What the documents look like
A fresh-food concession counter in a hypermarket is commonly operated by a supplier who is present on site and paid through a sales-sharing arrangement. Store service and internal training therefore involve three parties at once: the hypermarket fresh-food department, the concession supplier, and the store manager. The working materials are the concession contract, daily sales reports, loss sheets, and food purchase inspection records. These materials update daily and per batch.
For retrieval, the practical consequence is that contract clauses, loss-allocation wording, and inspection evidence sit in separate documents. A single question will typically reach only one of those groups. Training questions also arrive with unresolved references, for example a follow-up about one line on a loss sheet. The question itself then lacks a subject, so question optimization has to complete the reference before retrieval runs.
Retrieval returns content relevance. It does not show that any party holds authorization. Whether a contract has taken effect, whether a loss has been confirmed, and whether an inspection has been completed all require separate checks against the source material.
Constraints at the retrieval step
The knowledge base search node can associate one or more knowledge bases that use the same vector model. Knowledge bases built on different vector models cannot be associated together. Search runs against the whole knowledge base; a collection is only a way to classify data and does not affect search results.
Semantic search relies on vector distance. Full-text search relies on keyword hits. Hybrid search combines both paths through RRF. A ReRank model reorders candidate text and returns a score from 0 to 1. The minimum relevance value takes effect only under semantic search or when result reordering is used. The reference cap is measured in tokens.
Hypothetical paper exercise. A store fresh-food department keeps a concession contract summary. The source text reads: "This contract takes effect on the date both parties sign it. Party B operates on site in the fresh-food area. Sales are shared after monthly reconciliation. Loss is allocated by both parties according to the stocktake result." In the same batch there is a loss sheet recording the date 12 March, a quantity of 6 kilograms, and a status field reading "awaiting store confirmation." One draft sentence to be assessed reads: "The store has confirmed this loss and the supplier bears it." The check compares the loss sheet status field with the draft sentence. The status field says awaiting confirmation; the draft sentence says confirmed. The two values conflict within the same field, and the draft sentence is not supported.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Reason and comparison method |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | One base each for concession contracts, loss sheets, and purchase inspection records, all using the same vector model | Check the vector model identifier of each base first; only matching identifiers may be associated together, and non-matching ones are excluded |
| Search mode | Semantic search for contract-clause questions; full-text search for loss-sheet number questions | Run both question types in each mode and compare which mode returns more complete content for which type |
| Reference cap | Hypothetical starting point of 2000 tokens for this exercise | Test with short and long source materials to see whether reference content is truncated, then compare against shorter and longer values before adjusting |
| Minimum relevance | Hypothetical starting point of 0.4 for this exercise | Label relevant and irrelevant samples first, compare what remains after filtering, then decide whether to adjust |
| Question optimization | Enabled for multi-turn follow-ups and short questions | Compare the original question with the optimized question and check whether the subject was altered |
| Result reordering | Enabled when candidates are numerous and the question is complete | Compare ordering before and after reordering, and confirm the ReRank model is configured and enabled per the setting |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as authorization evidence. Input a question asking whether a given supplier may handle loss on its own. Retrieval returns the contract summary. Compare the sharing and loss clauses in the summary against the operation named in the question. The summary does not state that this supplier holds that authority, so the record remains unsupported. The hit does not show the operation was approved.
- Reading a pending status as completed. Input the loss sheet text "12 March, 6 kilograms, awaiting store confirmation." Compare the status field with the draft sentence "confirmed by the store." The two values are mutually exclusive in the same field, and the draft sentence contradicts the source.
- Associating knowledge bases across vector models. Input the vector model identifiers of two knowledge bases and compare whether they match. When the identifiers differ, exclude the non-matching base and record the actual observation. Do not run a cross-model search to compare missed recalls.
How to verify the setup
- Ask about the loss sheet status. Input "What is the confirmation status of the 12 March loss sheet?" Compare whether the returned content contains the status field text. A return of "awaiting store confirmation" satisfies the condition. A return of "confirmed" or an empty result is recorded as a miss, without inferring a cause.
- Ask about the contract effective condition. Input the contract summary text and compare whether the returned content contains "takes effect on the date both parties sign it." Inclusion satisfies the condition. A different effective condition is recorded as a difference and checked against the source.
- Check the downstream design for an empty result. Input a paper empty reference array and compare whether the downstream node continues to run, consistent with the documented statement that the reference output length can be 0. A completed path satisfies the condition. Do not claim that any invented rule makes retrieval return an empty array.
This page addresses one scope: fresh-food concession counters in hypermarkets, store service and internal training, knowledge base retrieval and recall. At operational handover, the authorization state of materials, operations, and requests must be checked separately; retrieval and forms are not authorization to act.