What the documents look like
Brand outlet discount operations exist to clear past-season inventory. The working materials differ from those of a full-price direct store, because the outlet side does not maintain a new-arrival full-price image. The documents that matter for retrieval and handover are discount approvals, slow-moving inventory lists, price tags, and gross-margin worksheets. Their data sources include ERP inventory age, POS sales, outlet mall campaigns, and historical discount records. Updates arrive on a weekly or monthly rhythm, so several versions of the same document may coexist across weeks and months. Retrieval returns candidate material; it does not decide whether a handover is authorized. Authorization is checked by a person against the returned text.
Two facts shape this page. First, the material set is small and version-heavy, so retrieval must return enough of a document to preserve its status field rather than a fragment that drops it. Second, the same store, the same SKU set, and the same period can appear in a discount approval and in a slow-moving list with different status wording. Retrieval has to bring both back so a human can compare them.
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. The correct step is to check the model identifier, exclude the ones that do not match, and record what was observed. No cross-model retrieval is performed to compare missed recalls.
Search mode is chosen per test question among semantic retrieval, full-text retrieval, and hybrid retrieval. No single mode is assumed to suit all outlet materials. Full-text retrieval suits identifiers, model numbers, and proper nouns; semantic retrieval suits natural-language descriptions; hybrid retrieval combines both through RRF. Rerank is a separate second-stage ordering that requires a rerank model and an enabled setting; it produces a 0-1 score. The reference cap is measured in tokens, not in a top-k item count. The minimum relevance value applies only under semantic retrieval or when result reranking is used. Question optimization performs coreference resolution and question expansion before retrieval; the original question and the optimized question are compared to check whether the subject was altered.
Semantic recall and relevance scores do not carry permission or entity isolation. Retrieval is not authorization. A pending state is not proof that operating permission is absent, and it is not approval.
Hypothetical paper exercise. The material text is: "Discount approval A-0417: subject is an East China outlet store, object is three past-season footwear SKUs, status is pending operations supervisor review, effective scope is the current month's clearance batch." A second sentence is: "Slow-moving list B-0520: subject is the same store, object is the same three SKUs, status is listed in this week's clearance recommendation, no approval conclusion recorded." The handover request to be judged is: "Transfer the discount execution permission of A-0417 to the next shift." The comparison holds subject, period, and field constant. The status field of A-0417 reads pending review and does not state approval. B-0520 records no approval conclusion. Pending review neither proves the absence of operating permission nor equals approval. The request lacks an effective authorization basis, so it is recorded as pending verification and no permission transfer is executed.
Configuration and implementation checks
The table below lists documented settings or implementation checks tied to this page's documents and primary task. The values are hypothetical starting points for this paper exercise, used for comparison against the sample material. They are not official defaults.
| Configuration item | Hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Reason and comparison method |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Associate only one knowledge base using the same vector model | The sample material belongs to one store document set; check the vector model identifier first and exclude non-matching bases |
| Search mode | Run semantic retrieval and full-text retrieval separately first | The sample contains identifier A-0417 and natural-language description; compare hit differences for identifiers and semantics |
| Reference cap | Set a token amount that can hold the full text of both materials | The material contains subject, object, status, and effective scope; compare whether the status field survives truncation |
| Minimum relevance | Start at a middle value, then compare against labelled samples | Applies only under semantic retrieval or result reranking; observe filtering with related and unrelated samples |
| Question optimization | Enable for short questions and compare subject before and after | When the sample question contains a reference, check whether the subject was altered; disable for clear questions to observe the difference |
| Result reranking | Compare scores when a model exists and the setting is enabled | The rerank score is 0-1 and compares candidate text relevance; it is not used to judge authorization status |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as established authorization. Input is the handover request to be judged plus the A-0417 text; the comparison is between the retrieved result and the approval status field; the observable result is that the material is recalled while the status remains pending review. The error is executing the permission transfer on that basis; the correct action is to record the gap in authorization basis.
- Reading pending review as either absent operating permission or approval. Input is the A-0417 status field; the comparison is between mutually exclusive values of the same field; the observable result is that pending review and approved are not the same value. The error is supplying an authorization or effective clause that the text does not contain; the correct action is to keep it pending verification.
- Associating knowledge bases built on different vector models. Input is two knowledge bases with different vector model identifiers; the comparison is whether the identifiers match; the observable result is that they differ. The error is continuing the association and inferring missed recall or redundancy; the correct action is to exclude the non-matching base and record the observation.
How to verify the setup
- Input the A-0417 text from the hypothetical sample and the handover request; compare whether the retrieved content contains the four fields of subject, object, status, and effective scope; the observable result is that the status field reads pending review and has not been rewritten. The condition is met when the retrieved result preserves the original status and the authorization judgment remains pending verification.
- Input the B-0520 text and the same handover request; compare the approval conclusion field under the same subject and the same period; the observable result is that no approval conclusion is recorded. The condition is met when the absence is not read as a denial or a conflict and is recorded as unsupported.
- Input a paper empty result; compare whether the downstream design accepts an empty reference; the observable result is that the reference content is output as an array whose length can be 0. The condition is met when the downstream path runs through. This does not claim that a fictional-rule retrieval always returns an empty array. All three checks are paper comparisons; no deployment, approval, or permission transfer was executed.