Assistant

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What it does

The Assistant is the front door for questions about your financial and operational data. You ask in plain language, and Pluvo answers from your connected data, with each important number shown as a link you can click to see exactly where it came from. The point is trust. Rather than a figure you have to take on faith, every load-bearing number in an answer is backed by a real query against your data, and you can open any of them and check the working yourself. The Assistant is your home screen in Pluvo. New chat at the top of the sidebar takes you there, and it is where you land when you sign in.

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How to use it

If an answer is heading the wrong way, choose Stop to end it early, or press Escape. Then send a new message with better direction rather than waiting it out.

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Choosing how much verification you want

Not every question needs the same rigour. The Verification level control in the message box lets you choose how hard Pluvo works to check figures against source data:

• Standard flags any figure it cannot trace to your data. Best for quick questions and exploring.
• Enhanced re-checks untraced figures once. Best for management reporting and planning.
• Thorough re-checks untraced figures up to three times. Best for board or audit work, and takes longer.

Standard is the default, and your choice applies to that conversation.

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Choosing how hard it thinks

Next to Verification, the Thinking control sets how much reasoning the Assistant does before it answers:

• Quick thinks briefly and takes the fewest steps. Fastest.
• Balanced takes the steps most questions need. This is the default.
• Extended thinks longer and takes more steps before answering.
• Deep thinks the longest, for the hardest multi-step work. Slowest.

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Digging into a question

For a straightforward question you get a straight answer. When you ask something that needs real digging, such as why a number moved or what is driving a variance, the Assistant runs a fuller investigation, working through the question step by step and showing each step as it completes. Under each answer you can open Thoughts to see the research the Assistant did, in plain language, such as querying your warehouse or reading a saved Table. Steps that returned rows can be expanded to preview them.

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Checking a figure

Every highlighted figure can be opened, and what you see depends on where the number came from. A figure with only one way to explain it opens straight into that view. A metric from your Library opens the metric explorer. You see the verified figure along with its period, filters, source, and when the data last synced, and its governance: who approved it, which version, and whether it matched your data on the latest sync. From there you can change the period, filter it, or break it out by month, quarter, or dimension to see what the number is made of. Reset takes you back to the original figure, and Rows behind this number opens the records underneath. A calculated figure, one the Assistant worked out from other numbers, opens the calculation. You see the formula, each input and its value, and a lineage graph of where it comes from. Click any input to open it in turn, so you can follow the chain all the way back to source. A figure read from your data opens the rows behind it. Pluvo adds the rows up and checks the total against the figure in the answer, so you can see that the number ties out. If it does not, it says so, showing what the rows add up to against what the figure said. From the rows you can switch between the query result and the underlying records, view the SQL, Export to CSV, or Save Table to keep the result in your Library. The same views open from figures inside an artifact, for anyone who can read that artifact.

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What went into an answer

Every answer carries a Used in this answer row showing exactly what it drew on. Each item opens for more detail:

• Verified figures, the count of numbers that came directly from your source data or were calculated from it
• Each data source it queried, with the tables involved and when that source last synced
• Tables from your Library that it ran, with when each ran and the values used if a Table takes inputs
• Metrics from your Library that the answer used, with a link through to each definition
• Artifacts it read for reference while writing the answer, which you can open beside the chat
• Rules your organization has set that applied to the answer
• Skills that shaped the answer, with a link to the guidance it followed

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Charts and tables

Ask for a chart and the Assistant draws it directly in the conversation, as a line, bar, area, or waterfall chart, and you can switch on the detail showing the query behind it.

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Building things in a chat

The Assistant does more than answer. In a conversation you can ask it to:

• Build an artifact, a dashboard, report, presentation, or canvas. See Artifacts.
• Create or edit a metric or a Table. It drafts it with you in the chat, and the draft appears in a workbench beside the conversation for you to review. Nothing is saved until you choose to save it, and when you do, it goes to your Library.
• Create or edit a spreadsheet. See Spreadsheets.
• Remember something. Ask it to remember a convention and it saves it as a skill that applies to your future conversations, personal to you until you share it from the Library.

Nothing is created or saved silently. It only happens when you ask.

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Bringing in existing work

Use Add context, the + in the message box, to attach up to three artifacts to a message, so the Assistant works from them rather than starting over. Attached artifacts appear as chips above the box, and you can click one to open it or remove it before sending. When the answer to a question lives in a Table you have already saved, the Assistant queries it directly, filtering, totaling, grouping, and ranking its rows, rather than working the logic out again.

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The side panel

Rows, calculations, metrics, and artifacts open in a panel beside your chat, each in its own tab, so you can keep several open and move between them. An artifact tab carries its own actions, including Edit a section, Download, and Full page.

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Finding and organizing your chats

Your conversations are listed under Chats in the sidebar, most recently active first, grouped by Today, Yesterday, Previous 7 Days, Previous 30 Days, and then by month.

• Folders. Use the + beside Folders to create one, then drag chats into it. Drag a chat out to remove it from the folder.
• Rename, move, or delete. Each chat’s menu lets you Rename it, Move to folder, or Delete it.
• Search. The search icon beside Chats searches chat titles and the full text of your messages.

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Getting around Pluvo

Search. Press Cmd+K, or use the search button at the top of the sidebar, to search across your chats, artifacts, and spreadsheets in one place. Tidy the sidebar. If there are items you never use, choose More at the bottom of the sidebar, then Edit sidebar…, and uncheck them. They move under More, still one click away, and you can bring them back the same way.

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Rating an answer

Each answer has thumbs up and thumbs down buttons, and a thumbs down opens a short form where you can say what was wrong. It is the most useful thing you can do when an answer misses.

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Tips