AI Assistance

Use AI Copilot in the Plan view

AI Copilot is integrated into Appian Composer's Plan view to help you translate business needs into actionable application requirements and optimize your planning process. It provides real-time assistance as you work, helping you gather requirements faster, improve team collaboration, and reduce errors by ensuring requirements are clear and actionable. This page explains where AI Copilot is available in Composer, how to use it effectively, and best practices for getting the most accurate suggestions.

AI Copilot availability in Composer

AI Copilot is available in specific areas of Composer with different capabilities depending on the tab you're working in.

Tab	AI Copilot Capabilities
Requirements	Translate your descriptions into actionable activities and application requirements. Suggest missing functionality for your application. Request automation suggestions for existing activities. Add notes and details to existing user actions and activities.
Personas	Recommend personas based on defined actions and requirements. Update persona details with goals, tasks, frustrations, and responsibilities. Suggest missing personas for specific application types.
Screens	Enable or disable screen components using the side panel controls. Replace visible data with new sample data to reflect more realistic scenarios. Update field labels and mappings for existing components. Add new screens based on requirements and personas. Add fields to optimize screens for specific personas. Limitations: AI Copilot cannot rearrange layouts. For visual layout changes, use the manual controls in the configuration panel.
Business Rules	Edit existing rules for clarity and additional conditions. Identify missing business rules for validation processes.

Understanding AI-generated suggestions and recommendations

As you work within the Plan view, AI Copilot can analyze the requirements provided by your team and generates intelligent suggestions and recommendations if you ask for them. These suggestions can help refine the overall structure of your application by translating business requirements into Appian elements and identifying opportunities for optimization.

AI Copilot's suggestions are designed to:

• Clarify ambiguous requirements: If a business requirement is too vague or open-ended, AI Copilot may suggest ways to refine it for better clarity, ensuring you have actionable details to work with.
• Propose alternative solutions: AI Copilot may recommend alternative approaches based on best practices or industry standards, giving you options to consider that you might not have thought of.
• Highlight potential gaps: If asked, AI Copilot can detect missing pieces in your design, such as incomplete requirements or unaccounted-for personas, helping to ensure that nothing is overlooked during the planning phase.
• Provide technical recommendations: For more complex scenarios, AI Copilot can offer suggestions on the best Appian features or components to use, helping you choose the most efficient and scalable solutions.

You always have the final say, so you can choose to accept, modify, or dismiss AI Copilot's suggestions based on your application's unique needs.

Generate and refine the application plan using AI Copilot

Follow these steps to generate an application plan or refine the existing plan using AI Copilot:

1. Click AI Copilot in the Plan view to open the AI Copilot panel.

2. Enter your requirements: You can manually type your business needs into the chat field or copy and paste them from another source.

3. Once your business needs are entered, click the paper plane button .
   Result: AI Copilot will analyze what you entered and automatically generate an application plan based on your business needs.

4. Review AI Copilot's suggestions. You can accept, modify, or further refine these suggestions to ensure they align with your application's goals.

How to fine-tune AI Copilot's recommendations

AI Copilot in the Plan view provides powerful, intelligent suggestions, but it's important to remember that these are starting points—not final solutions. To ensure that AI-generated suggestions align with your vision and goals, you'll need to refine and adjust them. Here are some tips to help you iterate on AI-generated suggestions effectively:

• Review suggestions with your end goal in mind: Compare AI Copilot's suggestions against your overall objectives. Ensure that each suggestion aligns with the vision you and your team have defined. If a recommendation doesn't quite fit, consider how you can adjust it to better meet your needs, or remove it completely.

• Incorporate feedback from stakeholders: Share AI-generated application plans with key stakeholders, including business users and developers, to gather their input. This collaborative feedback ensures that your application is not only technically feasible but also aligned with business requirements and user expectations.

• Use AI Copilot suggestions as a brainstorming tool: If AI Copilot's suggestions aren't perfect for your current needs, it can still serve as a creative spark. Use the suggestions as a springboard to explore new ideas or solutions that you might not have considered otherwise.

• Test and iterate: Once you've refined your application plan, apply it in small stages, test how it works in practice, and gather feedback. Use this iterative approach to fine-tune the application plan as you progress, ensuring the end result is aligned with both technical feasibility and business vision.

By treating AI Copilot's suggestions as a flexible starting point, and applying these strategies, you can ensure that your final application plan perfectly reflects your team's goals.

Common use cases

Below are examples of how AI Copilot can be used effectively, along with best practices for getting the most out of this assistant.

• Automating repetitive tasks: AI Copilot can identify repetitive tasks within your application that you can automate improving efficiency. For example, you can ask, "What steps in this application can I automate?". AI Copilot will analyze your application and suggest areas for automation, saving you time and streamlining processes.

• Suggesting new features: AI Copilot can help generate ideas for new steps or actions based on your current application plan. Ask, "Can you suggest more actions users might take before the review step?" to quickly brainstorm additional functionality.

• Editing your application plan: Use AI Copilot to refine your application plan. For instance, you can say, "Can you add a review step to the end of the process?", and AI Copilot will update your application plan's requirements and personas accordingly.

• Answering application questions: AI Copilot can quickly respond to questions about your application. For example, you might ask, "What is this application's purpose?" to get instant insights about your plan.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Over-reliance on AI suggestions: Relying too heavily on AI Copilot's recommendations without critically reviewing them can result in application plans that don't fully meet your project's specific needs or goals. Always review AI-generated suggestions and refine them to align with your unique business and technical requirements. Think of AI Copilot as a tool to assist, not replace, your expertise.

• Lack of team communication: Not communicating with your team about AI Copilot's changes or suggestions can lead to confusion or conflicting updates to the application plan. Regularly discuss AI Copilot's suggestions with your team and ensure everyone is aligned on the proposed changes before finalizing them.

• Unclear instructions: Providing vague or unclear instructions to AI Copilot can lead to irrelevant or incorrect suggestions. Be very specific and detailed when asking AI Copilot for help. Clear input leads to more accurate and useful recommendations.

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