How to check an AI answer about your company's numbers
An answer about your own numbers is only useful if you can trace it. Each Ask Alex answer carries the parts you need to check where a figure came from and what it leaves out.
By Manny Sidhu · Practical guide · Published · Updated
Who calculates the figures
In Ask Alex, an AI model reads your question and decides which supported calculation it asks for. It is instructed never to produce dates, figures, or answer text. The figures are calculated by code from your HubSpot and Xero records.
The dates come from the date controls. If a question names its own period, such as a month or a quarter, Ask Alex asks you to set those dates in the controls instead, so the dates used are always the ones shown.
Read the receipt
Every figure in an answer links to at least one receipt. A receipt shows the source and the time the records were read, the scope (the exact dates and how many records support the figure), the calculation in words, the assumptions, and an identifier for the captured set of records.
An illustrative example
Illustrative example, not customer data: an answer says net recorded invoice collections were A$178,200 from 1 to 31 August. Its receipt reads: Xero, as of the last sync; 1 to 31 August, 412 supporting records; calculation, recorded invoice payments minus customer refunds, by transaction date; assumption, these are not total customer cash receipts, bank balances, or recognised revenue.
Look at the source records
Below the receipts, the source records list shows each record the answer used, with its HubSpot or Xero identifier, date, amount, and the version that was read.
Check the evidence label and limitations
An answered question carries one of two labels: Verified evidence or Limited evidence. Limited evidence means something weakens the figures. For example, a late payment answer is limited when some payments are for invoices with no due date, and it says how many.
A limitations list states what the figure does not cover, such as payments with no verified customer or payment timing that is not adjusted for.
What happens when the evidence does not hold up
Before an answer is shown, code checks that every figure links to a receipt, that the answer's text is linked to calculated figures, that every source record belongs to the captured set with a version and a date, and that currencies agree. For several kinds of answer, including late payments, revenue by customer, outstanding invoices, and new customer counts, the figures are also recalculated from the receipt's records. If any check fails, the answer is withheld and Ask Alex says so.
When the records themselves cannot support an answer, for example because the dates run past the synced history or the currencies are mixed, Ask Alex declines and gives the reason instead of estimating.