Step 2: Where Does Each Piece of Information Belong?
MIA has four places to put things, and most early problems come from information landing in the wrong one.
| Information | Belongs in | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Persona, flow, rules, phrasing, objection handling | Prompt | Behavior. Rarely changes. |
| Opening hours, services, prices, policies, FAQs | Knowledge Base | Changes often and is only looked up. |
| What the agent should take down from the caller (name, email, request) | Property | Data capture for after the call — not knowledge. |
| Live data: available slots, order status, availability, creating a booking | Integration | Must be current at the moment of the call. |
Three clarifications that save a lot of time:
- A property is not memory. It defines which information should end up in your results table. Making sure the agent doesn’t ask the same thing twice is a prompt rule — see Writing the Prompt → Memory.
- The Knowledge Base is not a dumping ground. Throwing everything in makes answers worse. Only look-up-able, changing facts.
- The prompt should stand on its own. If the agent can’t work at all without the Knowledge Base, more of it belongs in the prompt.
Continue to Writing the Prompt — the most important chapter.