Creating a New Understanding

What's an Understanding?

Your bot's Knowledge Base is made up of understandings. You could think of each one as a kernel of knowledge that your bot has learned. Each understanding is a collection of question synonyms and the answer(s) that have been crafted for your bot to use when its AI matches an incoming message to that understanding. 

Most understandings in your bot's Knowledge Base come from Mainstay's collection of Understandings, built from all the questions and messages that have come into our bots in the past. Those understandings cover a lot, but by no means do they cover everything. When you encounter something that's missing or that your bot isn't able to answer, you can add it to your bot's Knowledge Base by creating a new understanding. You can also find additional best practices here - Understandings and Best Practices. Below is the "anatomy" of an understanding:

Creating an Understanding

To get started, click + New button at the top left of the Knowledge Base 

Adding the Summary Question

1. Enter the Summary Question that captures the intent or core meaning of the Understanding you want to create
2. Click Search
3. You will see a list of the Understandings your bot thinks are closest in meaning to your Summary Question. Click the arrow, >, to the left of the question to see a preview of your bot’s answer for that question.
4. If any of the search results show an existing understanding that matches the one you are planning to create, click the arrow next to that result, then click Edit this Understanding to be redirected to that Understanding. 
5. No good matches? If you do not see a fitting existing understanding among the search results, click Add New Understanding at the bottom of the results.

Adding the Topics and Answer

1. In step two, the “Create New Understanding” panel, you will see the Summary Question from the previous step. It’s also added automatically to the Question Synonyms.
2. You can edit the Summary Question if needed. As in the first step, the search will show similar understandings to help you verify that you are not creating a duplicate. 
3. Next, add Topics that reflect the content of your understanding. These will be used to organize your understanding within the Knowledge Base. The categories in the first dropdown correspond to the ones listed on the left side of the Knowledge Base. The categories in the second dropdown correspond to the sub-categories already present in your Knowledge Base. You can use select an existing sub-category or create a new one.
4. Add an answer for your bot to use when this understanding matches an incoming question. This step is just like adding answers to existing understandings. You can approve the answer in the creation process or leave it unapproved for now.

Adding Question Synonyms

1. The last step is to add question synonyms. These should have the same meaning or intent as the summary question (synonyms). The best practice is to add at least 10-20 synonymous organizational questions when creating a new understanding.
2. Click the + Add Question button to add new questions

Creating Your Understanding

That's it! Once your understanding is created, you will see it appear in your bot’s Knowledge Base. Please note, it may take a minute or two for your bot to “learn” its new understanding and start using it in conversation.

• Use Test the Bot when creating understandings to double check your work and verify the KB actions you're taking.
• Your bot does best answering short, specific questions. Paragraph long questions will confuse the bot. Keep your sample and synonym questions short and detailed.
• We recommend providing more general answers with a linked resource, in response to very specific questions. Specific questions should be a synonym, not sample questions.  
  • General answers will make sure the bot is answering all variations of the question.
  • Avoid creating yes or no answers as they will only answer a limited set of questions
• Answers should be kept around 160 characters. Make sure to write your answers in the voice of the bot. Include links and emojis when appropriate. 
  • Use a Custom link shorter like Rebrandly to customize long links. Public shorteners like bitly are currently being blocked and will not work. For more information, please see Using Shortened Links in Messages (mainst.ai / bit.ly)
    • If you are having trouble we recommend temporarily using the full link in messages. 
  • Do NOT include links at the very beginning or end of a message. Links should also not be next to emojis. This will help prevent answers from being blocked as spam. 
• Use a reactive strategy when adding understandings to your bot's Knowledge Base. Rather than trying to proactively anticipate questions your bot might be asked, focus your efforts on adding new understandings based on the messages that come in from contacts, or via testing.