Capability layer: enterprise knowledge
The person allowed to see the answer could not find it in time. It was written down all along.
An answer never draws on what the person asking is not allowed to see. Within that line, the enterprise knowledge layer takes in the organisation’s documents and records and answers from them at the moment of the question.
From a document to an answer
From the moment knowledge comes in, its permissions stay attached to it. They are not a filter added at the end.
- 1
Documents and records come in
Every passage becomes something a question can find: files and records are brought in from where they already live, and indexed.
- 2
Retrieval at the moment of the question
The answer is built from the passages that match the question, not from memory. This is retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and the sources it drew on can be traced.
- 3
An answer the asker is allowed to see
Two people can ask the same question and get different answers, because each answer draws only on what that person’s role permits.
Where the knowledge comes from
Connectors are described here by the kind of system, since the products behind them differ from one organisation to the next.
Document stores and shared drives
The first place anyone looks, and where policies and internal guides are kept.
Business systems of record
For questions a document cannot settle: the current state of a customer, an order or an operation.
Internal messaging and ticketing
A problem solved once in a thread tends to be asked about again. This is where that earlier answer lives.
Knowledge bases and intranets
The question tends to be asked somewhere other than the page written to answer it.
The systems connected in a given deployment are agreed at scoping, together with how each one connects.
Who sees what, and the record of it
Answers follow roles and workspaces
Permissions are set by role and workspace. A document restricted to one team never shapes an answer given to another.
A record of who asked what
Any answer can be reviewed after the fact: who asked, when, and which sources it drew on are all kept.
Administration, retention and export
Retention and export follow your organisation’s policy. On the admin side, connected sources and the people using them are managed in one place.
Two people can ask the same question and get different answers. That is the permission working.
FAQ
Questions about your organisation’s knowledge
Bring the question your staff keep failing to answer in time.
Bring it with two details: who must not see the answer, and where it is kept today.
Discuss your use case