Managing knowledge across teams can quickly become overwhelming without proper organization. When your Answer Bank grows to hundreds or thousands of entries, finding the right information becomes a challenge.

That's where Question Base's category system transforms how you deliver accurate, context-aware answers to your team. Categories in Question Base act as intelligent filters, ensuring your Answer Agent pulls from the most relevant knowledge sources. Whether you're managing product documentation, handling market-specific policies, or organizing departmental information, categories give you the precision control you need.

Imagine your product team receiving only product-related answers in their Slack channel, while your HR team accesses employee policies in theirs. This targeted approach eliminates information overload and ensures every response is relevant and actionable.

Setting Up and Managing Categories to Streamline Your Team's Answer Bank

Getting started with categories in Question Base takes just a few clicks. Simply head to questionbase.ai/questions to access your Questions page, where you'll see your existing knowledge base entries.

Each question displays its assigned category in the right corner, giving you immediate visibility into how your information is organized.

From there, navigate to your settings page to begin creating custom categories. The Add Category button opens up endless possibilities for organization. You can create as many categories as your teams need—from "Product" and "Sales" to "Legal" and "Operations." Each category becomes a dedicated knowledge silo that you can activate or deactivate based on context.

The beauty of this system lies in its flexibility. Categories aren't just labels; they're powerful organizational tools that determine how your Answer Agent responds. When you add a new category like "Product," you're creating a specialized knowledge domain that can be mapped to specific channels, teams, or use cases.

Best Practices for Category Creation

Think strategically about your category structure. Consider creating categories based on:

• Departments (Sales, Marketing, Engineering)

• Product lines or services

• Geographic regions or markets

• Customer segments

• Compliance or regulatory areas

Remember that you can always add, modify, or remove categories as your organization evolves. The system adapts to your changing needs without disrupting existing knowledge connections.

Configuring Channel-Specific Answer Sources for Targeted Knowledge Delivery

Channel-specific configuration is where Question Base truly shines. Instead of having one universal knowledge base that serves all channels equally, you can customize exactly what information flows to each communication channel. This precision targeting ensures teams receive relevant, focused answers without wading through unrelated content.

To configure channel-specific sources, navigate to questionbase.ai/settings. Here, you'll find options to link specific categories to individual Slack channels or other communication platforms. When you select "Specific Categories" as the Answer Source and choose "Product" for your product channel, you're creating a direct pipeline of product knowledge to your product team. The configuration process offers three distinct modes for each channel:

1. Specific Categories Only: The Answer Agent exclusively uses Q&As from selected categories

2. No Answer Bank: The Agent bypasses the Answer Bank entirely, using only integrated documentation sources

3. All Categories (Default): The Agent searches across all available categories for comprehensive answers

This granular control means your legal team won't receive product specifications when asking about compliance, and your sales team won't get engineering documentation when they need pricing information. Each channel becomes a focused knowledge portal tailored to its audience.

Testing Your Configuration

After setting up channel-specific sources, test the configuration by asking the same question in different channels. You'll immediately see how the Answer Agent adapts its responses based on your settings. If a question about project timelines returns different answers in your product channel versus your operations channel, you know your configuration is working perfectly.

Creating Market-Specific Answers Using Categories for Global Teams

Global organizations face unique challenges when managing knowledge across different markets. The same question might require completely different answers depending on geographic location, regulatory environment, or cultural context.

Categories in Question Base elegantly solve this complexity. Consider a common scenario: vacation policies. Your EU employees operate under different regulations than your US team. By creating separate categories like "EU-Policies" and "US-Policies," you can maintain distinct answer sets for the same questions. When someone asks about vacation entitlements, the Answer Agent delivers the appropriate response based on the channel's configured category.

This approach extends beyond HR policies. Product availability, pricing structures, support hours, and service levels often vary by market. Instead of maintaining separate knowledge bases or relying on team members to filter information manually, categories automatically route the right information to the right people.

Implementation Strategy for Global Teams

Start by mapping out your market-specific variations:

• Identify questions that require different answers per market

• Create dedicated categories for each market or region

• Duplicate relevant Q&As and customize them for each category

• Assign categories to region-specific channels

• Test responses to ensure accuracy across markets

The system handles the complexity behind the scenes. Your teams simply ask questions naturally, and the Answer Agent determines which category to reference based on the channel configuration. This seamless experience maintains consistency while respecting regional differences.

Implementing Categories in Question Base: Your Complete Setup Guide

Let's walk through a complete implementation from start to finish. This practical guide ensures you maximize the value of categories in your Question Base setup.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Knowledge Base

Begin by reviewing your existing questions at questionbase.ai/questions. Look for natural groupings and patterns. Which questions relate to specific departments? Which answers vary by location or customer type? This audit forms the foundation of your category strategy.

Step 2: Create Your Category Structure

Navigate to settings and start adding categories. Click Add Category and enter meaningful names that your team will immediately understand. Avoid overly generic terms—"Product-Hardware" is more useful than just "Product" if you have multiple product lines.

Step 3: Assign Questions to Categories

Go through your Answer Bank and assign each Q&A to the appropriate category. You can bulk-edit multiple entries or handle them individually. Pay special attention to questions that might belong in multiple categories—you may need to duplicate and customize them.

Step 4: Configure Channel Mappings

In your settings page, map each Slack channel or communication platform to its corresponding categories. Start with obvious connections (product channel → product category) before tackling more complex configurations.

Step 5: Test and Refine

Ask test questions in each configured channel to verify the Answer Agent pulls from the correct categories. Document any gaps or overlaps you discover. Fine-tune your category assignments and channel configurations based on real-world usage.

Step 6: Train Your Team

Communicate the new structure to your teams. Explain how categories improve answer accuracy and relevance. Show them how to identify which category an answer comes from and how to request additions or modifications.

Ongoing Management Tips

Categories require periodic maintenance to remain effective:

• Review category usage monthly to identify underutilized or overcrowded categories

• Gather feedback from teams about answer relevance and accuracy

• Update category assignments as your organization evolves

• Document your category strategy for new team members

• Regular audits ensure categories continue serving their intended purpose

Remember to save your changes after each configuration update. The Save Changes or Save & verify buttons commit your settings and activate the new category mappings immediately.

By following this implementation guide and leveraging the full power of categories, you're not just organizing information—you're creating a smarter, more efficient knowledge ecosystem that adapts to your organization's unique needs. Your teams get faster, more accurate answers, and your knowledge base becomes a strategic asset rather than just another database.