How Fraser, the UFV IT Support Bot, Works

UFV's IT Support Bot, named Fraser, is an AI-powered chat system that simulates human conversation so you can ask questions and receive timely solutions to your IT problems.

Think of Fraser as your helpful IT assistant available 24/7 who can:

Answer your common IT questions.

Give you step-by-step instructions from UFV's official support documentation.

Create support tickets for you when issues need human attention.

No login needed to:

• Ask IT support questions
• Get instant answers with links to sources
• Receive troubleshooting steps
• Use Fraser on any device

UFV login required to:

• Ask Fraser to create support tickets for you
• View your existing support tickets
• Check ticket status and updates
• Get personalized help (Fraser knows your name and role)
• Send more messages versus when not signed in

While Fraser is excellent for quick troubleshooting and accessing documentation, please be aware of the limitations listed below.

Fraser CANNOT help you:

- Reset your password or make changes to your account.

- Access any of your files.

- Interact with your computer directly.

- Help with homework help or academic tutoring.

- With non-IT issues.

- Create tickets if you are not signed in.

There are limits on the number of messages you send to Fraser

To prevent abuse, there are per-minute and per-day limits on the number of messages you can send to Fraser.

Anonymous users have more strict limits than users who are logged-in.

Fraser can make mistakes

While Fraser is instructed to only cite IT Services Knowledge Base articles, AI technology isn't perfect and it can make mistakes.

It is recommended you still:

- Check the source links provided.

- Verify important information.

Fraser only references existing documentation

Fraser can only help with topics covered in the UFV IT Knowledge Base.

If there's isn't an article about your specific issue, Fraser may not be able to provide a complete answer.

Please contact the IT Service Desk directly if something seems incorrect or wrong with the answers Fraser is providing.

Fraser combines AI language models, intelligent search techniques, and the UFV IT Services official knowledge base articles to help answer your IT questions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods

Fraser is built using multiple AI technologies, similar to what powers tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.

Large Language Models (LLM)

Fraser uses OpenAI's GPT-4.1 models as its "brain".

This is what reads your question, processes knowledge base articles, and generates a conversational and relevant response.

Vector Embedding Models

Fraser uses OpenAI's text-embedding-3-large model to understand the meaning of text, not just the words.

This powers the semantic search described below.

Search Methods

Hybrid Search

Fraser uses a technique called hybrid search to find relevant knowledge base articles.

This combines two different search methods:

Semantic Search

Your question is converted into a mathematical representation (called a "vector embedding") that captures its meaning.

Fraser then finds articles with similar meanings, even if they use completely different words.

For example, asking "how do I connect to WiFi" would match articles about "connecting to the Internet" or containing terms like "Eduroam wireless Internet."

Keyword Search

Traditional text matching looks for articles that contain the actual words in your question.

This ensures that specific terms like "VPN," "MFA," or "Banner" are weighted appropriately in your search. 

By combining both methods, Fraser can understand what you mean while still prioritizing articles that use the specific terminology you're asking about.

This gives you more accurate results than either method alone.

Knowledge Sources

Official IT Knowledge Base articles

Fraser is designed to answer questions using only UFV's official IT Knowledge Base. 

Like all generative AI systems, Fraser can occasionally "hallucinate" details if it can't find a great fix in our knowledge base.

Every response includes links to the original articles under "Sources".

It Services recommends checking these links to confirm the information, especially for anything important.