# Enterprise RAG architecture — planning worksheet

Reference guide: https://programmatic.llc/resources/enterprise-rag-architecture

Audience: AI engineers, knowledge owners and application teams designing permission-aware retrieval and answers.

Intended output: A source-to-answer design with separate retrieval and response evaluation.

## Working context

- Workflow / system:
- Accountable owner:
- Date:
- Scope and constraints:

## Review checklist

- [ ] Can the source be traced to an owner?
  Record authoritative repositories, document identifiers, access policy and update responsibility.

  Evidence / open question:
  Owner / next action:

- [ ] Are deletion and permission changes handled?
  Define how changed access or removed content propagates to indexes, caches and response context.

  Evidence / open question:
  Owner / next action:

- [ ] Is retrieval measured independently?
  Prepare queries with expected evidence and review missing or irrelevant passages before scoring answers.

  Evidence / open question:
  Owner / next action:

- [ ] Does insufficient evidence have a useful outcome?
  Define clarification, abstention or escalation behavior instead of requiring an answer for every request.

  Evidence / open question:
  Owner / next action:

## Reference sequence

### Prepare source evidence

Identify authoritative documents, metadata, access rules and the handling of updates or deletions.

Expected artifact: A governed source collection

### Retrieve permitted context

Resolve the user scope and search for evidence relevant to the question before response generation.

Expected artifact: A traceable set of permitted passages

### Compose a grounded response

Use the selected evidence with source references and a defined response when the evidence is insufficient.

Expected artifact: An answer linked to its supporting context

### Evaluate and maintain

Inspect retrieval failures separately from answer errors and repeat checks when sources or configuration change.

Expected artifact: A source lifecycle and evaluation process

## Decision record

- Decision:
- Evidence considered:
- Remaining assumptions:
- Acceptance criteria:
- Reviewer:
- Next review date:

This worksheet supports discussion; completion is not a certification or a guarantee of project readiness.