The ACCESS Q&A tool is an AI-powered assistant available on the ACCESS Support portal. It helps users find information about ACCESS services, resources, policies, and procedures.
What the tool does
The assistant can:
- Answer questions about ACCESS services, allocations, resource providers, and policies using ACCESS documentation
- Answer questions about usage metrics for ACCESS-allocated resources via XDMoD
- Help you submit a support ticket through a guided form (sent to the ACCESS help desk via JSM)
- Help you report a security incident through a guided form
The assistant is available through the chat widget in the lower-right corner of the support portal, or embedded directly on specific pages.
How it works
When you ask a question, the tool:
- Searches a curated knowledge base of ACCESS documentation using semantic similarity to find the most relevant information
- Generates a response using a large language model (LLM) that synthesizes the retrieved documentation into a natural-language answer
The tool uses a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approach — the LLM generates answers based on retrieved ACCESS documentation rather than relying solely on its pre-trained knowledge. This helps ensure responses are grounded in actual ACCESS content.
Technology
| Component | Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Large language model | OpenAI GPT-4o | Generates natural-language responses from retrieved documentation |
| Document embeddings | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Converts documentation and questions into vectors for semantic search |
| Knowledge base | Curated ACCESS documentation with vector search | Provides relevant context for answering questions |
| Ticket submission | Netlify proxy to Atlassian JSM | Routes support tickets and security reports to the ACCESS help desk |
| Frontend | React (react-chatbotify) | Chat interface with guided flows for questions, tickets, and security reports |
Limitations
- Responses are AI-generated and may not always be accurate. The tool draws on ACCESS documentation, but the LLM may misinterpret information or produce incomplete answers. Always verify important information through official ACCESS channels.
- The tool is not a human support agent. For complex issues, account problems, or urgent matters, open a support ticket.
- Knowledge has boundaries. The tool knows about ACCESS services and policies as documented on the support portal. It cannot answer questions about the internal workings of specific resource provider systems, individual research projects, or topics outside the ACCESS ecosystem.
- Do not share sensitive information. Do not enter passwords, SSH keys, API tokens, or other secrets in the chat.
Feedback
Your feedback helps us improve the tool. If you encounter an inaccurate response, you can rate it directly in the chat using the thumbs up/down buttons. For general feedback, please open a support ticket with "Q&A Tool Feedback" in the subject line.
Privacy
The tool collects your questions and responses for quality assurance. Questions are processed by a third-party LLM provider (OpenAI) that does not use your data for model training. For full details, see the AI Assistant Privacy Notice.