Workflow Assistant
Workflow Assistant in Nutrient Workflow Automation is a conversational assistant in the portal. It answers questions about a user’s forms, processes, requests, tasks, files, and users by using live workflow data instead of generic product documentation.
When you enable the Workflow Assistant for a tenant, it replaces the existing Ask AI chatbot button in the portal. Tenants that don’t use the Workflow Assistant continue to show the existing Ask AI widget.
The Workflow Assistant is in beta. It’s read-only in this release — it can search and explain data, but it can’t create, edit, or delete records.
The following image shows the chat sidebar’s empty state.
What the Workflow Assistant can do today
The Workflow Assistant can answer questions across several workflow areas. The following table shows representative prompts.
| Category | Example prompts |
|---|---|
| Tasks | “What tasks do I have?”, “Show my overdue tasks” |
| Requests | “Show request 762,” “List my in-progress requests” |
| Search | “Find processes about onboarding,” “Search forms about leave” |
| Reports | “Run the monthly summary report” |
| File analysis | “Read the term sheet attachment on request 762” |
File-analysis capability (PDFs, images) varies by model. If a user asks the assistant to read a file type the selected model doesn’t support, the assistant tells the user to ask their administrator to switch models.
The following image shows a task response.
Using chat controls and tool-call details
While the Workflow Assistant is generating a response, use the stop control to end the response immediately. This is useful when the assistant is answering the wrong question, taking an approach you don’t need, or producing a response you no longer want.
Use Clear to reset the chat view and abort any in-flight request. This stops the active response instead of only clearing what appears on screen.
When the assistant uses tools to answer a question, Tool calls appear in the chat. Expand a tool call to review the parameters sent and the payload returned. Repeated calls to the same tool are grouped together so multi-step responses remain highly digestible.
What the Workflow Assistant can’t do yet
The current release has these limits:
- It can’t create, edit, or delete workflow records.
- It can’t approve, reject, or otherwise transition tasks on the user’s behalf.
- It can’t return data that the calling user isn’t permitted to see in the UI. Every assistant action runs in the user’s security context.
Enabling the Workflow Assistant for your tenant
The Workflow Assistant is in beta and is available only if your license includes the Workflow Assistant module. To add the Workflow Assistant module to your license, contact Nutrient Support(opens in a new tab).
After your license includes the Workflow Assistant module, configure the AI source that the assistant should use and grant access to the users or teams that need it. Until you configure an AI source, the assistant tells users to contact their administrator.
Managing Workflow Assistant permissions
Administrators can control access to the Workflow Assistant through the standard permission model, consistent with other secured objects in Workflow Automation. Grant access only to the roles, users, or groups that should use the assistant.
A separate Choose AI Source permission controls whether a user can select which AI Source the assistant uses. Users without this permission can use the assistant only with the configured source available to them.
Use these permissions to roll out the Workflow Assistant to specific teams while keeping AI usage centrally governed.
Selecting the Workflow Assistant AI source
The Workflow Assistant uses an AI connection that you control, just like other AI features in Workflow Automation. Use the dedicated setting to choose the connection.
Before you start, make sure you’ve set up at least one AI connection. If you haven’t, refer to the common AI configurations guide.
- Open Settings → System Config.
- Locate the AssistantAISource row. This row is visible only when your license includes the Workflow Assistant module.
- Select the AI connection that you want the Workflow Assistant to use.
- Save your changes.
The following image shows the AssistantAISource setting.
Troubleshooting
If the Workflow Assistant doesn’t behave as expected, use the following table to identify the cause and next step.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The Workflow Assistant icon doesn’t appear in the portal | Your license doesn’t include the Workflow Assistant module, or the user doesn’t have permission to access the assistant | Contact Nutrient Support(opens in a new tab) to add the module to your license, or ask an administrator to review the user’s Workflow Assistant permissions |
| AssistantAISource row is missing from System Config | Your license doesn’t include the Workflow Assistant module | The row is shown only when your license includes the Workflow Assistant module. Contact Nutrient Support(opens in a new tab) if you expect it to be available |
| Assistant replies “no AI source configured” | The assistant is enabled, but no AI connection has been selected as the source | In Settings → System Config, select an AI connection as AssistantAISource |
| Assistant says it can’t read an attached file | The selected AI model doesn’t support that file type | Select a model that supports the file type as the assistant source |