Insights: ask the business, watchlists, alerts and the demand forecast

Overview#

Reports › Insights (/insights, page title Owner intelligence) is where owners and managers ask questions about the business, see what needs doing with the dollars at stake, watch metrics for changes, and see whether the coming weeks are thin or full. Answers come only from the metric dictionary: every number shows its definition and the records behind it, and nothing is guessed. Thin weeks become demand requests that your marketing system (TradesForce, over MCP) can turn into campaigns.

Before you start#

The page needs reports.read plus at least one of the Insights permissions. What you see depends on your role:

• insights.ask = ask; insights.watch = your own watchlist, alerts and brief; demand.read = forecast and requests; demand.manage = send, cancel, refresh and set the capacity goal.

• AI picks the metrics for a question only when AI is connected, turned on in Settings › AI › AI Assistants & Data Preferences, and your role includes AI tools. Otherwise a keyword matcher answers, and the answer says so. Either way the numbers are computed by TradesWork, never by the AI.

• AI use is metered (recorded as the "owner.ask" feature). Each person can ask up to 60 questions an hour.

• Email alerts need email set up for your server. Text alerts need texting connected and a mobile number in your alert settings.

Steps#

Ask the business#

1. In Ask the business, type a question, for example "How did Service do last month vs the month before?"

2. Click Ask.

3. Read the answer. The first line shows your question and how it was matched: metrics picked by AI or matched by keyword.

4. Each answer card shows the metric, period and filters, the value, the previous period's value, the Definition and formula, the first rows, and a link All N [records] › to the full drill-down.

5. If nothing matched, you get "Try:" suggestions. Ask about revenue, collected, jobs, close rate, memberships, A/R, callbacks or capacity.

6. Recent: under the box lists your last questions. Click one to see its answer again.

Questions can cover today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last month, this quarter, year to date or custom dates, and filter by business unit, technician, job type or campaign. Up to four metrics per answer. If a question needs job costing or pay metrics your role can't see, the answer says "You don't have access to [metric]".

Work the "Needs doing" list#

Needs doing lists actions with the dollars at stake, biggest first:

• N estimates untouched for 7+ days, $X at risk → Send follow-ups (opens Follow Up).

• N overdue invoices, $X owed → Send reminders (opens Accounting, overdue).

• N failed membership charges, $X → Update cards (opens Accounting › Billing).

• Thin or full weeks from the forecast → Send to marketing, With marketing, Campaign live, Ask marketing to throttle or Throttle requested.

"Nothing urgent right now." means the list is empty.

Read Demand vs capacity#

1. Demand vs capacity shows the next weeks (default 4) for each business unit.

2. Each week shows a status badge: Thin, On track, Full or No capacity, with bars for hours booked and forecast, a dashed capacity line and the goal line.

3. Below each week: "N h booked · N h forecast · N h capacity", and "N h short of goal" or "N h over".

4. Hover a week for the full explanation of the math.

5. Users who can manage demand can click Refresh to recalculate now (it also runs every hour).

How the forecast works: hours booked now, plus the hours that usually still get booked that close to a week (average of the last 8 completed weeks), adjusted by the same week last year (between 0.6× and 1.6×). Capacity is technicians' working hours (shifts, time off, events). A week is Thin when the forecast is at least the minimum gap short of the goal, and Full when it reaches the "full at" point.

Handle demand requests#

1. Demand requests lists thin and full weeks: Week, Business unit, Ask (for example "Fill 24 h · ≈ $X" or "Throttle ads (6 h over)"), Audience and Status.

2. Open Why to see the confidence, the explanation and suggested channels (for example Local Services Ads, Google Ads, Direct mail, Text and email to past customers).

3. Audience suggests who to reach: Unsold estimates, Maintenance visits due, Replacement candidates, with counts.

4. If your requests go to you first, click Send to marketing on a request Waiting for you. Click Cancel to withdraw one.

5. Statuses: Waiting for you, Sent to marketing, Campaign drafted, Campaign live, Gap closed, Marketing passed, Canceled, Week started.

Marketing reads requests over MCP and reports back when it drafts or launches a campaign. Without a connected marketing system, requests stay at Sent to marketing.

Set the capacity goal and sharing#

Open Capacity goal and sharing (demand managers only) and set:

• Goal (% booked): 40–100, default 85.

• Full at (%): 80–150, default 100.

• Ignore gaps under (h): default 8.

• Weeks ahead: 2–4.

• Requests go: Straight to marketing or To me first.

Click Save.

Watch a metric#

1. In Watchlist, open Watch a metric.

2. Pick the Metric, the Period (Today, This week, This month) and Alert when it: Goes above, Drops below, Changes by more than or Looks unusual.

3. Enter a Threshold: dollars for money metrics, a count for counts, and a percent for rates and for changes (for "Changes by more than" on a rate, it's points). Leave it empty for Looks unusual (it alerts at 2 standard deviations).

4. Optionally pick a Business unit.

5. Under Also send by, tick Email and/or Text. Alerts always appear in the app.

6. Click Watch.

Each watch row shows the rule, period and current value, with Triggered, Paused or No access badges. Use Pause/Resume and Remove. You can watch up to 25 metrics. Watches are checked every hour, as you (with your permissions), and alert at most once per period. Looks unusual compares the current value (on pace, for running totals) with at least 4 earlier periods.

Read alerts and set up the morning brief#

1. The Alerts card lists your alerts, with "(N new)". Click Mark all read to clear them. A delivery problem shows under the alert, for example "No mobile number in your alert settings, so nothing was sent."

2. Open Alert settings and morning brief. Set Mobile number for texts, Morning brief (Off, Every day, Mondays), At (hour, 0–23), and Quiet from / Quiet until.

3. Click Save.

The brief covers yesterday's revenue, collected and jobs completed, today's appointment count, the top items from Needs doing, and any triggered watches. It arrives in the app and by email (and text if you added a number). Email and text alerts that fall in quiet hours wait until quiet hours end.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › AI › AI Assistants & Data Preferences: turn AI on or off for the company.

• Settings › People › Technicians: working hours drive capacity in the forecast.

• Settings › Phones › Phone Numbers, Call Recording & Texting: texting must be connected for text alerts.

• Settings › Communications › Email Domains: email must be set up for email alerts and the brief.

Tips#

• Ask comparison questions ("this month vs last month for Install") to get two cards side by side.

• Use Looks unusual on Collected or Jobs booked to catch problems you didn't think to set a line for.

• Owners and managers get the same Insights tools on the phone under Business in the field app.

Troubleshooting#

• The answer says "matched by keyword". AI isn't connected, is turned off, or your role lacks AI tools. The numbers are still right.

• "You've asked 60 questions in the last hour." Wait a little and try again.

• A watch shows No access. You lost the permission for that metric. Remove the watch.

• Email alerts say "not sent". Email isn't set up for this server.

• Every week says No capacity. Nobody has working hours in those weeks.

FAQ#

Can the AI make up a number? No. The AI only picks metrics, periods and filters. TradesWork computes every number with the metric engine and writes the answer text from those numbers.

Who sees my watchlist? Only you. Watches never change company data.

Can Customer service use Insights? No. They can read All Reports instead.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

ServiceTitan has dashboards and scheduled reports but no built-in plain-English questions answered from defined metrics, no personal metric watchlist and no demand forecast that hands thin weeks to marketing. If you used capacity planning in ServiceTitan's dispatch tools, the forecast here plays a similar role, with the math shown for every week.