In this guide 6 sections
An assistant quotes old prices because the old file is still in its folder. Superseded versions, near identical copies and documents with no effective date all compete with the current one. Name an owner for each document and retire old versions by rule, rather than patching the prompt.
The assistant cannot tell which file is current
A document assistant does not know your filing habits. It searches every file it can see and picks the passages that match the question, so when the 2024 and 2026 price lists both match, either one can win.
People read a file name, a header date or a folder called Archive and sort it out in a second. The assistant sees none of that. Not unless the text itself says so. A support agent asking about the courier rate card can get last year’s figure, because the older sheet repeats the words per kilogram and zone more often.
Diagnosis is simple. Ask the question again and read which source file the answer cites, and you will usually find the old file sitting in the results, quoted with total confidence. Chunking adds a second twist. The system cuts each file into passages. A passage from the old tariff sheet may carry a clearer sentence than the new one, so it ranks higher on wording alone.
Where the stale copies come from
Superseded files pile up through ordinary work. Someone saves Price List final, then final v2, then final revised, and nobody deletes the earlier ones because nobody owns the shared drive folder.
Near identical versions are worse than obviously old ones. A leave policy that differs by one clause matches almost every question equally well, so the assistant has no reason to prefer the newer text. Both are right as far as it can tell. Draft policies cause trouble too, since a leave policy saved for the board to approve looks exactly like the approved one once it reaches the indexed folder.
Walk through the folder with fresh eyes. You will probably find the same few patterns.
- Final, final v2 and revised copies side by side
- Email attachments dropped into the shared drive
- Scanned PDFs of the printed version beside the Word original
- Branch copies that were never updated
- Drafts that were never approved
Missing effective dates make it worse
A price list without a valid from date is ambiguous even to a person, and so is a return policy that says see below and carries no revision number. The assistant can only guess.
Put three facts at the top of every controlled document: the effective date, the version and the owner. Retrieval can then prefer the latest date, and each answer can quote that date back to the person asking. Write the date in one fixed format such as year, month, day, because a mix of 03/04 and 4 March leaves both people and software unsure which comes first.
Quoting the date is a cheap safety net, because a support agent who reads valid from March in the answer can spot a wrong file at once.
- Effective from date in the first lines
- Superseded by field, filled when replaced
- Version number that changes with every edit
- Named owner and review date
Fix it at the source, not in the prompt
Teams often add a line to the prompt saying always use the latest document, yet a language model cannot judge latest when the files give it no signal. A prompt rule rarely holds.
A better fix is a named owner for each policy, price list or procedure. That person approves a change, uploads the new version and moves the old one out of the indexed folder into an archive the assistant cannot read.
Mind the people side. Sales reps keep rate cards on laptops and forward them to the shared drive, so tell them where the approved copy lives and ask them to stop saving others. Add a retirement rule on top. Anything past its review date drops out of search until someone confirms it still holds, which keeps a forgotten tariff sheet from outliving its use.
Check it after every change
A one time cleanup decays within months as the folder fills with copies again, so tie the check to the event that causes the trouble: a document change. Run a quarterly sweep too, using the owner register. Compare the files in the indexed folder against the register, and delete or archive anything that has no owner, no date or a lapsed review.
After each update, ask the assistant three or four questions whose answers moved. A good test question names a figure that changed, such as the delivery charge or the notice period, so right and wrong answers differ at a glance. Does it quote the new rate? Does it cite the new file? If not, hunt for the leftover copy and retire it before staff notice.
Today, pick the one document your staff ask about most and list every version in the folder. Decide who owns it.
Document owner register
A one page register with a line for each controlled document. Columns hold document title, owner, effective date, version, superseded by, next review date and where the archive copy lives. A second block lists the test questions to re-ask whenever that document changes.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can we just tell the assistant to prefer newer files?
It helps only when files carry reliable dates in their text. File names and folder timestamps often change when files are copied between drives, so put the effective date inside the document and remove old versions from the index.
Should old versions be deleted?
Keep them for audit, but move them out of the folder the assistant reads, since an archive with no index keeps the record without old figures leaking into answers.
How often should a document owner review a file?
Match it to how fast the content changes. A price list may need a check every quarter, while a leave policy may need one a year. Write the review date into the document and let expiry drop it from search.