What it is (why)
Ask (/ask) answers one question from the goals, KPIs, initiatives, weekly updates, risks, and action items you are allowed to see, plus your own Outlook/Teams items if you connected Microsoft. It is grounded Q&A, not a chat thread and not a generic assistant. Other employees’ mail and chats are never included.
Use it when you need a cited read on a specific question. For a full on-demand narrative, use AI Summary. For an archived period snapshot, use Executive reviews.
Grounding rules
Ask follows the same leadership-data rules as AI Summary:
- Visibility — only records you can already see (same executive-dashboard scope)
- Citations — answers link to workspace records; invented sources are dropped
- Refusal — if the answer is not in the scoped data, Ask says it is not in the workspace
- Scope — optional department, strategic theme, and current vs previous period
- Plan and permission — Intelligence+ AI recommendations and CanViewExecutiveDashboard
- Audit — each question is stored as a workspace insight and written to the audit log
- No mutations — Ask does not create, edit, or delete goals, KPIs, initiatives, or other records
When to use it
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| “Which KPIs are off track in Sales this week?” | **Ask** |
| “What blockers showed up in weekly updates?” | **Ask** |
| Full leadership narrative before a meeting | [AI Summary](/help/ai-summary) |
| Weekly ten-slide deck | [Executive Briefings](/help/executive-briefings) |
| Period snapshot on file | [Executive reviews](/help/executive-reviews) |
How to use it
- Open Ask from the sidebar.
- Optionally narrow department, strategic theme, and period.
- Type a complete question (or pick an example).
- Read the answer and open the sources to verify the records.
- Ask a new question if you need a different scope — there is no chat history thread, only recent questions on the page.
Who typically owns it
- Executives and department leaders — ask scoped questions before reviews
- Managers — keep KPI actuals and weekly updates current so answers have something to cite
- Administrators — assign CanViewExecutiveDashboard and an Intelligence+ plan
Related
Common mistakes
- Treating Ask like Slack or a general chatbot — it will not use outside knowledge
- Asking about policies, contracts, or systems that are not in the workspace
- Expecting Ask to create action items or change records — use those pages directly
- Generating with stale KPI actuals or missing weekly updates — the answer can only cite what exists