Choose the audience and question set
Start with one question set and one audience: internal procedures, approved product knowledge, onboarding guidance, or support answer preparation. The initial design defines source scope, user access, response structure, and where a person takes over.
Keep the source material current
Source ownership
Name the people responsible for approving, updating, and retiring content. Record what the assistant is allowed to use.
Answer references
Link answers to the relevant source material so users can check them. A reference does not, by itself, establish that an answer is correct.
Missing or conflicting guidance
Ask for missing context or send the question to its owner when the sources cannot support an answer.
Test routine questions and failure cases
Build an agreed test set covering routine questions, ambiguous wording, outdated sources, absent answers, and attempts to access restricted content. Assess correctness, citation relevance, refusal behavior, tone, and the time needed to verify an answer.
- Assistant brief and source-access map.
- Configured retrieval and conversation flow.
- Evaluation set with documented results and limitations.
- Content-update routine, escalation path, and operator handover.