Corcava logoThe Only Business Tool You NeedCorcava
Menu
Solutions
Industries
DesignersHR RecruitingLaw FirmsReal EstateConsultingDigital MarketingAccountingEcommerceSoftware Development
Product
FeaturesIntegrations
BlogDownload
Resources
DocsFAQComparisonsRoadmapChangelog
Pricing
Free 14‑day trial

AI Business Assistant

The AI Business Assistant helps you get instant answers about your business data using natural language. Instead of navigating through multiple reports or building complex filters, just ask questions as you would ask a colleague.

Overview

The AI assistant is your intelligent companion for accessing business insights. It understands conversational queries, interprets natural language, and provides accurate answers by analyzing your actual business data in real-time.

Key Capabilities

  • Natural Language Queries: Ask questions in plain English without learning complex query syntax
  • Intelligent Name Recognition: Use first names, partial names, or nicknames - the AI recognizes who you mean
  • Flexible Date Ranges: Use expressions like "last week," "yesterday," "this month," or "last 30 days"
  • Multi-Metric Analysis: Get insights across time tracking, financials, and project data in a single query
  • Instant Responses: Receive answers in seconds without waiting for reports to load

Getting Started

Access Requirements

The AI Business Assistant is available to:

  • Organization Managers
  • Super Admins

This restriction ensures sensitive business data remains protected and accessible only to authorized decision-makers.

Opening the AI Assistant

  1. Look for the AI chat icon in the bottom-right corner of any page
  2. Click the icon to open the chat panel
  3. Type your question and press Enter
  4. View your answer in seconds

The chat panel can be opened from anywhere in Corcava, making it easy to get quick insights without leaving your current task.

Common Use Cases

Team Productivity Queries

Ask about hours worked by your team:

  • "How many hours did my team work last week?"
  • "Show me time tracking for Sarah this month"
  • "Which team member was most active yesterday?"
  • "How much time did the development team spend on Project X?"

Project Profitability Analysis

Get insights into project finances:

  • "What was the profit margin on the ABC project last month?"
  • "Show me the most profitable projects this quarter"
  • "Which project generated the most revenue this month?"
  • "What's the profit breakdown by project for last week?"

Client Billing Insights

Track client-related metrics:

  • "How much unbilled time do we have for Acme Corp?"
  • "What's the total revenue from our top client this year?"
  • "Show me all billable hours for Client ABC last week"
  • "Which clients have the most outstanding time?"

Financial Comparisons

Compare performance across different dimensions:

  • "Compare profitability between Project A and Project B"
  • "Which team member generated the most billable hours this month?"
  • "Show me revenue by client for the last quarter"

How to Ask Better Questions

Be Specific with Dates

Instead of vague terms like "recently," use specific date expressions:

  • ✅ Good: "How many hours did John work last Monday?"
  • ❌ Avoid: "How many hours did John work recently?"

Supported date expressions:

  • Today, yesterday
  • This week, last week
  • This month, last month
  • Last 7 days, last 30 days
  • X days ago, X weeks ago

Provide Full Context

Give the AI enough information to understand what you're asking:

  • ✅ Good: "What was the profit on the ABC project last week?"
  • ❌ Too Vague: "What was the profit?"

Use Follow-Up Questions

Build on previous answers to dig deeper:

  1. "Show me project profitability for last month"
  2. "Which project was most profitable?"
  3. "Show me time breakdown for that project by team member"

Review the Data Source

The AI shows you which data it used to generate the answer, helping you verify accuracy and understand where the numbers come from.

Understanding Natural Language

Name Recognition

The AI understands various ways to refer to team members:

  • Full Names: "Alexander Romankó"
  • First Names: "Alex"
  • Partial Names: "Romanko" (without accents)
  • Nicknames: Common variations and abbreviations

The AI uses intelligent matching to find the right person even if you don't know their exact name as listed in the system.

Date Interpretation

The AI automatically interprets date ranges based on your team's timezone:

  • "Last week" = Monday through Sunday of the previous calendar week
  • "This month" = From the 1st of the current month to today
  • "Yesterday" = The full day before today (midnight to midnight)
  • "Last 30 days" = Rolling 30-day period ending today

Metric Understanding

The AI knows how to calculate business metrics:

  • Profit = Billed amount - Spent (cost)
  • Profit Margin = (Profit / Billed amount) × 100
  • Profitability = Overall profit performance

You can ask about these metrics without explaining the formulas - the AI handles the calculations automatically.

What the AI Can Access

Available Data

The AI assistant can query:

  • Time Tracking Data: Hours worked, billable vs. non-billable time, time by project/member/client
  • Financial Information: Revenue (billed amounts), costs (spent), profit calculations
  • Project Information: Project lists, team assignments, client associations
  • Team Data: Team member lists, roles, assignments

Data Scope

The AI respects your permissions and team isolation:

  • All data is scoped to your current team
  • You only see information you have permission to access
  • The AI applies the same access controls as the rest of Corcava

Data Privacy

  • Conversations are not shared with other users
  • The AI does not store your business data
  • All queries are processed in real-time using current data
  • OpenAI processes queries but does not retain your business information

Tips for Best Results

1. Start Broad, Then Narrow

Begin with a general query, then use follow-up questions to get specific details: 

You: "Show me profitability by project for last month"
AI: [Shows all projects with profit data]
You: "Which project had the highest profit margin?"
AI: [Identifies the most profitable project]
You: "Show me time breakdown for that project by team member"
AI: [Detailed breakdown of the top project]

2. Combine Multiple Filters

You can ask complex questions with multiple conditions:

  • "Show me billable hours for John on Project ABC last week"
  • "What's the profit margin for Client XYZ projects this month?"
  • "Compare time tracked between Sarah and Mike on the Development project"

3. Ask for Comparisons

The AI can compare metrics across different dimensions:

  • "Compare this month's revenue to last month"
  • "Which team member worked the most hours last week?"
  • "Show me the top 3 most profitable projects"

4. Verify Your Results

Always review the data the AI used to generate its answer. If something looks wrong, you can:

  • Ask for more details
  • Rephrase your question with more specificity
  • Cross-reference with manual reports

Troubleshooting

"No data found"

If the AI reports no data:

  1. Check that time tracking data exists for the specified period
  2. Verify you have permission to view the requested data
  3. Confirm the project/member names are spelled correctly
  4. Try a broader date range

Unclear or Wrong Results

If the answer doesn't seem right:

  1. Rephrase your question with more specific details
  2. Break complex queries into simpler parts
  3. Verify the date range is what you intended
  4. Check if the team member name was recognized correctly

Performance Issues

If queries are slow:

  1. This is typically due to high server load - try again in a moment
  2. Break very large date ranges into smaller periods
  3. Be more specific to reduce the amount of data processed

Permissions and Access Control

Who Can Use the AI Assistant

Access is restricted to:

  • Organization Managers: Full access to team data and insights
  • Super Admins: Complete access to all organizational data

Why These Restrictions

The AI assistant provides access to sensitive business information including:

  • Financial data (revenue, costs, profit)
  • Team member productivity metrics
  • Client billing information
  • Project performance data

Limiting access to managers and administrators ensures this data remains confidential and is used appropriately for business decision-making.

Requesting Access

If you need access to the AI assistant:

  1. Contact your Organization Manager or Super Admin
  2. Request the appropriate role elevation
  3. Understand the data access responsibilities that come with the role

Example Queries

Quick Team Check-ins

  • "How many hours did my team work today?"
  • "Who's been most active this week?"
  • "Show me total hours by team member for last week"

Project Monitoring

  • "How much time have we spent on Project X this month?"
  • "Is Project ABC on track with its time budget?"
  • "Show me all time tracked for the website redesign project"

Financial Oversight

  • "What's our total billable revenue for this month?"
  • "Which projects are most profitable?"
  • "How much unbilled time do we have across all projects?"

Client Management

  • "Show me all time tracked for Acme Corporation"
  • "What's our revenue from Client XYZ this quarter?"
  • "Which client has the most unbilled hours?"

Performance Analysis

  • "Compare team productivity between this month and last month"
  • "Which projects have negative profit margins?"
  • "Show me the profit trend for our top 3 clients"

Best Practices

For Daily Use

  1. Start your day by asking about team activity
  2. Check project profitability before client calls
  3. Monitor unbilled time to ensure timely invoicing
  4. Track team workload to prevent burnout

For Strategic Planning

  1. Analyze profit trends across multiple months
  2. Identify your most and least profitable projects
  3. Understand which clients contribute most to revenue
  4. Spot team members who may need additional support or have capacity for more work

For Client Reporting

  1. Quickly pull accurate data before client meetings
  2. Generate talking points about project progress
  3. Identify billing opportunities (unbilled time)
  4. Provide data-backed project updates

Future Capabilities

The AI Business Assistant is continuously evolving. Planned enhancements include:

  • Expanded Data Access: Queries for tasks, deals, invoices, and more
  • Proactive Insights: The AI proactively surfaces important trends and anomalies
  • Report Generation: Create custom reports based on natural language descriptions
  • Automation Triggers: Set up alerts based on query results
  • Voice Input: Ask questions using voice commands

Support

Getting Help

If you encounter issues with the AI assistant:

  1. Rephrase your question with different wording
  2. Break complex queries into simpler steps
  3. Contact support if you consistently receive unexpected results

Feedback

Help us improve the AI assistant:

  • Report incorrect or confusing responses
  • Suggest new capabilities you'd like to see
  • Share example queries that don't work as expected

Your feedback directly influences future improvements to make the AI assistant even more powerful and intuitive.