Ask Yarken — FAQs & Troubleshooting

Use this page for common Ask Yarken questions and troubleshooting.

Ask Yarken is Yarken's AI assistant for technology finance. It helps users analyze spend, budgets, forecasts, cloud costs, contracts, vendors, applications, cost centers, entities, operational drivers, and approved Knowledge Base documents using natural language.

General questions

Q: What is Ask Yarken?

A: Ask Yarken lets users ask questions about governed Yarken data and receive structured answers, charts, recommendations, source-backed document answers, and supporting analysis.

Results depend on available data, available Knowledge Base documents, and the user's permissions.

Q: Who should use Ask Yarken?

A: Ask Yarken is designed for:

• CIOs and CFOs.

• FinOps teams.

• TBM practitioners.

• IT Finance teams.

• Technology leaders.

• Business stakeholders responsible for technology spend.

Q: What can Ask Yarken analyze?

A: Ask Yarken can support:

Q: Can Ask Yarken retrieve linked Contracts, Purchase Orders, and Invoices?

A: Yes. Ask Yarken can retrieve information from Contracts, Purchase Orders, and Invoices available in Yarken and use the relationships between those records when answering your question.

For example, if a Purchase Order is linked to a Contract and an Invoice is linked to the Purchase Order, Ask Yarken can return the related records as part of the same analysis.

Q: Can Ask Yarken retrieve the Vendor associated with a Contract?

A: Yes. When the relevant Vendor and Contract data is available, Ask Yarken can include Vendor information together with Contract, Purchase Order, and Invoice details.

Q: Can Ask Yarken use published Contract information?

A: Yes, where published Contract content is available. Ask Yarken can use that information when additional Contract context is required beyond the structured Contract record.

Q: Can Ask Yarken retrieve Audit Log information?

A: Yes. Ask Yarken can retrieve available Audit Log entries and use them to answer questions about recent changes and activity recorded in Yarken.

For example, you can ask about recent Upload Rule changes and request what changed, who made the change, and when it occurred.

Q: Who can query Audit Logs through Ask Yarken?

A: Audit Log queries through Ask Yarken are available only to Admin and Cost Model Manager users.

Q: Can Ask Yarken make changes from an Audit Log query?

A: No. Audit Log access through Ask Yarken is read-only. Ask Yarken can retrieve and summarize recorded activity, but it cannot modify Audit Log entries or perform the actions described in those entries.

Access and prerequisites

Q: What must be in place before users can access Ask Yarken?

A: Confirm that:

1. Ask Yarken is included in the customer's license.

2. Ask Yarken is enabled in Admin > Settings > AI > Ask Yarken.

3. The user has the required role and platform access.

4. The user has access to the relevant entity, account, and cost center data.

5. Financial, cloud, vendor, Accounts Payable, and master data is loaded where the question requires Yarken data. For linked Contract analysis, confirm the relevant Contracts, Purchase Orders, and Invoices are available and linked where required.

6. Cost allocation mappings are configured where required.

7. The Knowledge Base dimensions index is current when users ask about named Yarken values.

8. Relevant AI Studio Knowledge Base documents are uploaded, processed, and indexed when users ask about uploaded reference material.

Q: Does Ask Yarken respect permissions?

A: Yes. Ask Yarken respects Yarken security controls.

Users only see data they are authorized to access. Access can be controlled through roles, entities, accounts, cost centers, and organizational policies.

Shared conversations do not bypass permissions.

Using Ask Yarken

Q: How do I open Ask Yarken?

A: To open Ask Yarken:

1. Open Yarken.

2. Select Ask Yarken from the top navigation bar.

3. Enter a question in the chat box.

4. Send the question.

Ask Yarken opens in sidebar view by default. Use full-screen view for longer analysis, previous conversations, and shared threads.

Q: How do I write a good Ask Yarken question?

A: A strong question usually includes:

Example:

Compare actual cloud spend against budget for this quarter by provider and identify the largest variance drivers.

For document-based questions, name the guide, process, policy, or topic you want Ask Yarken to use.

Example:

Explain the contract extraction publishing workflow from the Contract Extraction User Guide.

Q: Can I attach a file directly to Ask Yarken?

A: Yes, when file attachments are enabled by your administrator. Ask Yarken supports PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, image, and text files as conversation attachments.

Q: Is attaching a file the same as uploading it to Knowledge Base?

A: No.

A file attached to an Ask Yarken message is used as context for the conversation. Documents uploaded to Admin > AI Studio > Knowledge > Knowledge Base are managed separately as approved reference material that can be processed and indexed for governed document search.

Q: What limits apply to Ask Yarken attachments?

A: Attachment limits are configured under Admin > Settings > AI > Ask Yarken. Default limits are 20 MB per file, 5 files per message, 100 pages per PDF, 200,000 spreadsheet rows, and 90-day file retention.

Q: What happens to an attached file after the retention period?

A: After the configured retention period, the uploaded file is deleted. Its file name and summary remain in the conversation. Administrators can set Attachments: keep files for (days) to 0 to keep files for as long as the conversation exists.

Q: Can Ask Yarken answer questions from uploaded documents?

A: Yes. When documents are uploaded, processed, and indexed in Admin > AI Studio > Knowledge > Knowledge Base, Ask Yarken can use those documents as context for answers.

Ask Yarken can search both curated pages and the full source text. This helps it answer questions about approved user guides, SOPs, policies, standards, taxonomies, metric glossaries, product guides, and similar reference material.

Example questions include:

• Explain the contract extraction workflow step by step.

• Why am I unable to publish a contract, and what is the workaround?

• What are the prerequisites before publishing a contract?

• Summarize the payment terms section from the uploaded guide.

When source support is available, responses include references back to the relevant Knowledge Base material.

Q: Can I ask follow-up questions?

A: Yes. Ask Yarken keeps context within a conversation thread.

Examples:

• Break that down by cost center.

• Show the same view for last quarter.

• Which vendors contributed most?

• Create a chart for that trend.

• Recommend actions for the top variance.

• Show the workaround for the second publishing issue.

Start a new chat when changing topics.

Q: Can I ask follow-up questions about a dashboard chart?

A: Yes. Select the Ask Yarken icon on a supported chart or widget. Ask Yarken opens with the selected dashboard and widget as the starting context.

You can then ask follow-up questions, explore trends, compare reporting periods or dimensions, investigate other supported widgets on the same dashboard, adjust supported dashboard filters, and generate supported visualizations from the retrieved data.

For example, if Expense Type is currently set to OpEx, you can ask Ask Yarken to compare the results with CapEx.

Q: Can Ask Yarken change the filters used for a chart analysis?

A: Yes. The active dashboard filters provide the starting context, but you can ask Ask Yarken to change supported filters during the conversation.

For example, you can ask:

• Filter to CapEx and show Cost Pools.

• Show the same data for the previous year.

• Filter to a specific Entity.

Ask Yarken applies the requested filter and re-queries the data within the current dashboard context.

Q: Can Graph Explanation Copilot analyze data from another dashboard?

A: No. Graph Explanation Copilot is scoped to the dashboard where the conversation started.

It can query supported widgets and adjust supported filters within that dashboard, but it cannot combine the current dashboard with other dashboards or unrelated data sources in the same contextual conversation.

To investigate another dashboard, open that dashboard and start Ask Yarken from a supported chart or widget.

Q: Can I stop a response?

A: Yes. Select Stop while a response is running.

Use this when:

• The wrong question was submitted.

• The request needs to be reframed.

• The analysis is no longer relevant.

• The response is taking longer than needed.

Managing conversations

Q: What can users do with chat history?

A: In full-screen view, users can:

• Continue previous conversations.

• Start a new chat.

• Share a thread.

• Unshare a thread.

• Delete a thread.

Shared conversations remain governed by access controls.

AI settings

Q: What Ask Yarken settings are available?

A: Current Ask Yarken settings include:

Q: What is Organization Context?

A: Organization Context is optional admin-written guidance that Ask Yarken applies when answering questions.

Use it for short business context such as company goals, financial policies, reporting definitions, internal terminology, naming guidance, currency preferences, and answer style guidance.

It does not override governed data, financial year settings, permissions, or tool-backed results.

Q: What does Ask Yarken: Max conversation context control?

A: This setting controls how much of the current conversation Ask Yarken carries into each new question.

When the configured threshold is reached, Ask Yarken summarizes older messages to retain relevant context while allowing the conversation to continue.

Administrators can choose:

• 100k tokens · recommended — Uses the recommended conversation context.

• 150k tokens · keeps more earlier detail, higher cost — Retains more earlier conversation detail at a higher cost.

Instructions and tool definitions are included with every question and do not count toward this threshold.

For configuration instructions, see Ask Yarken (Admin Settings).

Q: What happens when an Ask Yarken conversation reaches the configured context threshold?

A: Ask Yarken summarizes older conversation messages so the discussion can continue while retaining relevant context.

The setting controls how much conversation history is carried into subsequent questions. It does not limit how much work a single question can perform.

Q: What is Search Lookup?

A: Search Lookup helps Ask Yarken resolve names from user questions to values in Yarken, such as vendors, applications, cost centers, accounts, teams, and consumers.

When multiple matches exist, administrators can choose whether Ask Yarken should:

• Ask the user to clarify.

• Choose the best match using the question and context.

Use clarification mode when reporting precision matters more than speed.

Knowledge Base

Q: Why do some pages describe Knowledge Base differently?

A: Knowledge Base has two location-specific meanings in Yarken.

Use the navigation path in the article or screen to confirm which Knowledge Base is being discussed.

Q: What is the Knowledge Base in Ask Yarken settings?

A: In Admin > Settings > AI > Knowledge Base, Knowledge Base refers to the dimensions index used by Ask Yarken to resolve names in user questions.

This settings page is not the AI Studio document repository. It helps Ask Yarken match user terms to the right values in Yarken data.

Q: When should admins refresh the Knowledge Base dimensions index?

A: Refresh the index whenever master data changes.

Examples:

• New vendors are added.

• Applications are renamed.

• New cost centers are created.

• Accounts are updated.

• Teams or consumers change.

To refresh:

1. Go to Admin > Settings > AI > Knowledge Base.

2. Select Refresh.

Use Clear only when a full rebuild is required. After clearing, select Refresh.

Q: What is the Knowledge Base in AI Studio?

A: In Admin > AI Studio > Knowledge > Knowledge Base, Knowledge Base is the document-based area for approved source material.

Admins can upload PDF, Markdown, plain text, and Word documents. Knowledge Base captures the full text, builds an index, creates curated pages, and makes the content available for Ask Yarken and configured agents to search and cite.

For setup details, see AI Studio - Knowledge Base.

Copilots

Q: What is Graph Explanation Copilot?

A: Graph Explanation Copilot provides a chart-based entry point into Ask Yarken.

When you select the Ask Yarken icon on a supported chart or widget, Yarken adds the selected dashboard and widget as the starting context. You can then ask follow-up questions, explore trends, compare periods, investigate other supported widgets on the same dashboard, and adjust supported filters.

The active dashboard filters provide the starting filter context. Ask Yarken can apply requested supported filter changes and re-query the data within the current dashboard.

Graph Explanation Copilot remains scoped to the current dashboard and cannot combine data from other dashboards or unrelated data sources in the same contextual conversation.

Q: How do admins configure Graph Explanation Copilot?

A: To configure Graph Explanation Copilot:

1. Go to Admin > AI Studio > Channels > Copilots.

2. Open the settings for Graph Explanation Copilot.

3. Enable or disable the Copilot and configure available context, if required.

4. Select Save.

The dashboard widget must also have Copilot enabled before users can use it on that widget.

Playbooks and SOPs

Q: What are Playbooks?

A: Playbooks hold SOPs that guide Ask Yarken through repeatable analysis workflows.

Use Playbooks for workflows such as:

• Variance analysis.

• Cloud spend reviews.

• Vendor reviews.

• Budget and forecast reporting.

• Financial root cause analysis.

Playbooks guide analysis. They do not override permissions, create data, or change source records.

Q: How do admins create an SOP?

A: To create an SOP:

1. Go to Admin > Settings > AI > Playbooks.

2. Open the Agent SOPs tab.

3. Select + Add New.

4. Enter ID, title, description, and instructions.

5. Select Save.

Strong SOPs define the data area, fields, filters, measures, calculation logic, output format, and caveats.

Troubleshooting

Ask Yarken is not appearing in the navigation bar

Cause: Ask Yarken may not be included in the license, Ask Yarken may be disabled, or the user may not have the required access.

Resolution:

1. Check licensing.

2. Confirm Enable Ask Yarken is turned on.

3. Verify the user's role and permissions.

4. Reload the application.

5. Contact support if the issue remains.

Ask Yarken cannot find a vendor, application, or cost center

Cause: The Knowledge Base dimensions index may be outdated.

Resolution:

1. Go to Admin > Settings > AI > Knowledge Base.

2. Select Refresh.

3. Test the question again.

4. If required, use Clear and then Refresh.

I cannot attach a file to Ask Yarken

Cause: File attachments may be disabled, or the file may exceed a configured attachment limit.

Resolution:

1. Confirm Allow file attachments is enabled under Admin > Settings > AI > Ask Yarken.

2. Check that the file is a supported file category.

3. Check the configured maximum file size.

4. For PDF files, confirm the page count is within the configured limit.

5. For Excel or CSV files, confirm the total spreadsheet row count is within the configured limit.

6. If you are attaching multiple files, confirm the number of files is within the configured per-message limit.

Ask Yarken cannot answer from an uploaded document

Cause: The document may not have been uploaded to AI Studio Knowledge Base, processing may still be running, the document may be archived, or the question may not clearly refer to the uploaded material.

Resolution:

1. Go to Admin > AI Studio > Knowledge > Knowledge Base.

2. Open Sources and confirm the document is active and marked Ready.

3. Check Pages to confirm curated pages were created where expected.

4. Check Needs review for unresolved conflicts.

5. Ask the question again with the document name, process name, or topic included.

6. If processing is still running, wait for indexing and publishing to complete.

Ask Yarken selects the wrong vendor, application, or account

Cause: The user term may match multiple values.

Resolution:

1. Review Search lookup: Ambiguous matches.

2. Use Prefer asking the user to clarify when precision matters.

3. Ask users to include more specific terms, such as "vendor ServiceNow" or "application ServiceNow".

4. Refresh the Knowledge Base dimensions index.

Ask Yarken does not return the related Purchase Order or Invoice

Cause: The related Accounts Payable records may not be loaded, may not be linked, or may not be available within your permitted data scope.

Resolution:

1. Confirm the Contract exists in Accounts Payable > Contracts.

2. Confirm the related Purchase Order exists and references the correct Contract.

3. Confirm the Invoice exists and is linked to the correct Purchase Order.

4. Confirm the related Vendor record is available.

5. Verify that you have permission to access the relevant data.

6. Ask the question again using the exact Contract, Purchase Order, or Invoice identifier.

Ask Yarken cannot retrieve Audit Log information

Cause: The user may not have the required role, or the requested activity may not be available in the current Audit Log records.

Resolution:

1. Confirm the user has the Admin or Cost Model Manager role.

2. Confirm the activity is available under Admin > Audit Logs.

3. Use a more specific question that names the feature or activity you want to review, such as Upload Rules.

4. Include a time reference such as most recent, today, or a specific date when useful.

5. Ask the question again.

Ask Yarken responses are incomplete or show no data

Cause: The user may not have access to the requested data, required source data may not be loaded, cost allocation mappings may be incomplete, the question may use a name that is not in the dimensions index, or the required document context may not be available in AI Studio Knowledge Base.

Resolution:

1. Verify entity, account, and cost center access.

2. Confirm the relevant financial, cloud, vendor, Contract, Purchase Order, Invoice, or other required source data is loaded and linked where applicable.

3. Review allocation mappings where applicable.

4. Refresh the Knowledge Base dimensions index.

5. Confirm any required AI Studio Knowledge Base documents are uploaded, processed, indexed, and active.

6. Ask a more specific question with a clear time period, dimension, document name, or topic.

Ask Yarken cannot retrieve data from another dashboard

Cause: Graph Explanation Copilot is scoped to the dashboard where the conversation started.

Resolution:

1. Open the dashboard that contains the required data.

2. Locate a supported chart or widget.

3. Select Ask Yarken.

4. Continue the analysis from the new dashboard context.

Ask Yarken results differ from Analytics reports

Cause: Filters, time periods, dimensions, SOP logic, source data timing, or document context may differ between Ask Yarken and the Analytics report.

Resolution:

1. Compare time period, filters, model, and entity selection.

2. Review the SOP instructions, if a Playbook is being used.

3. Check whether source data or mappings changed.

4. Check whether Ask Yarken used an uploaded Knowledge Base document as context.

5. Refresh or reload the relevant report view before comparing.

Graph Explanation Copilot is not appearing on a dashboard chart

Cause: Graph Explanation Copilot may be turned off globally, Copilot may not be enabled on the widget, or the chart type or widget configuration may not support the action.

Resolution:

1. Check Admin > AI Studio > Channels > Copilots.

2. Confirm Graph Explanation Copilot is turned on.

3. Check the dashboard widget configuration.

4. Confirm the user has access to the dashboard and underlying data.

SOP returns inconsistent answers

Cause: SOP instructions may be vague, unavailable fields may be referenced, multiple SOPs may apply, response structure may be undefined, or calculations may be unclear.

Resolution:

Related articles

• Ask Yarken

• Get started with Ask Yarken

• Ask better questions (scenario based examples)

• Use Ask Yarken for spend, variance, cloud, contracts, and planning analysis

• Configure Playbooks (SOPs) for Ask Yarken

• Manage Ask Yarken settings, Copilots, and Knowledge Base

• AI Studio - Knowledge Base

• Accounts Payable

• Audit Logs

• Ask Yarken (Admin Settings)