How to ask the Copilot for lists, reports and totals

What is it for?

In the Copilot window you can write, as you would to a colleague, what you want to know about the company's figures: “How much did I invoice in September?”, “Which supplier invoices are due this week?”. With the AI turned on, the Copilot sends the request to an AI provider and answers with the values the queries return; it can also prepare drafts (a customer, an invoice). That answer has not yet been validated on screen (see “Expected result”). This article shows what you need to turn on, how to test the connection and what happens when the AI cannot be called.

Without the AI, the same window still gives step-by-step help (see How to get answers in the Copilot window).

When to use it?

• You want a total or a list without looking for the right screen.
• You want to know what is still to be received, to be paid or overdue.
• You want to prepare a draft document from a sentence.

Where to find it?

• The conversation: the Copilot icon in the top bar, options Ask the numbers, Open a list and Create a report.
• A question only about figures, in a separate window: Accounting › Review › Analysis › Ask the numbers.
• What you need to turn on: Copilot › Control › Switches, Copilot › Connections to the AIs › Connections and Copilot › Connections to the AIs › AI settings.

Before you start

The conversation only uses the AI when the four conditions below are met. The first three are for Fiscal administration (or the system administrator); questions are asked with the Accountant profile.

• An AI connection with the company's key. See How to connect the Copilot to an AI provider.
• The switches turned on in Copilot › Control › Switches: Copilot (master switch of the company), AI connection (calls to the AI provider) and AI - Conversation (answers with data and creates drafts) for the Copilot window, or AI - Questions about the numbers for the Accounting Ask the numbers menu. The AI ones are of type Outside and come switched off. See How to turn the Copilot on or off and control the data sent.
• A company spending limit. In AI settings, the Monthly spend limit of the company (EUR) comes at 0.00, and 0 means blocked: until you enter a value, the AI is never called.
• A production database. In a test database fiscaldoo does not call the AI (see “Important notes”).

How to use it

Testing the connection (Fiscal administration)

1. Open Copilot › Connections to the AIs › Connections and the company's connection. Check that Key saved is ticked.
2. Click Test the connection. fiscaldoo makes the smallest possible call to the provider (one word, with no company data).
3. Read the message. With an accepted key, in a production database, the message says that the connection works and with which model the provider answered (not seen: the demo is a test database). With a refused key: “The connection failed. The provider refused the key (HTTP 401). Nothing was changed. Type a new key in the connection and test again.”

Making a request (Accountant)

1. Click the Copilot icon in the top bar.
2. Click Ask the numbers (or Open a list, or Create a report). The Type your question… field shows an example, such as “How much did I invoice this month?”.
3. Change the text to what you want to know, for example “How much did I invoice in September?”, and click Ask.

You can also open Accounting › Review › Analysis › Ask the numbers, type in Your question and click Ask. With the AI - Questions about the numbers switch off, the window says “This agent is switched off…” and the Ask button is inactive.

Expected result

Pending validation on screen: the answer from a real AI provider. The demo is a test database and fiscaldoo does not call the AI from it; what follows comes from the product (the code and the Copilot guide) and has not been seen.

• With the AI working: the Copilot answers with the value and, below it, where it comes from and the button to open the list of documents that make it up. You can ask for invoices (customer or supplier, by period, overdue or unpaid), what is to be received and paid, sales by customer, supplier invoices coming due, the trial balance or the statement of an account. If you ask it to create something, a card with the draft appears, which you open and confirm on the document's screen.
• Each call is logged in Copilot › Control › AI calls: who, the connection, the result, the types of data sent and the estimated cost, without the content (see How to see what the Copilot did and what it sent to the AI).
• When the AI cannot be called, the window says why and answers with the search in the documentation and the menus: “The conversation could not use the AI, so this is the result of the search.” followed by the reason, and at the end “Answered by searching the documentation and the menus.”. In the demo, with everything turned on, the reason was the test database:

Important notes

• In a test database the AI is not called, unless the system administrator has allowed it in that database. In the Accounting Ask the numbers, the Invalid Operation window appears with the same text. The conversation answers “The AI is not called from a test environment. Nothing was sent. Use the production database, or ask the system administrator to allow the AI in this test database.”, and AI calls records the attempt as blocked (“Test environment: the AI is never called.”).
• Test the connection in a test database does not leave the server (with the same exception). A simulator answers: “The connection works. Simulated test: this is a test database, so nothing left the server and no real provider was called. The simulator accepted the key.” The simulator is only for the connection test: it does not answer conversations.
• The Copilot never validates, sends or pays. Such a request is refused before it reaches the AI, and it tells you where to do it.
• Reserved data does not go out, by default. Questions about health (sick leave), trade unions or strikes are not sent to the AI, unless Fiscal administration has ticked Allow personal and sensitive data on this connection on the AI connection: in that case, they go to the provider. Passwords and keys are never sent. The refusal says “This talks about health, trade unions, strikes or passwords, and that never leaves the product, so I did not send it to the AI.” or, when there are documentation articles on the subject, “This question talks about credentials or reserved data, so I did not send it to the AI. These are the nearest articles of the documentation.”
• The figures come from the queries, made with your permissions and only in the active company: what you cannot see, the Copilot cannot see either. Check the value in the list it opens. (This comes from the product code; it has not yet been seen with a real AI.)

Common problems

“The monthly AI spend limit of company … (0.00 EUR) would be exceeded”

• Symptom: the answer starts with “The conversation could not use the AI…” and says “The monthly AI spend limit of company "…" (0.00 EUR) would be exceeded: 0.00 EUR already used this month. Nothing was sent.”
• Cause: the company limit is at 0.00 (blocked) or has been reached this month.
• What to do: ask Fiscal administration to enter a limit in Copilot › Connections to the AIs › AI settings, Monthly spend limit of the company (EUR), or wait for the next month.

“The provider refused the key (HTTP 401)”

• Symptom: Test the connection says “The connection failed. The provider refused the key (HTTP 401)…”.
• Cause: the key is wrong or was revoked in the provider's account.
• What to do: type the right key in API key / access token, save and test again.

“I cannot do that, and I never will: I only prepare drafts”

• Symptom: you asked it to validate, send, pay or delete and the Copilot answers “I cannot do that, and I never will: I only prepare drafts.” and says where to do it.
• Cause: it is the Copilot's rule, not an error.
• What to do: do it on the document's screen, for example with the Confirm button.