Ask D-Tools handles plain English. You do not need special syntax. But a few habits make the difference between a vague answer and one you can act on.
Say who you mean
Ask D-Tools treats "me" and "my company" as two different things.
"my deals", "assigned to me", "products I sold" means you personally.
"our pipeline", "my company", "what is our most sold product" means the whole company.
If you name another person, Ask D-Tools looks them up first, so use the name as it appears in D-Tools.
Say when you mean
If a period matters, name it. "Last quarter", "this month", "the next 30 days", and "year to date" all work. If you leave it out, Ask D-Tools picks a sensible default and tells you which one it used, so you can correct it in the next message.
Sold is not the same as quoted
This trips people up more than anything else.
Sold, won, and closed questions look at won opportunities and actual close dates.
Quoted questions look at quoting activity, which includes deals that never closed.
Ask for what you actually want. Ask D-Tools will not quietly convert one into the other.
Refine instead of restarting
The fastest way to a good answer is a follow-up. Once you have a result, just say what to change.
Show that by month instead
Narrow it to commercial projects
Add margin percentage
Only the top 10
Each follow-up rebuilds the answer in place. You do not have to re-type the original question.
If the answer looks wrong
Say so. "That is not what the report shows" or "I see a different number" is a useful message. Ask D-Tools will re-check its filters, usually the period or the record it matched, rather than assuming you are wrong.
Example questions by area
Pipeline and sales
Which opportunities are most likely to close this week, and what should I inspect first?
What is stalled in the pipeline right now?
Show pipeline value by owner
Show weighted pipeline forecast by owner
What were closed sales last quarter compared with the prior quarter?
What was our average days to close last quarter?
Projects
Which active projects are most at risk across tasks, procurement, inventory, and change orders?
Which active projects need attention, and why?
Where are project margins or job costs drifting?
Show me growth of total project dollars month over month
Show open project tasks by project type over time
Procurement
What should I order next, grouped by supplier and project?
Which purchase orders are late, partially received, or missing tracking?
Which suppliers or ordered items could block upcoming installs?
Show purchase order spend by supplier
Show open purchase order value by supplier
Service
Which service calls or contracts need attention right now?
Which service contracts expire in the next 30 days?
Find completed service work that may be ready for billing
Show service call value by status
Inventory
Which inventory items are needed soon but not reserved or available?
Which inventory items are on backorder and affecting active projects?
Which inventory items have been sitting unused the longest?
Catalog and quoted products
Which catalog items may need pricing, supplier, barcode, or margin updates?
What recently quoted products should I review for cost or pricing changes?
Show quoted product revenue by category by month
Show quoted margin dollars by category by month
Customers and accounts
Which customers need coordinated follow-up across billing, active work, service, and pipeline?
Which accounts have the most open pipeline?
Which accounts have the most open service activity?
Billing
Which payment requests are overdue or need collection follow-up?
What billing terms or scheduled payments should I review next?
Show open billing balance by status
To-dos and time
Which to-dos are overdue or need follow-up first?
Show billable versus non-billable hours by person this month
Where did we book overtime last month?
Questions it cannot answer, and what to ask instead
Ask D-Tools will tell you when data does not exist rather than approximating. A few known gaps:
You asked about | What Ask D-Tools does instead |
Sales goals, quotas, or pace against target | D-Tools does not store goals. It answers with trajectory against the prior equivalent period and says so. |
Margin risk on active, in-flight projects | Job costing covers completed projects. It answers for completed projects and states the limitation. |
Change order pipeline or approval status | Not available to Ask D-Tools. It points you to the change orders module. |
How long a deal sat in a specific stage | There is no per-stage timestamp. It uses opportunity age as the aging proxy and labels it as such. |
Call, email, and meeting activity counts per rep | Not available. |