How the Knowledge Base works
A knowledge base is a named collection of content that Elie has indexed so people can ask it questions. Answers are written only from that content, and each one cites the passages it used. This page explains how the pieces fit together.
What a knowledge base holds
You create one with Create KB, on Overview or Knowledge Base, and it asks only for a Name and a Description. Its models, retrieval and strictness start from defaults you can change later on its Settings. To open one, select Detail on its card, or its name in the table view.
Inside, the header names the knowledge base with a status pill, and Detail and Ask in Chat switch between its sections and its chat. Each knowledge base has its own menu of sections: Documents, Q&A, Sources, Ingest status and so on.
Where content comes from
| Route in | Where it is set up | How it is labelled on Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Files you upload | Documents, then Upload Documents | Manual upload |
| An import connector | Sources, then Add Import Channel, using a connector from IntELIEKonnect | IntELIEKonnect |
| Your own system, through the partner API | An integration's API key (see the Knowledge Base API) | API integration |
| A Voice IntELIEgence app | The app's KB & Chat settings (see Attaching a knowledge base) | Manual upload, tagged with the app's name |
A Voice app with this knowledge base attached adds each conversation it processes as a document, and a re-run of that conversation adds a new version rather than a second document.
Q&A pairs sit apart from documents, on the Q&A section. Only the question is matched against what someone asks, and the answer is returned word for word. See Curated question and answer pairs.
From a file to an answer
Nothing is answerable the moment it arrives. Each item runs through an ingest job: it waits as Queued, then shows Processing while it is parsed, split into passages and indexed, and ends as Indexed or Failed. Only indexed content can be cited, so a document listed on Documents may not be answering yet. Ingest statuses explained covers every stage.
While a document is indexed, Elie also writes a few questions it can answer. They are offered as suggestions when someone opens an empty chat.
Where asking fits
People ask in chat, one knowledge base at a time. They can start from the ask bar on Overview, from Ask on a knowledge base's card, or from Ask in Chat inside one. The answer streams in, lists its sources and says so when it has nothing solid to answer from. Each person's conversations are kept for them alone. See Asking a question and reading the answer.
Two checks decide what each person sees
- KB Access decides who can open the knowledge base at all: the person who created it, tenant administrators, and members of any role, department or group granted access on its Access section.
- Document access decides which of its documents each of those people gets. A Public document reaches everyone who can open the knowledge base. A document for Internal users reaches people who match one of its role, department or group tags. A document set to Only me, with no tags, reaches only its creator and tenant administrators.
Retrieval applies both checks before an answer is written, so two people can ask the same question and get different answers. Who can see a knowledge base shows how to set both.
What your role decides
A role's permissions decide which sections of a knowledge base appear, in groups the role editor lists under Knowledge Base:
| Permission group | What it opens |
|---|---|
| Knowledge Base · Chat | Asking questions, your conversations, and rating answers |
| Knowledge Base · Document | Documents, Q&A and Ingest status |
| Knowledge Base · Analytics | Analytics, Evaluation, Feedback, Retrieval trace and Safety, and the two quality cards on Overview |
| Knowledge Base · Setup | Sources, Settings, Access and Developers |
| Knowledge Base · Component | Creating and retiring knowledge bases |
A section your role cannot reach is left out of the menu rather than shown and refused, so two colleagues can see different menus on the same knowledge base. Without Knowledge Base · Chat - Execute, the Ask buttons are left off the cards too.
Next
- Creating a knowledge base - the first thing to do.
- What a source is - content that arrives on its own.
- Who can see a knowledge base - setting both access checks.