Schedule & availability
Ask Alan about schedules, capacity, and who’s working on what.Your schedule
- “What’s on my schedule today?”
- “What am I working on this week?”
- “Do I have any help desk tickets scheduled?”
- “Show my schedule for next Monday”
Team schedules
- “What’s Luke working on today?”
- “Show me the design team’s schedule this week”
- “What’s the development team working on?”
- “Who’s available for dev work tomorrow?”
Availability & capacity
- “Who has capacity today?”
- “How many hours does Sarah have available this week?”
- “What’s the team’s availability next week?”
- “Who’s free for a 4-hour task?”
Leave & holidays
- “Who’s on leave this week?”
- “Is James off tomorrow?”
- “Who’s on holiday in August?”
Annual leave
Alan can help you manage your annual leave - check balances, view requests, and even book time off.Check your balance
- “How much annual leave do I have left?”
- “What’s my leave balance?”
- “How many days have I used this year?”
- “Do I have any pending leave requests?”
View your leave requests
- “Show me my leave requests”
- “What leave do I have booked?”
- “Show my pending leave”
- “When is my next holiday?”
Book time off
- “Book next Friday off”
- “I’d like to take 14th-18th February off”
- “Can I book a half day on Monday afternoon?”
- “Request sick leave for today”
When booking leave, Alan shows a confirmation prompt before submitting. If your request is within 30 days, you’ll see a notice that manager approval isn’t guaranteed.
Cancel leave
- “Cancel my leave request for next week”
- “I need to cancel my holiday on the 14th”
For managers
- “Who has leave pending approval?”
- “Show me pending team leave requests”
- “What leave requests are waiting for me?”
Managers can view pending leave requests through Alan, but approval/rejection must be done on the Leave Management page for a full view of the team calendar.
Tasks & projects
Query tasks, check progress, and find work that needs attention.Task queries
- “Show me my tasks”
- “What tasks are overdue?”
- “Show tasks due this week”
- “What tasks is Emma working on?”
- “Show me all P1 tasks”
Task details
- “Get details for task #123”
- “What’s the status of the Fargro homepage redesign?”
- “Show me tasks for [Client Name]“
Project information
- “What projects are in progress?”
- “Show me project details for [Project Name]”
- “What’s the budget status for [Project]?”
Help desk
Find tickets, check status, and identify urgent support needs.Ticket queries
- “Show me open help desk tickets”
- “What P1 tickets are there?”
- “Show me help desk tickets for Fargro”
- “What tickets are assigned to me?”
- “Show unassigned tickets”
Ticket details
- “Get details for ticket #42”
- “What’s the status of ticket #67?”
- “Show me priority 1 tickets opened today”
Ticket summaries
- “Summarize open help desk tickets”
- “What are the urgent tickets this week?”
Clients & quotes
Query client information, retainer status, and quotes.Client information
- “What’s the retainer status for Fargro?”
- “Show me clients that need attention”
- “How many hours has [Client] used this month?”
- “What’s [Client]‘s retainer plan?”
Client schedules
- “What work is scheduled for Fargro?”
- “Show me upcoming work for [Client]”
- “What’s on the schedule for [Client] this week?”
Quotes
- “Show me quotes awaiting approval”
- “What quotes are assigned to me?”
- “Show me recent quotes for [Client]”
- “Get details for quote #89”
Time tracking & reporting
Check logged time, utilization, and team metrics.Your time
- “How much time have I logged today?”
- “Show my time entries this week”
- “What’s my utilization this month?”
Team time
- “What’s the team’s utilization?”
- “How many hours has the design team logged this week?”
- “Show me time entries for [Client]“
Capacity planning
- “What’s the team’s capacity this week?”
- “How many billable hours do we have available?”
Team members
Find team members and get information about people.User search
- “Who is the PM for [Client]?”
- “Find Sarah’s contact info”
- “Who works in the design department?”
- “Show me all developers”
User information
- “What’s Luke’s job title?”
- “Who is the CSM for Fargro?”
- “What’s my work type?”
Documentation & how-to
Ask Alan how CharleOS works and get help with features.General how-to
- “How do I create a quote?”
- “What is a retainer plan?”
- “How does scheduling work?”
- “What are blocks?”
Business logic
- “How is day rate calculated?”
- “What’s the difference between tasks and projects?”
- “How does the priority system work?”
- “What are task phases?”
Features
- “How do I log time?”
- “How do I request annual leave?”
- “How do I schedule a help desk ticket?”
- “How do I create a subtask?”
Assignment recommendations
Get AI-powered suggestions for who should do what work.For assignment questions, use the “Ask Alan” button in scheduling dialogs for the best experience with contextual recommendations.
Assignment queries
- “Who should I assign this to?”
- “Who’s best for this dev task?”
- “Who can take this urgent ticket?”
- “Who should work on this design?”
- Availability - Who has capacity
- Workload - Current commitments and interruption difficulty
- Skills - Work type match (dev/design/QA)
- Context - Leave status, past work on client/project
Tips for asking good questions
Be specific
Include client names, time periods, or specific IDs when relevant
Use natural language
Ask questions as you would to a colleague - Alan understands context
Ask follow-ups
Alan remembers your conversation - you can refine your query with follow-up questions
Try variations
If Alan doesn’t understand, rephrase your question or add more detail
What Alan can’t do (yet)
Alan is primarily focused on information retrieval and simple actions. Alan cannot:- Create tasks, quotes, or clients
- Modify schedules or assignments directly (though action buttons make this easy)
- Send emails or notifications
- Change system settings
- Access admin configuration features
- Approve or reject leave requests (managers must use the Leave Management page)
Examples by role
Delivery Team
- “What’s on my schedule today?”
- “How much time have I logged this week?”
- “Am I assigned to any help desk tickets?”
- “What’s my day rate for this month?”
- “How much annual leave do I have left?”
- “Book next Friday off”
Project Managers
- “Who’s available for a 6-hour dev task?”
- “What’s the team working on tomorrow?”
- “Show me overdue tasks”
- “Who should I assign ticket #45 to?”
Customer Success Managers
- “What’s the retainer status for all my clients?”
- “Which clients need attention?”
- “What quotes are awaiting approval?”
- “What work is scheduled for Fargro this week?”
Managers
- “What’s the team’s utilization this month?”
- “Who’s on leave next week?”
- “What’s the team’s capacity?”
- “Show me P1 tickets across all clients”
- “Who has leave pending approval?”
Next steps
Scheduling with Alan
Learn how Alan helps with assignment decisions
Schedule
Understand the scheduling system
Tasks
Learn about task management
Help Desk
Explore the help desk system