Conversational analytics
How the business gets answers without waiting for the data team
Business users shouldn't have to wait for the data team to answer a question the data can answer. Mark Your Data Assistant lets them ask in a personal chat in Microsoft Teams, in Dutch or English, and answers with text, a table and, where it fits, a chart.
How it works out of the box
Each question gets one language. The assistant detects the language of each question, and the answer, labels and buttons follow it.
Code chooses the chart. The shape of the result decides the visual, so the same result always gets the same one.
Numbers are written for reading. The text and charts use short amounts, and the table shows the exact values.
Answers come first, questions back second. A question with more than one reading gets an answer with its assumption, and the other readings one click away.
The result can go to Excel. In Teams, the Excel button creates a file with real numbers and dates from the result of your own question.
What it means for you
- Business user: You ask in the chat tool you already use, and get an answer you can read.
- Manager: Your teams can ask their own questions, and you can see which answers are governed.
- Analyst: Common questions can be answered in Teams, and you can take a result to Excel.
- Analytics engineer: Labels, currencies and defaults come from your dbt project and domain settings.
Questions and answers
Can I ask data questions in Microsoft Teams, in Dutch?
Yes. Mark Your Data Assistant answers data questions in a personal chat in Microsoft Teams, in Dutch or English. It detects the language of each question, and the answer, labels and buttons follow that language. Column names appear in Dutch once your data team adds Dutch labels in dbt.
Do our users need a Microsoft Copilot licence for the assistant?
No. Mark Your Data Assistant runs in Microsoft Teams as a custom engine agent, and Microsoft's licensing guidance requires no additional Copilot licence for that type of agent. The assistant uses the AI providers you choose rather than Copilot. A Microsoft 365 admin approves the app for your organisation.
Why does one question get a line chart and another a bar chart?
The shape of the result decides, not an AI model. Mark Your Data Assistant draws a line for a trend over time and horizontal bars for a short list of categories, shows a single value as a large number, and otherwise shows a table. The same result always gets the same visual.
Can I take an answer to Excel, and who can open that file?
Yes. In Teams, the Excel button in Mark Your Data Assistant creates a file from the result of your own question, with real numbers and dates. The download link works once and expires within minutes. Limiting downloads to the signed-in user in your own organisation is in development.
What happens when my question can be read in more than one way?
Mark Your Data Assistant answers with the most sensible reading, states the assumption it made, and offers the other readings as options you can click. Your data team sets the default for ambiguous terms, so the same question gives the same number. It asks back only when it can't tell what to measure.