> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ayuda.noou.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Interactions Work: Questions, Responses, and Evidence

> Learn how to start an interaction in noou, what happens when you submit a question, and how responses are grounded in your organization's knowledge.

When you need to know something in order to do your work, you start an interaction. You describe your situation, ask your question, or name the topic you need guidance on — and noou retrieves the relevant knowledge your organization has captured to give you a response grounded in that specific context.

This is not keyword search, and it is not a general-purpose AI assistant. Every response comes from your organization's knowledge base. That distinction matters: the answer you receive reflects what your organization knows, believes, and has documented — not a generalized response drawn from the internet.

## Starting an interaction

To start an interaction, describe what you need. You do not have to phrase your question in a particular format. Write it the way you would ask a knowledgeable colleague.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Describe your situation or question">
    Write out what you need to know. You can frame it as a direct question, a scenario, or a task you are trying to complete. The more specific you are, the more precisely noou can retrieve relevant knowledge.
  </Step>

  <Step title="noou retrieves relevant knowledge">
    noou searches your organization's knowledge base for content that matches your question and context. It considers not just keywords but meaning — what you are actually asking.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You receive a grounded response">
    noou surfaces a response built from your organization's knowledge. You can see what knowledge it drew from, which helps you evaluate the response and follow up if needed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The interaction is recorded as evidence">
    Your question and the interaction pattern it represents are captured. Over time, these patterns become evidence about what people need to know and where knowledge may be insufficient.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What noou does with your question

When you submit a question, noou does not generate a response from scratch. It works from what your organization has already captured and structured in its knowledge base.

The process is grounded, not generative in the open-ended sense. noou:

* Retrieves content from your organization's knowledge base that is relevant to your question
* Surfaces the most applicable knowledge for your specific situation
* Provides a response that reflects your organization's documented understanding, policies, and processes
* Records the interaction as part of the ongoing evidence layer

This means that the quality and completeness of your organization's knowledge base directly shapes the quality of interactions. noou does not fill gaps with external content — it reveals them.

## Types of questions and situations

Interactions work well for a wide range of knowledge needs. Common examples include:

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Process questions">
    Questions about how something works or what steps to follow — for example, "What is the process for onboarding a new supplier?" or "What steps do I take to escalate a client issue?"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Situational guidance">
    Questions about how to handle a specific circumstance — for example, "How should I handle a situation where a client requests a scope change outside the contract?" or "What do I do if a team member raises a compliance concern?"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Policy and rule questions">
    Questions about what applies in a given context — for example, "What policy applies when an employee requests remote work from another country?" or "What approval is required for purchases above a certain threshold?"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Conceptual or definitional questions">
    Questions about what something means within your organization — for example, "What is our definition of a qualified lead?" or "How does the company define a critical incident?"
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## What interactions are not

It is worth being clear about what noou interactions are not.

* **Not a general search engine.** noou does not search the web or retrieve information from outside your organization's knowledge base.
* **Not a general AI chatbot.** Responses are not generated from a large language model's general training. They are grounded in what your organization has captured.
* **Not a substitute for human judgment.** Interactions help you access relevant knowledge quickly. They support your judgment — they do not replace it.

This scope is intentional. The value of interactions in noou comes precisely from the fact that responses are specific to your organization's context.

<Tip>
  The more specific your question or situation, the more relevant the knowledge noou retrieves. Instead of asking "How does the process work?" try "What is the approval process for budget changes in an active project?"
</Tip>

Once an interaction is complete, it does not disappear. It becomes part of the evidence layer that helps noou and your organization understand what people need to know. See [Evidence](/interactions/evidence) to understand what happens after an interaction is captured.