Softment

AI Pillar

RAG Consulting

Design and improve RAG systems that stay accurate—better retrieval, safer fallbacks, and measurable evaluation loops.

Start smallFixed-scope pilot
Delivery1–2 weeks typical
IncludesSource + handoff
Ingestion and chunking strategyHybrid retrieval + reranking (optional)Permission-aware knowledge accessEvaluation sets + regression checksCost and latency tuning

Problems

What’s slowing teams down

Common bottlenecks we see before AI workflows are implemented.

Answers aren’t grounded

Assistants lose trust when responses don’t match docs, policies, and latest product information.

Retrieval isn’t measurable

Without eval queries and scorecards, tuning becomes guesswork and regressions slip in.

Ingestion is brittle

Docs change often and pipelines break unless monitoring and ownership are defined.

Permission models are ignored

Knowledge systems must respect roles and tenants to be safe for internal teams.

Delivery

What we deliver

Implementation-ready modules designed for reliability, safety, and real operations.

Ingestion + chunking strategy

Design chunking and metadata so retrieval is consistent and debuggable across sources.

Hybrid retrieval + reranking

Use hybrid search and reranking when it improves real queries measurably, then lock it in with evals.

Grounded answers with fallbacks

Citations/excerpts and “don’t know” behavior when evidence is weak—so the system stays honest.

Evaluation loop

Test sets, monitoring, and iteration routines so quality improves over time, not just at launch.

Deliverables

What you’ll get

Concrete outputs designed for predictable handoff and measurable improvements.

RAG architecture plan (sources, access, refresh cadence)

Ingestion pipeline + chunking/metadata strategy

Retrieval tuning (hybrid/rerank as needed)

Eval queries + scorecards for measurement

Citations/excerpts + safe fallback behavior

Handoff notes for continuous improvement

Process

How we work

A pilot-first approach, with the quality and governance needed for production rollouts.

1
2–4 days

Audit

Review pipeline, sources, and failure modes.

2
3–7 days

Tune

Improve chunking, metadata, retrieval, and prompts.

3
2–5 days

Measure

Add eval sets and regression checks.

4
1–3 days

Ship

Deploy improvements and document routines.

Stack

Suggested implementation stack

A practical stack we can adapt to your constraints and existing systems.

Embeddings + chunkingVector DB (pgvector / Qdrant / Pinecone)Hybrid search (keyword + vector)Reranker (optional)Metadata + permission rulesEvals + regression checksTracing + monitoring

Automations

Example automations

A few workflows that usually deliver ROI quickly.

Knowledge base chatbot grounded in docs and policies

Doc comparison and summarization workflows

Hybrid search upgrade for better relevance

Permission-aware internal assistant for teams

Standard

AI delivery standard

Quality and safety practices we ship with AI builds so the system stays measurable, maintainable, and production-ready.

Logging + tracing

Conversation and tool traces with request IDs, error visibility, and debug-friendly runbooks.

Guardrails + safety

Tool allowlists, PII-safe patterns, refusal behavior, and escalation routes for edge cases.

Evals + regression tests

Golden queries, scorecards, and regression checks so quality improves over time instead of drifting.

Cost + latency controls

Caching, prompt discipline, retrieval tuning, and routing so your app stays fast and predictable at scale.

Documentation + handoff

Architecture notes, environment setup, and next-step roadmap so your team can iterate safely after launch.

Security-first integration

Secrets isolation, role-based access, audit-friendly actions, and minimal data retention by design.

Pricing

Typical pricing ranges

We confirm scope before starting. These ranges help you plan a pilot versus a full rollout.

RAG audit + tuning sprint: $900–$3,500

New RAG MVP: $2,500–$8,000

Hybrid search + reranking upgrade: $2,000–$6,500

Timelines

Delivery timelines

Common timelines for pilots and production hardening, depending on integrations and governance.

Audit + tuning: 1–2 weeks

RAG MVP rollout: 2–4 weeks

Risks

Risks & mitigation

The failure modes we design for so reliability and trust stay high.

Stale or inconsistent knowledge

We define refresh cadence and monitoring so the system stays current as docs change.

Low retrieval quality

We tune chunking and metadata, then introduce hybrid search/reranking when it improves real queries measurably.

Permission and compliance gaps

We design access-aware retrieval aligned with your auth model and document permissions.

AI Case Examples

Micro case studies (anonymous)

A few safe examples of outcomes we build for real operations—no client names, just results.

Policy Q&A With Grounded Answers

Problem: Models guessed when evidence was weak and users lost trust.

Solution: RAG grounding with citations and safe “don’t know” fallbacks.

Outcome: More consistent answers and fewer escalations due to hallucinations.

Hybrid Retrieval Upgrade

Problem: Keyword search couldn’t capture intent and results were irrelevant.

Solution: Hybrid retrieval + reranking with an eval set to measure improvement.

Outcome: Better relevance with a repeatable quality loop.

Compare

Decision guides

Quick comparisons to help you choose the right approach before building.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can RAG eliminate hallucinations completely?

No system can guarantee zero errors. RAG reduces hallucinations by grounding answers in retrieved sources and enforcing safe fallbacks.

Can you connect multiple document sources?

Yes. PDFs, help centers, Drive/Notion/Confluence, websites, and databases—based on access controls and formats.

Do you support citations or source links?

Yes. We can include citations/excerpts and links back to sources when it improves trust and debugging.

How do you measure retrieval quality?

We build eval queries and scorecards, then track retrieval hit rate and answer quality across real user intents.

Can you handle permission-aware retrieval?

Yes. We can design per-user/per-role access rules aligned with your auth model and document permissions.

Can we start with a small proof of concept?

Yes. A fixed-scope RAG pilot is a common starting point before expanding scope.

Ready to start?

Want an AI pilot for your workflow?

Start with a fixed-scope gig or request a tailored implementation plan for your systems.