Using the AI Console

The AI Console is a chat panel built into the staff interface. Use it to look up records, answer "how many / which / what's the status of" questions, generate quick charts, and make routine data changes — all in plain language, without leaving the page you are on.

For what powers the assistant and the full list of areas it can work with, see the AI module overview.

Opening the Console

If your role has Console access, an AI Console button appears in the top bar.

• Click the button to open or close the panel.
• Press the w keyboard shortcut on any page to toggle it.
• Press Esc to close it.

The panel can be docked to the bottom of the screen or to the right, where it sits alongside the page and shifts the content over so nothing is hidden. Use the dock toggle in the panel header to switch, and drag the edge to resize. Your dock choice and size are remembered in your browser.

Note: If you do not see the button, your role does not have AI Console access. Ask an administrator to grant it.

Asking a question

Type a question and send it. The assistant works through the request and streams its answer back as it goes.

While it works, you will see steps appear — short labels describing what it is doing (for example, looking up a profile or fetching statistics). Once the answer is ready the steps collapse into a "N steps completed" line that you can expand at any time to see what the assistant did to reach its answer.

Example questions:

• "How many applications were submitted in the last 30 days?"
• "Find the profile for jane.doe@example.com and show her current applications."
• "Which events are scheduled for next month?"
• "Show me a pie chart of applications by programme."
• "Create a profile for John Smith with email john.smith@example.com."

You can also refine as you go — after an answer, follow up with "now only the submitted ones" or "break that down by month" and the assistant keeps the thread.

Page context

The Console is aware of the record you are currently viewing. When you open it on a profile, application, event, campaign, form, evaluation, course, application template, or transcript, it automatically picks up that record as context — so you can ask "summarise this application" or "what's missing here?" without naming the record.

Note: Page context is captured when you send your first message in a conversation. If you navigate to a different record, start a new conversation to pick up the new context.

Reading the answer

Answers are formatted for quick reading:

• Tables and lists for structured results.
• Links to records — entity names are clickable and take you straight to the profile, application, event, and so on. The assistant only links to records it actually retrieved, and never auto-navigates; you stay in control.
• Charts for statistics. When you ask for a breakdown or trend, the assistant can render a bar, line, area, or pie chart inline, always alongside a short text explanation. Charts are only used for statistics, never for plain lists.

If the assistant cannot find what you asked for, it will say so plainly rather than show unrelated data.

Making changes

Some requests change data. The Console currently supports:

• Profiles — create and update, add or remove tags, add to or remove from a class, activate or suspend.
• Applications — unsubmit a submitted application, start a new application from a template.
• Campaigns — create and update.
• Events — create.

These always run as a two-step, confirmed action:

1. You ask for the change. The assistant calls up a preview of exactly what it will do and presents it to you.
2. You review the preview and confirm. Only then does the assistant carry out the change and report back the result.

If you decline, nothing happens. The assistant is designed to always ask before making a change, and never claims an action succeeded without confirming it actually ran.

Warning: Changes made through the Console are real and take effect immediately once confirmed, exactly as if you had made them through the normal interface. Read the preview before approving.

Conversation history

Each exchange is saved as a conversation so you can pick up where you left off.

• Use the history icon in the panel header to see your recent Console conversations.
• Select any conversation to reload it, including the steps the assistant took.
• Use new conversation to start fresh — this also clears the current page context.
• Delete a conversation from the history list when you no longer need it.

Your active conversation is also kept as you move between pages, so closing and reopening the panel does not lose your place.

Limits

• The assistant keeps the most recent part of a conversation in view; very long conversations are trimmed to stay responsive.
• It will not page endlessly through large result sets — if a query is too broad, it asks you to narrow it with more specific filters rather than returning everything.
• The Console works with the areas listed in the overview. For records outside those areas, it will tell you it cannot help and suggest the closest alternative.

Troubleshooting

• You don't see the AI Console button — your role does not have Console access. Ask an administrator to grant it.
• The assistant says it cannot access an area — tool access follows your own permissions. If you cannot see Events in the normal interface, the assistant cannot see them either.
• The assistant doesn't know which record you are on — page context is captured when a conversation starts. Start a new conversation on the page you want it to pick up.