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What this does

The Alpha panel is where you talk to Alpha. You can type, dictate, or hold a spoken conversation. Alpha answers questions and shows tables and charts. When it wants to change something, it shows a card and waits for you to confirm. Your past chats are saved so you can pick them up again.

Before you start

  • Alpha must be turned on for your company. Any role can chat: technicians and admins.
  • Alpha can only change things an admin has allowed on the Permissions page. If an action is Off, Alpha will only read and answer.
  • Spoken conversations need the Alpha Voice add-on and a microphone. Dictation (speech to text) can work without the add-on. An admin can switch either one off in Alpha > Settings > Chat and voice.

Start a chat

  1. Click Ask Alpha (the wolf icon) in the top bar.
  2. The Alpha panel opens with “Hi, I’m Alpha.”
  3. Click a starter prompt, or type your own question in the Ask Alpha box.
  4. Press Enter or click Send. Press Shift+Enter to add a new line without sending.
The starter prompts are:
  • What can you do?
  • What’s set up on my tenant?
  • How do I set up Schedule Assist?
  • Show recent Alpha activity

While Alpha works

Your messages are labelled You and the replies Alpha. While Alpha looks things up, small lines appear above its reply that show what it is doing, for example “Saving the report…”. When the same step repeats, you’ll see a count such as “×3”. Sometimes Alpha gives you buttons to choose from. Click one to answer. Sometimes it gives you a link button that takes you to the right page in MSP Process.

Confirm or cancel a change

When an action is set to Ask first, Alpha shows a Confirm this action card before it changes anything. The card lists what will change, for example Ticket, Status, Hours worked or Internal note.
  1. Read the details on the card.
  2. Click Confirm to make the change. The button shows Confirming… while it runs.
  3. Or click Cancel to stop. Nothing is changed.
Some cards also show “Will be created switched off” (the new item starts disabled), a list of recipients, or a Review link.
Confirmations expire. If you wait too long, you’ll see “This confirmation has expired. Ask Alpha again.”

Open an earlier chat

  1. In the Alpha panel, click Show chat history.
  2. Chats are grouped under Today, Yesterday and Earlier.
  3. Click a chat to open it. You’ll see “Opening chat…” for a moment.
  4. To start fresh, click New chat.
  5. Click Hide chat history to close the list.

Dictate a message

  1. Click the microphone button (Dictate a message) next to the message box.
  2. Allow microphone access if your browser asks.
  3. Speak. The button shows Stop recording with a seconds counter.
  4. Click it again to stop. Your words appear in the message box.
  5. Check the text, then click Send.

Talk to Alpha (voice)

  1. Click the waveform button (Talk to Alpha) next to the message box.
  2. Allow microphone access if your browser asks.
  3. Wait until the status changes from Connecting to Listening.
  4. Speak normally. The status shows Thinking and then Speaking as Alpha answers.
  5. Click Mute microphone to pause listening. While muted you’ll see “Muted - voice ends after a few quiet minutes”.
  6. Click Transcript to see what was said.
  7. Click Close voice when you’re done.
If Alpha needs you to confirm a change during a voice chat, it says “Alpha needs your confirmation”. Confirm the card on screen. Messages sent by voice show a via voice badge in the chat.

Troubleshooting

Voice and dictation problems

FAQ

Can Alpha change things without asking?

Only if an admin sets that action to Automatic on the Permissions page. Some actions always ask first, whatever the setting.

Will Alpha ever ask for my password?

No. Alpha’s question cards say so: “Alpha never asks for passwords or codes.”

Can I make Alpha faster or more thorough?

An admin can set the Typed chat speed to Fast, Balanced or Thorough in Alpha > Settings > Chat and voice.