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2.8 Example Requests

Not sure what to ask nikolAI? These examples show the kinds of requests that work well, grouped by what you want to do. Use your own metrics, dimensions and periods – nikolAI knows your data model. You can write in your own language.

Getting Started

  • "How can you help me?"
  • "Show me examples of questions I can ask you"
  • "Explain what I'm seeing in this workbook"
  • "How do I switch between different workbooks?"

Understanding the Data Model

  • "What dimensions are available for customer analysis?"
  • "Show me all the metrics I can use for sales data"
  • "Explain what the Profit Margin metric measures"
  • "Can I analyze customers and vendors together? What metrics would connect them?"
  • "Why am I getting no data when combining Item and G/L Account?"

Building Tables and Charts

  • "Build a table of revenue by customer"
  • "Add a line chart of turnover by month"
  • "Create a table showing turnover by customer city"
  • "Show me turnover by customer and item category"
  • "Make a table with turnover and profit margin by customer for the period year to date. Add columns that compare turnover and profit margin with the same period last year"

Filtering

  • "How do I see only data from Q1 2024?"
  • "Add a Customer filter to the Filter Panel"
  • "How do I add a filter on customer group to my dashboard that lets the user choose one or more groups?"
  • "Make the Date filter mandatory and set its default to year-to-date"
  • "Add a Product Category filter that cascades to the Product filter"

Conditional Formatting and Rules

  • "Create a rule that highlights profit margins below 5% using a red font"
  • "How do I create a traffic light indicator for profit margins?"
  • "How do I format only negative values in a specific column?"
  • "How do I create alternating row colors in a table?"
  • "How do I change the default pie chart colors to match our brand?"
  • "Explain the difference between conditional and sequential rules"

Segmentations and Rankings

  • "Create a bar chart with the top 10 customers based on profit margin. Add a residual group"
  • "Make a global Top 10 segmentation of Customer by Profit Margin"
  • "How do I make a Pareto segmentation of items?"
  • "Make a grid with an ABC analysis of customers based on ProfitMargin that shows Turnover, Profit and sold quantity for the period year-to-date"
  • "How can I group customers into quartiles based on revenue?"
  • "How do I filter my dashboard to show only A-customers?"
  • "How can I use ABC analysis to increase customer profitability?"

Tips – Example Requests

  • Be specific: name the metric, the dimension and the period.
  • Build step by step: start with a table, then ask for changes – "add last year", "sort by profit", "show it as a bar chart".
  • If the result isn't what you meant, say what to change rather than starting over.

More advice in 2.4 How to Communicate with nikolAI and 2.7 Tips for Best Results.