Ask the Agent for Help
How to start a request, follow up in a thread, and write requests that get fast, accurate answers from your Orderful agent.
Beta: invite onlyThe Shared Slack Agent is a beta feature, available only to customers Orderful has invited. What it can do and how it works may change as we improve it, and it may occasionally be slow or unavailable. To ask about access or share feedback, contact your Orderful representative.
You talk to your Orderful agent the same way you'd ask a colleague in Slack: mention it and say what you need.
Start a request
- In your shared channel, start a new message with a mention of the agent, for example
@Acme Agent. - Write your question or request in the same message.
- Send it.
The agent reacts with 👀 to show it has picked up your request, then replies in a thread under your message. Most replies arrive within a couple of minutes. Lookups that span several partners or documents can take a little longer.
The agent only responds when it's mentioned. A message without
@Acme Agentin it, even inside a thread the agent is part of, won't get a reply.
Follow up in the thread
Keep each topic in one thread. To ask a follow-up, reply in the thread and mention the agent again:
@Acme Agent thanks. Can you check the ship notice for that same order too?
The agent doesn't remember earlier conversations. Each time you mention it, it reads the whole thread it was mentioned in, so everything it needs should be in that thread. Starting a new topic? Start a new message in the channel rather than continuing an old thread.
Write requests that get good answers
The agent works best with specifics. Include whatever you have:
| Include | Example |
|---|---|
| The partner | "for Northwind Distributors" |
| The document type | "invoice (810)", "ship notice", "purchase order" |
| A document number | "PO 4500012345", "invoice INV-1092" |
| A time frame | "since Monday", "in the last two weeks" |
| Test or live | "on the test stream", "in production" |
| What you want back | "a short summary", "the exact errors and how to fix them" |
Compare:
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
@Acme Agent why didn't it work? | @Acme Agent why was our invoice for PO 4500012345 to Northwind rejected yesterday? |
@Acme Agent any updates? | @Acme Agent where are we with testing for Northwind, and what's waiting on us? |
@Acme Agent set up Contoso | @Acme Agent send a trade request to Contoso Foods for purchase orders and invoices. Their EDI contact is [email protected] and we're aiming for Dec 1. |
One request per message works best. If you have several unrelated questions, send them as separate messages so each gets its own thread.
For more ideas, see Example Prompts.
Things to know
- Edits don't count. If you edit a message to add a mention or change your question, the agent won't see the edit. Send a new message instead.
- Files in the thread. The agent can open screenshots, PDFs, and text files (such as CSV, JSON, XML, or raw EDI) posted in the same thread, up to 10 MB each and 5 per request. Post the file in the thread and tell the agent what to look for, for example
@Acme Agent this is the error we got, what's wrong?Other file types, such as spreadsheets or ZIP files, can't be opened, so paste the relevant details instead. - Channel only. The agent works in your shared channel. It doesn't respond to direct messages.
- Everyone in the channel sees the answers. Replies are posted in the thread for the whole channel. Don't ask for anything you wouldn't want shared there.
- It may ask you a question back. If your request is missing something it needs, such as which partner you mean, it replies asking for it. Answer in the thread with a mention.
Related
Updated about 2 hours ago