What the documents look like
Brand outlet discount operations aim to clear out-of-season inventory and do not maintain a new-arrival full-price image. The main data sources are ERP inventory age, POS sales, outlet mall campaigns, and historical discounts, with weekly and monthly update frequencies. Everyday documents include discount approvals, slow-moving lists, price tags, and gross margin calculation sheets. In the inventory procurement and supplier records stage, purchase documents, supplier files, and discount approval materials need to be connected. Workflow routing carries these materials between the Form Input node and the User Selection node.
The Form Input node and the User Selection node are both user interaction nodes and can each be added repeatedly. After a Form Input node triggers, the conversation enters an interaction state, the workflow state is recorded, and execution continues after the user completes the interaction. The node collects required information the user fills in and passes it to later nodes after submission. After a User Selection node triggers, the conversation also enters an interaction state, and when the user makes a choice, the node evaluates that choice and executes the corresponding branch. The information collected must be explicitly passed to later retrieval, judgment, or interface nodes. Order writes, document backfill, and external status synchronization require a separate business interface or a later process; the nodes themselves do not complete these business actions.
Constraints at the workflow routing step
At this step, the constraint is that collected values are passed forward as data, and branch execution is a flow direction. Neither node performs business verification, approval, database writes, or external synchronization on its own. The interaction state, the recorded workflow state, and the hidden dialog box are documented behaviors of the interaction nodes; no separate global state-recording switch, submission-count limit, automatic judgment, or snapshot guarantee is documented.
Hypothetical paper exercise sample: On 10 March 2025, the channel clearance team of a brand outlet store submits a slow-moving list stating SKU-A has an inventory age of 210 days, a current discount of 50 percent off, and a gross margin of 12 percent. It also submits supplier records stating that supplier S has a quotation validity period from 1 March 2025 to 31 March 2025 and that the authorized signatory is Person A. The draft sentence to be judged is: "Supplier S has confirmed supply at 45 percent off, and signatory Person A has approved it." The question is whether this draft sentence is supported by the submitted materials.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Form Input node | Documented behavior | After triggering, enters the interaction state, collects required information, and passes it to later nodes after submission |
| User Selection node | Documented behavior | After the user makes a choice, executes the corresponding "yes" branch; verify each branch connection |
| Output handoff | Implementation check | Explicitly pass collected information to later retrieval, judgment, or interface nodes, comparing output against input item by item |
| External action division | Implementation check | Order writes, document backfill, and external status synchronization require a separate business interface or a later process |
| Interaction state check | Implementation check | State recording is a behavior of the interaction nodes; no separate global state-recording switch is configured |
Three common errors
- Treating the supplier quotation validity period collected by the Form Input node as a supply term. The quotation validity period and the supply term are different fields and must be checked separately. In the sample, the materials state a validity period from 1 March 2025 to 31 March 2025 and do not state a supply term for the 45 percent off supply.
- Treating the "yes" branch of the User Selection node as an approval. Branch execution is a flow direction, while approval is a business fact. In the sample, the materials record authorized signatory Person A but do not record an approval entry by Person A for this discount.
- Treating a retrieval result as an authorization basis. The same-vector-model requirement for retrieval libraries applies only to libraries that share the same vector model; it does not extend to external systems needing the same model, and retrieval does not perform permission or entity isolation. In the sample, the draft sentence asserts a confirmed supply and an approval, and neither is established by the submitted materials.
How to verify the setup
- Input the supplier records from the hypothetical sample and compare the quotation validity period 1 March 2025 to 31 March 2025 against the draft sentence "supply at 45 percent off." If the draft sentence does not state a supply term, record it as unsupported rather than as a conflict. The expected observation is that the validity period field matches the material and the supply term field has no material basis.
- Input the slow-moving list from the hypothetical sample and compare SKU-A's inventory age of 210 days and gross margin of 12 percent against the discount approval materials. If the approval materials do not state this SKU, record it as pending verification. The expected observation is that matching is judged only when the same subject, the same period, and the same field are present.
- Input the authorized signatory Person A from the hypothetical sample and compare against the draft sentence "signatory Person A has approved it." Check whether the materials state an approval record by Person A for this discount. If only a quotation validity period exists and no approval record exists, record it as an evidence gap rather than as approved. The expected observation is that a pending request is not an approval and an offered option is not execution.
These checks are paper comparisons against the sample text. No test, deployment, approval, refund, or other business action has been performed. Missing evidence remains missing.