Ask a question about your books

Ask a BI question

Use the question box to ask about your books in plain language. You can type a question directly or click one of the suggestion chips to fill in an example, then submit it with Ask or by pressing Enter.

1. Open the BI page for your workspace.
2. If the page shows a ledger/company selector and more than one option is available, choose the correct ledger/company first.
3. In the question box, type your question, such as a revenue, expense, cash, receivables, payables, or balance-sheet question.
4. Click Ask, or press Enter in the question box.Ask

Review the result

After the question runs, the result area opens with the answer and data. You can switch between Table, Chart, Pivot Table, and Map when those tabs are shown. The Chart tab also lets you choose a chart type.

1. Read the answer text first if one is shown.
2. Use Table to see the returned rows and columns.Table
3. Use Chart to view the same result visually and pick a chart type such as auto, bar, line, area, or pie/donut.Chart
4. Use Pivot Table to reshape the result for analysis.Pivot Table
5. Use Map only if it is available for your current session and result.Map

Understand source, dates, currencies, and units

BI results are read from the selected ledger/company or your connected personal accounts, depending on the page you use. The answer and result rows reflect the period, currency, and measurement units that were resolved for that query.

• Business BI can use the selected ledger/company and may require a ledger to be chosen when multiple ledgers are available.
• Personal BI uses connected personal accounts and can show spending, income, and savings separated by currency.
• If a question asks for a period, the result uses the exact date range that was resolved for that question rather than a vague default.
• When a result includes currency or units, those values belong to the returned report and should be read as displayed in the table, chart, or export.

When BI asks for clarification or cannot confirm a result

If the system cannot confidently turn your question into a report, it may show a clarification prompt instead of returning data. If a model or service is busy or unavailable, you may see a temporary-unavailable message. If the result comes back empty, the page may show that no matching records were found or that the source data for the selected report is not yet available.

1. If you see a clarification prompt, narrow the question and submit it again.
2. If you see a busy or unavailable message, wait and try the same question again later.
3. If you see a no-data message, check that the correct ledger/company is selected and that the relevant source data has been synced.
4. If the result is empty after a valid question, adjust the date range, filters, or wording before asking again.

Save a question or schedule it

You can save a BI question for later reuse. In the save dialog, you can give it a name, optionally add a UTC cron schedule, and, when available, add an alert rule. Alert rules require a current single-group result and a selected metric and unit.

1. Open the Save dialog from the BI page.
2. Enter a name for the saved question.
3. Optionally add a UTC cron schedule if your role allows scheduling.
4. If alert options are shown, choose the metric and unit, then enter the alert condition.
5. Click Save or Save as Draft, depending on the action you want.SaveSave as Draft

What to do if a save does not confirm

If a save is interrupted or its confirmation is not clear, the page can show a pending-save banner with a Resume save action. Resume the same unconfirmed save rather than creating a new copy of the question.

1. If you see Resume save, click it to confirm the earlier save request.Resume save
2. If the save dialog shows an error, correct the question, schedule, or alert fields and try again.
3. If the browser cannot keep the recovery record, allow storage and repeat the same save rather than starting over with a new version.

Refresh a saved result or dashboard panel

Saved dashboards can reload their panels from the current source. Manual report panels reread report data, AI query panels rerun the BI question, and map panels rebuild markers from their cached rows. Refresh does not change your books; it only updates the displayed BI output.

1. Open the saved dashboard that contains the panel you want to update.
2. Click Refresh on the panel.Refresh
3. Wait for the panel to finish loading or for any error message to appear.
4. If the panel reports a source mismatch or no longer matches the saved question, rerun the question with the correct ledger/company and time period.

If the result view does not show what you expected

• The Table, Chart, Pivot Table, and Map tabs only appear when a result is open.
• Map view is only available when your session has map access and the result can be projected geographically.
• Back to Dashboard closes the result view without changing the underlying question.
• Show SQL and Hide SQL only toggle the visible query text; they do not rerun the report.