison point is whether that record states quality confirmation or an effective rejection. The observable result is that the record says only "pending quality confirmation," so the draft sentence "has been rejected" is unsupported.
- Treating a similarity threshold as a permission filter. The input is the minimum relevance setting. The comparison point is whether records from unrelated stores are excluded. The observable result is that the threshold affects ordering and filtering only and cannot replace an authorization scope.
- Forcing knowledge bases with different vector models into one association. The input is two bases with different vector model identifiers. The comparison point is whether the identifiers match. The observable result is that a mismatch leads to exclusion, and no cross-model retrieval is run to compare missed recalls.
How to verify the setup
- Check the draft sentence against the sample original text. The input is the acceptance form and delivery note originals plus the draft sentence. The comparison point is whether "has been rejected" and "pending quality confirmation, rejection form not completed" are mutually exclusive values in the same field. An unsupported finding appears when the original text does not state an effective rejection.
- Check downstream handoff with a paper input of an empty citation array. The input is an explicit
[]. The comparison point is whether the downstream design continues to run. The condition is met when the path continues without error, consistent with the node output description. - Check source timeliness with the current and historical versions of the acceptance form. The input is the two version texts. The comparison point is whether the batch number and temperature field agree. A version difference is recorded as a gap, and whether to adopt still awaits review of the effective version.
Unsupported and pending items must remain as evidence gaps. Signing, reaching agreement, and contract effectiveness are three distinct facts, and a quotation validity period does not indicate a supply period.