AI Assistant

AI Assistant

Overview

The Octayne AI Assistant is a context-aware artificial intelligence tool available throughout the platform. It understands where you are in the application and provides relevant suggestions, actions, and answers based on your current context. Whether you need help filling out a form, generating a report, searching for a client, or drafting time entry descriptions, the AI Assistant adapts to your workflow and offers intelligent assistance.

The AI Assistant encompasses several capabilities: a chat-based sidebar assistant, quick action buttons, and specialized AI features embedded directly into platform workflows (Ask AI, Note AI, AI Review, AI Invoice Summaries, and Spell Check).

[Screenshot: AI Assistant sidebar open on the right side of the screen, showing a conversation with context-aware suggestions]

Prerequisites

The AI Assistant requires the ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANT feature flag to be enabled for your organization.

To enable it:

1. Navigate to Settings > Feature Flags.
2. Locate the ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANT flag.
3. Toggle it on.
4. The AI Assistant becomes available immediately for all organization members.

Note: Only users with the Admin role can enable or disable feature flags. If you do not have Admin access, ask your administrator to enable this flag.

Accessing the AI Assistant

The AI Assistant is accessible from any page in the platform:

1. Look for the AI Assistant icon in the top-right corner of the screen (typically represented by a sparkle or chat bubble icon).
2. Click the icon to open the AI Assistant sidebar panel.
3. The sidebar slides open on the right side of the screen, ready for interaction.

Alternatively, you may see an Ask AI prompt or button embedded in specific forms and views throughout the platform.

Tip: The AI Assistant sidebar can remain open while you work. It does not obstruct the main content area and can be collapsed at any time by clicking the close icon.

Context-Aware Assistance

How the AI Detects Your Current Page

The AI Assistant automatically detects which page or module you are currently viewing. This context determines:

• The types of suggestions and actions offered.
• The data the AI can reference when answering questions.
• The quick action buttons displayed at the top of the chat.

For example, if you are on the Projects page, the AI Assistant prioritizes project-related actions and can answer questions about project health, staffing, and budgets. If you are on the Time Ledger, the assistant focuses on time entry assistance.

Available Contexts

The AI Assistant recognizes the following platform contexts:

Context	AI Capabilities
Dashboard	Summary insights, KPI explanations, navigation suggestions
Projects	Project health queries, staffing recommendations, budget analysis
Time Tracking / Time Ledger	Time entry creation, Note AI, Ask AI descriptions, entry validation
Billing & Invoice	Invoice generation assistance, adjustment summaries, payment tracking queries
Expenses	Expense categorization suggestions, policy compliance checks
Customers / Clients	Client search, contact lookup, project history for a client
Reports & Exports	Report generation, data interpretation, artifact creation
Team Management	Member search, batch additions, role recommendations
Utilization	Utilization analysis, target comparisons, staffing optimization
Settings	Configuration guidance, feature flag explanations

Context Indicators

The AI Assistant sidebar displays a context badge at the top showing which page context is currently active. For example:

• "Context: Projects" when you are on the Projects page.
• "Context: Time Ledger" when you are on the Time Ledger page.

[Screenshot: AI Assistant sidebar header showing the context badge reading "Context: Projects"]

Note: If the AI provides a response that seems unrelated to your current task, check the context badge. Navigating to a different page updates the context automatically.

Capabilities

Quick Action Buttons

At the top of the AI Assistant chat, you will see a row of Quick Action Buttons that change based on your current context. These buttons offer one-click access to common AI actions:

• On the Time Ledger: "Generate entries from notes," "Review my entries," "Spell check descriptions."
• On Projects: "Summarize project health," "Suggest staffing," "List overdue tasks."
• On Billing: "Draft invoice summary," "Check unbilled hours," "Generate adjustment memo."

Click any quick action button to instantly trigger that action without typing a prompt.

[Screenshot: Quick action buttons at the top of the AI chat panel showing three context-specific actions]

Booking Creation Assistance

The AI can help you create bookings (resource allocations) for projects:

1. Navigate to the relevant project or the resource planner.
2. Open the AI Assistant and describe the booking you need. For example: "Book Sarah for 20 hours per week on Project Alpha for the next 4 weeks."
3. The AI generates a booking proposal with the details filled in.
4. Review and confirm to create the booking.

Batch Member Addition

When onboarding multiple team members at once, the AI can assist with batch operations:

1. Open the AI Assistant from the Team Management page.
2. Describe your batch addition. For example: "Invite the following people: john@example.com, jane@example.com, bob@example.com."
3. The AI prepares the invitations and prompts you to confirm before sending.

Tip: Batch member addition is especially useful during large onboarding events or when setting up a new organization.

Customer/Member Search

Use the AI Assistant as a fast search tool:

1. Type a natural language query such as "Find the client named Acme" or "Who is the project manager for Project Beta?"
2. The AI searches across clients, members, and projects and returns matching results with direct links.

Report Artifact Generation

The AI can generate report artifacts on demand:

1. Open the AI Assistant from the Reports & Exports page.
2. Describe the report you need. For example: "Generate a utilization report for the Engineering team for Q1."
3. The AI produces the report artifact, which you can view, download, or share.

Form Assistance

When filling out complex forms (project creation, invoice setup, member configuration), the AI can help:

1. Click the Ask AI button near a form field.
2. Describe what you need, and the AI suggests appropriate values or generates content for that field.
3. Accept the suggestion or modify it before saving.

Task Management

The AI can help manage and organize tasks within projects:

1. Open the AI Assistant on a project page.
2. Ask questions like "What tasks are overdue?" or "Create a task for code review, due next Friday."
3. The AI retrieves or creates task information as requested.

Chat Interface

Sending Messages

1. Open the AI Assistant sidebar.
2. Click in the message input field at the bottom of the panel.
3. Type your message or question.
4. Press Enter or click the Send button.
5. The AI processes your message and responds in the chat.

[Screenshot: AI Assistant chat interface showing the message input field, send button, and a conversation thread]

Viewing Conversation History

The AI Assistant maintains your conversation history for the current session:

• Scroll up in the chat panel to review previous messages and AI responses.
• Conversation history persists as long as the sidebar remains open or until you navigate away and return.
• Previous conversations are not carried over between browser sessions.

Note: The AI Assistant does not retain conversation history across browser sessions. Each time you log in, the assistant starts fresh.

AI Suggestions

The AI proactively offers suggestions based on your context and activity:

• After you log a time entry, the AI might suggest: "Would you like me to spell-check this description?"
• When viewing an invoice, the AI might suggest: "I can generate an adjustment summary for this invoice."
• Suggestions appear as clickable chips in the chat panel.

Streaming Responses

The AI Assistant streams its responses in real time. You will see the response appear word by word as it is generated. This provides immediate feedback and reduces perceived wait times.

• While a response is streaming, a stop button appears if you want to cancel the generation.
• You can scroll up to review previous messages while a new response is streaming.

AI-Powered Features Across the Platform

Beyond the chat sidebar, the AI Assistant powers several features embedded directly into platform workflows.

Ask AI (Time Entry Descriptions)

Ask AI generates comprehensive, professional descriptions from general or informal text.

How to use it:

1. When creating or editing a time entry, locate the description field.
2. Click the Ask AI button (sparkle icon) next to the field.
3. Enter a brief, informal description of what you did. For example: "worked on api docs."
4. Click Generate.
5. The AI returns a polished description: "Authored and reviewed API documentation, including endpoint specifications, request/response schemas, and usage examples for the client-facing developer portal."
6. Click Accept to use the generated description, or Edit to modify it.

[Screenshot: Ask AI dialog showing a brief input on top and the generated professional description below, with Accept and Edit buttons]

Tip: Ask AI is particularly useful for team members who struggle with verbose or professional writing. It ensures consistent, high-quality descriptions across all time entries.

Note AI (Freeform Notes to Time Entries)

Note AI converts unstructured, freeform notes into structured time entries for specific projects.

How to use it:

1. In the Time Ledger, click the Note AI button.
2. Type or paste your daily notes. These can be informal, unstructured, and cover multiple projects. For example:

> "Morning standup 15 min. Then worked on the database migration for Project Phoenix until lunch, about 3 hours. After lunch, spent an hour on the proposal for Acme Corp and then reviewed PRs for the rest of the afternoon, maybe 2.5 hours on Project Atlas."

1. Click Generate Entries.
2. Note AI parses the text and produces individual time entries:

• Project Phoenix -- Database migration -- 3.0 hours
• Acme Corp -- Proposal writing -- 1.0 hour
• Project Atlas -- Code review (PR reviews) -- 2.5 hours
• Internal -- Standup meeting -- 0.25 hours

1. Review each entry, adjust projects or hours if needed, and click Save All.

[Screenshot: Note AI interface with freeform text input area and a list of generated time entries ready for review]

Note: Note AI works best when you mention project names, activities, and approximate durations. The more detail you provide, the more accurate the entries.

AI Review (Automated Time Entry Validation)

AI Review automatically validates time entries against your organization's rules and best practices.

How to use it:

1. After submitting time entries, navigate to Review Time & Expenses (or the relevant review page).
2. Click the AI Review button.
3. The AI scans entries and flags potential issues:

• Entries with unusually high or low hours.
• Missing descriptions or vague descriptions.
• Entries that may be miscategorized (wrong project or task).
• Entries that violate organization time policies.

1. Review the flagged items and take corrective action as needed.

[Screenshot: AI Review results showing flagged time entries with issue descriptions and suggested corrections]

Warning: AI Review is an assistive tool, not a replacement for human review. Always use your judgment when evaluating flagged entries. The AI may occasionally flag valid entries or miss genuine issues.

AI Invoice Summaries (Adjustment Summaries)

The AI can generate narrative summaries for invoice adjustments, making it easier to communicate changes to clients.

How to use it:

1. Open an invoice in the Billing & Invoice module.
2. After making adjustments (adding line items, applying discounts, modifying hours), click the Generate AI Summary button.
3. The AI produces a clear, professional summary of the adjustments. For example: "This invoice reflects a 10% discount on consulting hours for the month of March, as agreed in the contract amendment dated February 15. Two additional line items were added for out-of-scope work approved by the client on March 3."
4. The summary can be included in the invoice notes or sent as a cover note with the invoice.

Spell Check (AI-Powered Corrections)

AI-powered spell check reviews text fields across the platform and suggests corrections.

How to use it:

1. After entering text in a description field (time entry, expense note, project description), click the Spell Check icon.
2. The AI highlights misspellings, grammatical errors, and awkward phrasing.
3. Click on a highlighted suggestion to accept the correction, or dismiss it.

Tip: Spell check works on individual fields. Use it on time entry descriptions before submitting to maintain a professional standard.

Troubleshooting

The AI Assistant icon is not visible

• Verify that the ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANT feature flag is enabled in Settings > Feature Flags.
• Check that you have the necessary role permissions. If your role restricts access to certain features, the AI icon may be hidden.
• Try refreshing the browser page.

The AI Assistant is not responding or responses are slow

• Check your internet connection. The AI requires a network connection to process requests.
• The AI service may be experiencing high load. Wait a moment and try again.
• If the issue persists, contact Octayne support.

The AI provides irrelevant suggestions

• Check the context badge at the top of the AI sidebar. The AI tailors responses to the detected page context. Navigating to the correct page ensures relevant suggestions.
• Rephrase your question with more specific details.
• If the context detection seems wrong, close and reopen the AI sidebar on the desired page.

Note AI does not assign entries to the correct projects

• Ensure that you use project names that match your Octayne project names in your freeform notes.
• If project names are ambiguous, the AI may guess incorrectly. Review and correct project assignments before saving.
• Over time, Note AI learns your patterns and improves accuracy.

Ask AI generates descriptions that are too long or too short

• You can adjust the generated description after it is produced. Use Edit to trim or expand it.
• Provide more or less detail in your initial input to influence the output length.

FAQ

Q: Is the AI Assistant available on mobile devices?

A: The AI Assistant is accessible on any device with a modern web browser. On smaller screens, the sidebar may overlay the main content rather than appearing side by side.

Q: Does the AI have access to all of my organization's data?

A: The AI operates within the permissions of the currently logged-in user. It can only access data that you have permission to view. It does not bypass role-based access controls.

Q: Are my conversations with the AI stored or used for training?

A: Conversations are maintained only for the duration of your session. They are not stored permanently and are not used to train AI models. Refer to Octayne's privacy policy for full details.

Q: Can I disable the AI for specific team members?

A: The AI Assistant is currently enabled or disabled at the organization level via the feature flag. There is no per-member toggle. If you need to restrict access for specific roles, contact Octayne support for guidance.

Q: How accurate is Note AI at parsing freeform notes?

A: Note AI performs well with notes that include project references, activity descriptions, and approximate durations. Accuracy improves when project names closely match those in your Octayne instance. Always review generated entries before saving.

Q: Can the AI Assistant create invoices or submit timesheets on my behalf?

A: The AI can draft and prepare items (entries, invoices, summaries), but it always requires your confirmation before any data is saved or submitted. The AI never takes actions without your explicit approval.

Q: What languages does the AI Assistant support?

A: The AI Assistant primarily supports English. Support for additional languages may be added in future updates.