Who this is for. Anyone deciding whether a question belongs in SmartResearch. See Roles and Access Reference.
SmartResearch works alongside your systems of record rather than replacing them. It suits the questions that sit between formal reports: quick, exploratory and often urgent. The ones where waiting a day for an extract costs more than the answer is worth.
It does not suit anything that will be filed, audited, or used to change a record. Choosing the wrong tool costs twice: once in the time spent, and again in the rework when the number turns out not to be defensible. Check your situation against the guidance below before you ask.
Questions SmartResearch answers well
Each situation comes with a concrete example and the reason SmartResearch suits it.
Table 1. Four situations it is built for
Situation |
What it looks like |
Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
Quick, ad hoc answers |
Someone asks in a meeting which categories drove a spend increase. |
You ask directly and refine in real time, instead of requesting a report and waiting for the next cycle. |
Investigating a specific issue |
You need to know whether a delay comes from approvals, missing information, or something else. |
You narrow it across several related questions in one conversation, each answered against the context already established. |
Reducing shared-mailbox traffic |
Status questions arrive daily in a shared inbox or land on one colleague. |
The person asking can answer it themselves, using the same data and definitions the AP team would have used. |
Applying consistent definitions |
Teams disagree on what overdue, on hold, or spend by category means. |
The governed metric applies one definition every time, and the answer cites it. |
Questions to take elsewhere
Each situation names the tool to use instead and why SmartResearch is not it.
Table 2. When another system is the right one
Situation |
Use instead |
Why |
|---|---|---|
Statutory, audit, or externally filed reporting |
Your system of record |
SmartResearch is not the book of record and its answers are not designed to be filed. |
Changing a record |
Your ERP |
SmartResearch reads data only. It cannot post, approve, pay or edit. |
A figure that must be exact for a payment or write-off |
Verify against your system of record first |
Use the answer to find the item quickly, then confirm the amount where the money moves. |
Questions about data that is not connected |
Nothing outside the selected instance’s connections is in scope. |
|
A measure your existing reports calculate on a different basis |
Check the metric formula first |
DPO, DSO and CEI use a billed basis rather than cost of goods sold, so they will not tie to a COGS-based report. |
The billed-basis point causes more disputes than any other. If your existing DPO comes from a COGS-based calculation, the two figures will differ legitimately and neither is wrong. Agree which basis your team reports on before you circulate either.
Test a question before you ask it
Is the data connected? If the field lives in a system nobody has connected, no phrasing will retrieve it.
Will anyone act on the exact figure? If money moves on it, confirm in the system of record afterwards.
Does a governed metric already exist? If so, use its name in your question so the answer cites the definition.
Is your scope right? Entity and time-range defaults apply silently. Check them if a total looks small.
If the answer to the first is yes and you have thought about the rest, SmartResearch is the fastest route to the answer.