AI CaseQuery turns a plain-English question into a read-only query against your firm's database. Many questions have more than one honest reading. "How many open matters do we have?" can mean matters whose status says open, or matters with no closing date, and on a real database those two numbers are rarely the same. The AI has to pick one. If nobody has told it which reading your firm uses, it guesses, and sooner or later somebody notices a number that is not the one they expected. Once people doubt one number, they stop trusting the rest.
Your job is to settle those readings. When you settle a definition, you are writing down what your firm means by a word or a measure. It is recorded under your name and applies to everyone's answers from that moment. A lead:
An administrator then confirms or withdraws what you settled. Until they do, a settled definition is provisional, but it still applies.
Your administrator tells you which one your firm uses.
| How your firm is set up | What you do |
|---|---|
| Leads' key | Press any control that needs the key, or Unlock to settle definitions at the top of Fine-tuning. A box titled Access key appears. Type the key and press Unlock. |
| Windows group | Nothing to type. If your Windows account is in the group your administrator mapped to Operations Lead, you are a lead. If you have just been added to the group, sign out of Windows and back in before it takes effect. |
| Microsoft work account (Entra) | The same box offers Sign in with your work account instead of a key. Your firm's usual sign-in and multi-factor rules apply. You must hold the role AI CaseQuery Operations Lead. |
Once in, the line at the top of Fine-tuning reads "You are signed in as a lead", and nothing on that screen will ask you for a key again.
While you are unlocked, a badge reading Lead · lock sits at the top right of every screen. It is there so you always know you are acting as a lead. Click it to lock again; you will be asked for a key the next time one is needed. An unlock otherwise lasts until the browser tab is closed. If an administrator has unlocked in the same tab, the badge reads Administrator · lock instead.
The first time you record something, a box titled Your name asks who is deciding. Type your name and press Continue. It is remembered for the rest of that unlock, so you are not asked on every row. If you cancel, nothing is saved and a message says so.
The Leads' key does not open the administrator screens. If you try, you are told it is the leads' key. As a lead you cannot:
Controls that need a key you have not entered show a padlock. They are not disabled: pressing one asks for the key, and once it is accepted, picks up where you left off.
Open Fine-tuning from the sidebar. Anyone can read it. It has four tabs and opens on the first: three numbered steps in the order the work is done, then the reference.
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| 1 · Definitions to settle | Your worklist. Two lists, Leads and DBA, with counts on each. This is where you settle, set aside, rule and hand over. |
| 2 · Baseline questions | A bank of questions arranged by the life of a matter, plus any your firm adds. You run them, judge the answers, and record the verdict. |
| 3 · Awaiting sign-off | Definitions already in force that are still waiting for an administrator to confirm or withdraw them. |
| How this works | Reference. Explains why definitions matter, what the definition scan looks for (two definitions of open, competing amounts, competing deadlines, history dated in the future, a concept defined in several places), why it uses no AI, and what it cannot see. |
Near the top of Definitions to settle a line says when the definitions were last checked against the database. The check reads your schema and each place a definition could differ; it uses no AI and costs nothing. It is the administrator's: after the database changes, ask them to run Check for new definitions on Settings › DB Tuning. Settling a definition refreshes your list by itself.
Definitions to settle is split in two so that the number on your tab is work you can actually do today.
| Badge | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| reported wrong (amber) | Somebody checked an answer against what they knew and it was wrong. The row says "Reported by". | Settle the definition or Send to the DBA |
| needs a decision | Somebody could not tell which reading the firm means. Nothing is being called wrong; the row says "Raised by". | Settle it or Send to the DBA |
| with the DBA | Handed over because it cannot be put into words. Shown on the DBA list. | Nothing from here. Open DB Tuning needs the administrator key. |
Each row under What your terms mean names the question, then either the evidence the scan measured (for example, how many rows each reading would count) or the sentence "Your data cannot show this — it is your firm's convention." Where one of your firm's own database views already reads it one way, the row says so and marks that reading; it is still your decision.
Changed your mind on something you settled? The × at the end of a settled row clears the answer and puts the question back on the worklist. You can clear your own provisional answers; one settled by somebody else needs the administrator key, and one an administrator has already confirmed must be withdrawn on Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning before it can be cleared. The record keeps who settled it and that it was cleared.
Pressing Settle the definition (or Settle it on an item that needs a decision) opens a dialog titled Settle the definition this report needs. The box starts with what the reporter wrote. That is a complaint, not yet an instruction, so edit it before recording.
If the two models read your sentence differently, the button becomes Record it anyway. You may still record it if you are sure. Two options are also offered: Try rewording it (naming the column or the exact values usually closes the gap) and Send it to the DBA to settle.
A definition reaches the AI exactly as you write it, for every question it concerns, for everybody. Good ones share a few habits:
status = 'Active' or 'OnHold' matches every row. Validation refuses that shape and says why; write "status is Active or status is OnHold".Whatever you settle is recorded in your name, dated, and in force at once. It appears on Awaiting sign-off and on Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning, marked In force · awaiting sign-off. An administrator then confirms it (a second signature) or withdraws it. Provisional does not mean inactive: an unreviewed definition goes on applying. See section 9.
Some things the firm means cannot be said in a sentence. The query is simply more than a definition: several tables, a particular order of steps, a calculation. When that happens, stop rewording and hand it over.
Some of what looks like an ambiguous definition is really the product reading the wrong table. Where your firm has three tables with similar names — a live one, an archive, a staging copy — a question can be answered correctly from the wrong one, and no amount of rewording fixes it.
Type @ in the question box and a list of your tables appears. Choose the one you meant and ask again. If the answer changes, the problem was which table, not which words, and that is worth telling the DBA rather than settling a definition around it.
The answer always says which tables it used. If it names one you did not expect, that is the finding. And if you mistype a name, it tells you the name matched nothing and reads the question the ordinary way rather than silently narrowing it.
Your sentence is all the DBA will have, apart from the question. Write it for someone who knows the database but not your practice. For example: "Count matters referred in the last 90 days where a sale date is set, but leave out any where the client has told us to hold."
The item moves to the DBA list with the badge with the DBA. On the administrator's side it appears under Settings › DB Tuning › Question-SQL pairs, in Waiting for you. An administrator, working with the DBA, writes and settles the query. From then on, that question is answered from the settled query: instantly, identically, and without an AI call, and users see a Verified query mark on the answer. There is no separate DBA sign-in; the DBA works alongside an administrator.
The Baseline questions tab is a list of questions you already know the answers to. Running them and recording whether each answer is right gives the firm a baseline to measure against later, and it is the best way to catch a definition that did not land the way you meant.
The sections follow the life of a matter. Sections start folded; each heading shows how many of its questions have been checked. The badge at the top shows how many have been reviewed overall. Some questions warn "Rests on" a number of definitions "nobody has settled yet"; settle those first, or the answer may be right for a reading your firm has not chosen.
Rather than running questions one at a time, you can have a whole section answered while you do something else.
Press View on an answered question, or Run on one that is not (running asks the provider, which costs calls). A dialog titled Check this answer shows the answer, a table of up to 25 rows, How it worked this out with What it assumed, and the query folded under The query it wrote. Read the assumptions: a figure can be arithmetically perfect and still measure a reading your firm does not use.
Two things may appear above the answer. Asked twice — and read two different ways means the two attempts built different queries; read carefully before marking it. A line saying the answer rests on definitions nobody has settled means settle those before calling it wrong. A held answer also says when it was answered; nothing has re-checked it since.
Then choose one of five verdicts. Every one is recorded in your name.
| Verdict | Choose it when | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Right | The answer matches what you know to be true. | Recorded in your name against today's date, with the query that produced it. It is your evidence the answer was correct on this database. An administrator can later turn a confirmed answer into a settled query. |
| Wrong | You know the answer is wrong, and can say how. | Asks for one sentence saying what it got wrong, then puts it at the top of Definitions to settle with the badge reported wrong. Say what was wrong, not just that something was. |
| Doesn't apply | The firm does not do this kind of work. | Moves the question to Inactive at the foot of the list. Kept, not deleted. Mark it Right or Wrong at any time and it returns to its own section. |
| Needs a decision | You cannot tell which reading the firm means. | Asks which readings you are caught between, then goes to the settling list as a handover, badge needs a decision. Nothing is called wrong. |
| Ask the DBA | The answer exists in your data but nobody can say it in words. | Asks what the query has to do, then goes to the DBA list in Settings › DB Tuning, badge with the DBA. |
After you choose, the dialog moves on to the next unreviewed question, preferring ones that already have an answer waiting. The same five buttons also sit on each question's row. Press the chosen one again to clear a mis-click.
The shipped questions are written for firms in general. Add the ones your people actually ask.
It is checked alongside the others and counts toward the same baseline. Nothing has worked out which definitions your own question rests on, so unlike the shipped ones it cannot warn you it is not worth asking yet. Your own questions carry a Remove button, which deletes rather than sets aside, because your firm wrote them.
Open in chat on a row takes the question to the Chat screen and runs it there, as any user would see it, with the full answer panels. It costs the same as asking in chat. When you return to Fine-tuning, the list reopens at the question you left from.
Confirming an answer records what was true on the day. Every rule and definition settled afterwards can change what these questions return, and nothing will tell you when a confirmation has gone out of date. Most firms work through the list during setup and re-check it quarterly, or twice a year. Export at the top of the list saves the questions and every verdict to a CSV file.
Users send you work from the Chat screen in three ways, and all of it lands at the top of Definitions to settle:
Each arrives with the question, "Objected to:" and the measurement they objected to, their sentence, their name and the date, and "from an answer they were given". Treat it the way you would a Wrong verdict from a baseline question: read their sentence, run the question yourself if you need to, then Settle the definition or Send to the DBA. Settling it takes the report off the list.
Under some answers in chat, a folded amber panel begins Worth checking. It means the product noticed something: most often that the same question has been read more than one way on different occasions. It lists the readings it saw and which one this answer used.
When you meet one as a lead, press Help me sort this out. A four-step guided flow opens:
The same guided flow opens from Neither — write what your firm means on the chat panel and on Definitions to settle. On the chat panel, pressing one of the offered readings settles it directly and asks the question again, so you see the number your decision produces.
Floor voting is off unless your administrator switches it on in Settings › Safeguards › On Floor Voting. When it is on, the people doing the work help settle what everyday words mean, and you rule where they cannot agree.
A vote appears under an answer only when both of these are true:
The user sees a line such as Counted "open" as Open. Is that right?, a button for each value, and Not sure. The line beneath says who will see the vote. Where the firm signs in with Microsoft or Windows identities, the voter's name is visible to whoever settles definitions. On a shared access key the vote is recorded without a name, and such votes can never settle a definition on their own. After voting, the person is told how things stand, for example how many more people answering the same way would settle it. Where your administrator has left "Everyone is asked" off, a Stop asking me link lets a person opt out.
Not asked about: "anything except", "one of" and "like" filters; numbers and yes/no flags; queries filtering more than one status column; a column with 7 or more values (the user just sees Counted "active" as Active.); and questions already answered by a Verified query.
While votes are still being collected and everyone agrees so far, there is nothing for you to act on under Floor needs a ruling.
Each row reads "What" the word "means", names the column asked about, and says why it is with you. It shows how many different questions raised it, and both camps with the names of who voted each way. Weigh who voted, not only how many: one senior person can be right where several others are not. The badge on the right is the floor is split, nobody agreed or votes unread.
Your ruling is recorded against your name, applies at once, and is provisional until an administrator confirms it, exactly like any other definition you settle. If it conflicts with an existing rule, the product refuses before writing and shows the rule it collided with; the item stays in the queue for you to act on.
If many people answer Not sure, the fault is more likely the wording of the question than anything the firm has failed to decide.
This tab lists the definitions that are already in force and still waiting for an administrator's second signature: what the assistant was told, the question it settles, and who settled it and when. The badge at the top counts them. The box under the heading says it first: these are already in force, and confirming or withdrawing is the administrator's. Export saves the list as a CSV file.
Once confirmed, a definition leaves this tab and is listed on Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning as confirmed. Once withdrawn, it moves to Business Rules › History.
| Status | Where | Does it apply? |
|---|---|---|
| In force · awaiting sign-off | This tab, and Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning | Yes |
| … overdue (30+ or 90+ days) | The same, marked overdue | Yes |
| In force · confirmed | Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning | Yes |
| Withdrawn | Business Rules › History | No |
| Cleared | Business Rules › History; only the record of who decided it is kept | No |
A count of provisional definitions also appears as a badge at the top of every screen while any are waiting, with the age of the oldest once it passes 30 days.
You can see these buttons, marked with the administrator padlock, but only an administrator can use them. The administrator is always asked for their name, so the record shows somebody other than the lead signing off.
Business Rules in the sidebar is open to everyone. It shows what the AI has been told, which is what you need in order to judge an answer. As a lead you can read all of it; changing it needs the administrator key, because it applies to answers for everyone.
| Tab | What you will find |
|---|---|
| How this works | A diagram of where every instruction comes from and who may act on each. |
| Rules | Two sections, both folded until you open them, each with its count. Rules in effect by Administrator: standing instructions, "always do this". Up to a dozen rules and terms together go with every question; past that, each travels with the questions about the tables it names. Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning, directly below: every definition in force, marked awaiting sign-off or confirmed; they reach the AI exactly as rules do. A confirmed one is withdrawn here; one awaiting sign-off has Open in Fine-tuning, where it is confirmed or withdrawn on Awaiting sign-off. Withdrawn ones move to History. |
| Terms | Vocabulary: "when someone says X, they mean Y". |
| History | Earlier versions of the rules. |
| Has it worked? | Which questions steadied after a change, and which did not. |
Before settling a definition, glance at Rules and Terms. If a rule already says something about the same word, your definition and the rule may pull in different directions, and the fix belongs with the administrator.
These are writing aids for anything that will reach the AI. As a lead you use them in the dialog that opens when you settle a reported item (section 4): Check the wording rewrites your sentence as an instruction the AI can follow and checks its values against your data, and the second button runs the question with and without your wording and compares. On that dialog the second button reads Validate this wording because recording waits for it; elsewhere, such as when an administrator drafts a rule from a user's correction, the same check is labelled See what this changes. Nothing is saved by looking.
Use them to test an idea before you take it to an administrator. A sentence that validates cleanly as a definition is also a good candidate for a rule.
Settle it yourself if it is a definition: what a word means, which records count. Ask an administrator when it is a standing instruction that is not about one word, for example how to count after joining detail tables, or which account to leave out of every total. Send them:
They add it with Add the rule and Save written rules. Saving puts it in force for everyone at once, and the previous set is kept under History.
Casey is AI CaseQuery's assistant for the product. Casey explains and helps you draft; Casey records nothing, applies nothing and never runs a query. The one thing it can put on your screen is a wording: Use this wording writes that sentence into the box you are filling in, for you to edit and record yourself. The decision and the button press stay with you. Casey is available only if your administrator has switched it on. Open it with Ask Casey in the sidebar or Ctrl+K; the panel shows Reading: and the screen you are on.
| Where | Control | What Casey is sent |
|---|---|---|
| A definition on Definitions to settle | Guide me through this | The question, what your scan measured about it, and the readings on offer. No rows from your database. |
| The writing dialog | Help me word this | What the screen is asking, what raised it, and what you have typed so far. |
| Check this answer | How do I judge this? | The question and the definitions it rests on. Not the answer. |
| The Worth checking guided flow | I still do not follow — explain it to me | Your question and the readings it has had. |
If your administrator allows it, Casey can also read what your firm has written down: terms, rules, settled definitions and column notes. Casey never sees query results or notes on hidden columns. When you ask about a tuning item, Casey is sent that item's counts and values from the preparation scan.
Good questions for a lead: "Which of these definitions matters most for our month-end report?", "What would each reading of this count?", "Is my definition saying one thing or two?". Treat Casey's answer as advice. You know how the firm works; Casey does not. Full detail is in Working with Casey.
About an hour a week keeps most firms steady. Adjust to how many people ask questions.
Once a quarter, work back through the whole baseline.
| You see | Where | It means | Your move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead · lock | Top of every screen | You are unlocked as a lead | Click to lock again |
| Administrator · lock | Top of every screen | An administrator is unlocked in this tab | Click to lock again |
| Lead · Sign out | Top of every screen | Your lead role comes from your Microsoft work account | Click to sign out of it on this computer |
| Padlock on a button | Anywhere | Needs a key you have not entered | Press it to be asked |
| "N provisional" | Top of every screen | Settled definitions not yet reviewed | Ask your administrator to review |
| reported wrong | Definitions to settle | An answer was judged wrong | Settle the definition or Send to the DBA |
| needs a decision | Definitions to settle | Nobody could tell which reading is meant | Settle it or Send to the DBA |
| with the DBA | DBA list | Waiting for a written query | Nothing; an administrator handles it |
| the floor is split | Floor needs a ruling | Voters gave different answers | Press the value the firm means |
| nobody agreed | Floor needs a ruling | Asking stopped without agreement | Press the value the firm means |
| votes unread | Floor needs a ruling | Some votes could not be read | Rule with care, or tell your administrator |
| "N questions" | A scan definition | How many questions rest on it | Settle the biggest first |
| settled | A scan definition | Answered | × clears your own provisional answer |
| not applicable | A scan definition | Set aside with We do not do this | Answer it to bring it back |
| Right | Baseline verdict | Correct today, recorded with its query | Re-check quarterly |
| Wrong | Baseline verdict | Becomes a reported wrong item | Write one clear sentence |
| Doesn't apply | Baseline verdict | Moved to Inactive | Mark Right or Wrong to restore |
| Needs a decision | Baseline verdict | Becomes a needs a decision item | Name the readings in your sentence |
| Ask the DBA | Baseline verdict | Goes to the DBA list | Say what the query must do |
| awaiting sign-off / overdue | Awaiting sign-off and Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning | In force, not yet confirmed (overdue after 30 and 90 days) | Ask for review |
| confirmed | Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning | Confirmed by an administrator | None |
| withdrawn / cleared | Business Rules › History | No longer applied | Ask why before re-settling |
| Worth checking | Under a chat answer | Something was noticed, often two readings | Help me sort this out |
| This answer depends on a definition nobody has settled | Under a chat answer | A scan definition affects this number | Pick a reading, or Neither — write what your firm means |
| Asked twice — and read two different ways | Chat or Check this answer | Two attempts built different queries | Read carefully before judging |
| Verified query | Under a chat answer | Answered from a settled query, at no AI cost | None |
| What you see | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| "Nothing was saved" and something about a name | You cancelled or left the Your name box blank. Everything you record needs a name. Try again and give one. |
| You are told it is the leads' access key when opening Settings | Expected. The Leads' key does not open administrator screens. |
| Record it stays greyed out | The wording in the box has not been validated, or you edited it after validating. Press Validate this wording again. |
| Validation refuses your sentence and explains a problem with its shape | Usually shorthand such as status = 'Active' or 'OnHold', which would match every row. Write each condition out in full. |
| Answer this section is greyed out | Another section is being answered. One at a time; hover over the button to see which. |
| Answers from a section run have gone | They are held only until the application restarts. Answer the section again; questions you already marked keep their verdicts. |
| A message asks you to connect a database, or enter an API key or model, in Settings first | The installation is not ready to run questions. Tell your administrator. |
| The × on a settled definition says it was ratified | An administrator has confirmed it. Ask them to withdraw it on Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning first, so the record shows a reversal rather than a gap. |
| Guide me through this and the other Casey buttons are missing | Casey is not switched on for this installation. Your administrator decides. |
| A word people are voting on is not under Floor needs a ruling | Votes are still being collected and everyone agrees so far. It only reaches you after a split, after asking stops without agreement, or if votes cannot be read. |
| A question you marked Right now gives a different answer | A definition or rule settled since has changed it. Run it again, and mark it again. This is why the baseline is worth re-checking. |
| You settled a definition but an answer still ignores it | Check Business Rules › Rules › Definitions in effect from Fine-tuning to see it is in force, not on Business Rules › History. Past a dozen rules and definitions, one travels only with questions about what it names; name the column or table in the sentence. If it still does not take, report it to your administrator with the question. |
| The Leads count does not go down after settling | Reported items leave the list once settled, but scan definitions stay on it marked settled, so they still count. The badge at the top of the tab shows how many are settled out of the total. If the database has changed, ask an administrator to run Check for new definitions on Settings › DB Tuning. |
For installation problems, your administrator has the Admin / DBA Guide. For how answers look to users, see the User Guide.