Configure a SmartResearch Instance

Written by Uday Kumar Updated

Who this is for. Super Admins, who configure and save a SmartResearch instance. Managers can open the wizard and read it but cannot save. Access. Requires the SMARTFLOW_MANAGEMENT permission. See the Roles and Access Reference.

Configuring an instance decides what every question asked against it can reach. The wizard runs in three steps: Name & Description, Connections, and Save & Run.

Open an instance for editing

  1. Open the Running Instances table. See SmartResearch Instances.

  2. In the Actions column of the instance you want, select the edit control, which is the pencil.

The square control beside it carries the tooltip Delete. Stopping affects everyone using it, so check which control you are selecting.

The wizard enforces the order. You cannot advance until the required fields in the current step are complete, so work through the steps rather than jumping ahead.

Step 1: Name & Description

The wizard opens with an explanation of the product: Auditoria will connect to your ERP and other finance data sources so you can ask questions in plain language and get answers instantly — AP Analysis, cash flow trends, vendor and customer insights — without exporting to Excel or waiting on an analyst.

  1. Enter an Instance Name.

    This is what appears in the workspace instance selector, so make it identify the data rather than the project.

  2. Enter an Instance Description.

  3. Select Continue.

Step 1 of the instance wizard, Name and Description, with the Instance Name and Instance Description fields

Figure 1. Step 1 of the instance wizard. The values shown are placeholders, not a naming convention to copy.

A workable pair is an instance named AP North America described as SOR and AP operations for the North America entities. The name says which data it covers, and the description says why it exists.

Descriptions are frequently left blank across a tenant, which makes similar instance names hard to tell apart in the selector. Write one.

Step 2: Connections

This step sets what the instance can reach. Two settings, each independent.

Step 2 of the instance wizard, Connections, with the SmartResearch Scope and External Data Source selectors

Figure 2. Step 2. SmartResearch Scope and External Data Source are set separately.

SmartResearch Scope

Choose the agent instances the instance may query. The picker lists every running agent instance in the tenant under two columns, SOR and SmartFlow Instance. Each row names the product, the connection behind it and the mailbox it watches, so a tenant running the same product over several connections shows one row for each. Select as many rows as the instance should reach. There is no All option here.

Because scope is chosen per agent instance rather than per connection, the Running Instances table summarises the selection by product name. Two SmartVendor instances therefore read as SmartVendor, SmartVendor rather than as two distinct names.

Scope is the single biggest reason two instances answer the same question differently. An instance with no connections selected shows No Connections in the instance table and cannot answer from data at all.

External Data Source

Choose which external feeds the instance may draw on alongside your own data.

The list offers each public feed individually, or All for every one of them. For what each feed provides, see What Data SmartResearch Can Reach.

External sources are independent of scope. An instance can be narrowly scoped to one ERP and still carry All external sources.

  1. Select Continue.

Step 3: Save & Run

  1. Review the configuration.

  2. Select Run. The step is titled Save & Run and the button on it reads Run.

The instance returns to the table with a status of Running. To leave without changing anything, select CANCEL, or Previous to step back.

Saving re-runs the instance. Anyone querying it will be answering against the new scope from that point on.

Scenarios

Table 1. Configuration scenarios

Scenario

What to do

Answers return nothing useful

Check the scope. An instance showing No Connections has nothing to query.

Two instances disagree on the same question

Compare their scope. Different connections legitimately give different answers.

You need external economic context

Add the relevant source under External Data Source rather than widening scope.

You are unsure which instance a colleague used

The instance name is shown in the workspace sub-header while they ask.

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