Oracle AI Agent Studio (OAIAS) - Components - TOPICS - Part II

Hello again 🙋
In this second and final part of the post, let's try creating our very own topic from scratch using a simple HCM‑style example: - Employee's Work from Home Policy.

I'll try and break the whole process into elementary steps

Step 1 - Choose a single, focused domain
Pick a narrow, recognizable area of expertise. For e.g. it can be - 

• Any Employee Benefit(s)
• Absence Eligibility Rules
• Work Schedule & Hours
• Employee Policy, etc.

Ask yourself, if this Topic were a page in a policy manual, what would its title be? Keep it that simple and easy

Step 2 - Define the Topic Metadata
Navigation: Tools > AI Agent Studio > Topics > Create

Choose the same Family/Product as the agent family so that discovery and reuse are easy, as Oracle does with the seeded HCM Topics.

Step 3 – Add Description

In the Description, explain in plain language the objective of this topic. This will not only help future admin(s) but your future self as well:

• What questions this Topic is meant to answer?

• Which tools it will work with?

• Any special dependencies (like needing AssignmentId or EffectiveStartDate)?

For our topic specific to WFH policy, description can look something like this

If your topic is about assignment work hours, description can be something like  -

“This Topic helps the agent decide which Assignment Information fields and functions to use when users ask about working hours, standard hours, or annual working duration.

It ensures related groups of fields are fetched together (NormalHours + Frequency, StandardWorkingHours + StandardFrequency, etc.) and passed correctly to downstream tools such as Assignment Notes or deep link tools.”

Step 4 - Identify the tools that your Topic will drive

Before writing instructions, identify the tools your Topic will coordinate.

For our WFH policy topic it may include –

• Document / Knowledge tools

• HR policy document tool

• FAQ / knowledge base tool

• HCM business object tools

• Person / Worker profile tool (to check employment type, location, job, grade).

• Assignment / Work relationship tool (to see current work location, organization, manager).

• Flexible work arrangement or WFH request business object tool (if you have a specific object for storing arrangements).

• Absence or schedule tools, if WFH interacts with rosters or scheduled work patterns.

• Deep link tools (navigation helpers) – Any possible deep links relevant to this Topic

There can be more, depending upon how comprehensive your requirements are. 

Also decide:

• Which tool(s) are mandatory.

• Which are optional, depending on user intent.

Step 5 - Write instruction blocks that map intent à tools à parameters

Now let’s add the heart of the Topic: Instructions.

Instructions are natural‑language rules that the LLM reads and follows.

You can always refer to seeded HCM topics to get an understanding of the pattern and structure. It’ll be an organic thing and will evolve over the course of time when you realize it needs any further fine tuning

Here are snapshots from my custom topic - XX Employee WFH Policy

We can go and add more instructions

Step 6 – Constrains

In the last post you would have noticed that the seeded ‘Assignment Information’ Topic demonstrates an important hardening technique. It lists exactly which fields can be used and says “Do not call the function with any field that is not in the list above.

While defining your own Topic, you can look to do something similar:

·        List only relevant fields

·        Explicitly instruct: “Only use fields from this approved set. Do not include any other fields when calling the <your_specific_tool_name> 

This reduces the chance of the LLM asking for columns that aren’t exposed or accidentally pulling more Personally Identifiable Information (PII) than necessary.

Once done, hit the create button and your topic will be saved

Once your Topic is saved, you must attach it to an agent (and indirectly to an agent team) for it to do any work

Steps to add a topic to your Agent is straightforward

Please note: Do reach out to your Oracle Representative to be 100% sure about licensing and subscription costs

  

Reference

how-do-i-use-ai-agent-studio.pdf

Introducing AI Agent Studio.pdf – July 2025