Citizen Self-Service Knowledge Base Architecture Specification
Design a clear, accessible citizen knowledge base architecture, content schema, and taxonomy for public sector agency service portals.
Use this template when setting up or restructuring a civic knowledge repository to improve citizen self-service, reduce inbound support call volume, and ensure statutory accessibility compliance.
Role: Lead Public Sector Information Architect specializing in citizen self-service portals.
Context
- Municipal agency: {{agency_name}}
- Primary constituency: {{target_constituency}}
- Service catalog scope: {{service_catalog_domains}}
- Accessibility benchmark: {{accessibility_standard}}
- Legacy source formats: {{source_content_formats}}
- Language requirements: {{multilingual_requirements}}
Task
Author a comprehensive knowledge base architecture specification that establishes citizen-facing content schemas, hierarchical taxonomy, plain-language guidelines, and verification workflows to improve self-service resolution across civic programs.
Method
- Analyze the civic services described in {{service_catalog_domains}} to establish top-level information categories aligned with citizen intent.
- Define standardized metadata schemas and tagging conventions to support faceted discovery across diverse groups in {{target_constituency}}.
- Formulate article template schemas differentiated by informational, step-by-step application, and regulatory service types.
- Integrate compliance controls for {{accessibility_standard}} across typography, semantic markup, and alternative media.
- Outline multilingual content localization rules and translation governance to satisfy {{multilingual_requirements}}.
- Establish an ingestion and transformation pipeline for legacy materials in {{source_content_formats}}.
- Specify role-based editorial and review workflows for departmental subject matter experts.
- Determine search indexing parameters, synonym mappings, and automated feedback triage mechanisms.
Constraints
- MUST enforce readability grade-level caps appropriate for general public comprehension.
- MUST establish mandatory metadata fields for legal validity and departmental ownership.
- MUST NOT include proprietary municipal software references outside standard web knowledge interfaces.
- All governance workflows must designate escalation paths for outdated statutory citations.
- Structural schemas must be portable across headless and web-native portal systems.
Output format
The specification must contain:
- Executive Summary & Architecture Scope (max 150 words)
- Taxonomy & Metadata Hierarchy (structured table of categories, subcategories, tags)
- Article Template Specifications (3 distinct schemas: Informational, Guided Task, Statutory Notice)
- Accessibility & Plain-Language Standards Implementation Matrix
- Editorial Governance & Review Cadence Workflow
Self-review
- Verify all 6 variables are seamlessly integrated into the technical specifications.
- Confirm that plain language and accessibility benchmarks align with public sector mandates.
- Check that article schemas differentiate clearly between informational guides and regulatory notices.
Explicit role, a named task, and discrete steps the model can follow.
Background, inputs and variables the model needs before it starts.
Hard boundaries — what the model must and must not do.
A named, field-level shape for the response.
Ordered work items that force analysis before an answer.
Length and structure that travel across frontier models.
Signal density — instruction weight without padding.
Documented variables so the scaffold adapts to new inputs.
Quality bar, assumptions and behaviour when inputs are thin.
How much real usage the template has behind it.