Best practices for structuring 'Knowledge Articles'

Overview

As the world embraces enterprise knowledge automation, it's crucial for organizations to structure their information in a way that's easily digestible by LLMs and clear to end users.

Leena AI has therefore compiled a set of best practices for creating effective knowledge articles. The following guidelines are applicable across various platforms, including SharePoint, Confluence, and Leena KM.

Clear Article Title

For a knowledge article to be truly effective, its title must immediately convey its content and purpose. Since employees often rely on the title to decide whether an article is relevant to their needs, a vague title like "Other FAQ" can leave them confused about its subject.

In contrast, a title such as "Employee Onboarding FAQs" clearly indicates that the article addresses common questions related to the onboarding process, making it more accessible and useful.

Clear Article Path

Grouping related articles within the same folder enhances structural clarity and simplifies navigation.

• Example: By consolidating all leave-related knowledge articles into a dedicated folder titled "Leave," users can easily locate and access all pertinent information, thereby improving their overall experience.

Structuring Knowledge in Clear Pointers

Organizing information using clear paragraphs, bullet points, and appropriate line breaks significantly enhances readability and comprehension.

In contrast to a poorly structured explanation that merges details into one long paragraph without clear headings, a clear structure ensures that users can easily navigate through the information and understand each step.

Example of Good Structure:

To download Microsoft Teams, follow these steps:

Desktop Version:

1. Visit the official Microsoft Teams download page.
2. Choose the appropriate version for your operating system (Windows or Mac).
3. Download the installer and run it.

Mobile Version:

1. Open the Google Play Store (for Android) or the Apple App Store (for iOS).
2. Search for "Microsoft Teams" and tap the install button.

After Installation:

1. Launch the application.
2. Sign in using your Microsoft account or organizational credentials.

Single Page Layout

LLMs perform better with single-page layout documents because these documents present text in a clear, linear flow. This simplicity ensures that context and relationships between sentences remain intact.

In contrast, double-page layouts often involve multiple columns, headers, footers, and other formatting elements that can disrupt the natural sequence of information, making it harder for the model to interpret accurately and maintain context.

Structured Tables

LLMs work best with well-structured tables, while certain table formats can lead to misinterpretation. Here's a breakdown:

Easily Interpretable Tables

• Clear Headers and Uniform Rows: Tables with explicit, consistently formatted column headers and uniform rows help maintain context.
• Plain Text or Standard Formats: Tables presented in plain text, CSV, or standard HTML formats that avoid complex layouts.
• Simple, Unmerged Cells: Tables where each cell contains distinct, singular data without merging across rows or columns.

Less Interpretable Tables

• Complex Layouts: Tables with merged cells, nested rows, or multi-level headers can confuse the model.
• Irregular Formatting: Tables with inconsistent cell alignment, variable cell sizes, or cluttered layouts make it hard for the LLM to maintain context.
• Embedded in Images or Non-Text Formats: Tables included as images or in formats without proper OCR processing pose significant challenges.

Note: Avoid tables scanning over multiple pages.

Incorporate External Knowledge and References

Incorporating references and external knowledge links in articles is recommended to help employees quickly access additional context and verify responses, ultimately enhancing the overall utility of the information provided.

Avoid Scanned PDF Documents

The parser model, which extracts content from PDFs, does not accurately process scanned documents. Therefore, it's best to avoid using scanned PDFs as knowledge articles.

Single Language Documents

Knowledge articles should be written in a single language. Each article must be unilingual, avoiding the inclusion of content in multiple languages.

High Quality Images

The embedded images must be of high quality ensuring they are easier to detect.