AI-generated insights in reports#

Reportworq can attach AI-authored narrative to a report so recipients get a written explanation alongside the numbers, with no manual writing or copy-paste. There are two mechanisms, and this page covers both:

• Distribution-time insights, an AI Insight variable produced on the Distribution step and embedded into the delivered output.
• In-workbook insights, the RWAIINSIGHT worksheet function, which writes narrative into the workbook during report generation.

Both call an enabled AI provider, so both require an AI provider connection first.

RWAIINSIGHT is the generative-AI function#

RWAIINSIGHT (canonical name RW.Tools.AIInsight) is the one generative-AI worksheet function. Do not confuse it with the Workday Adaptive AI* functions (AIEXTRACT, AITIER, AIINPUT, and the rest). Those are a data connector; their AI prefix stands for Adaptive, and they have nothing to do with generative AI or large language models. For that distinction and the full Adaptive catalog, see Workday Adaptive functions.

Option A: distribution-time AI insights#

Use this when the narrative belongs in the delivery, in the body of an email, Slack, or Teams message, and should be personalized per burst. The AI Insight variable is offered only in the message body, not in a subject line, an address field, or an output file name.

When to use it. A burst that sends each department its own P&L can attach a per-department variance commentary to each recipient's email, driven from the same parameters that drive the burst.

Before you start#

• At least one enabled AI provider connection. The AI Generated Insights section is hidden if no connection exists.
• A distribution field that accepts variable tokens (for example, the email message body) to embed the insight into.

Steps#

1. On the Job Editor's Distribution step, open the AI Generated Insights section.
2. Choose Add to create a named prompt. Names must be unique; prompts show as a tab strip you can rename or delete.
3. Set the AI Model to one of your enabled connections. Selecting a model applies that provider's default max tokens to the prompt.
4. Open Settings to set Max Tokens (minimum 10, maximum 1,000,000, default 2048) and, optionally, Include AI-Generated Footer, which appends a note that the content was AI-generated and names the model.
5. Write the prompt body. It accepts free text and Reportworq variable tokens, so it can reference parameter and job values, for example, "Summarize the largest month-over-month P&L variances for {{Department}}." Images are not allowed.
6. Insert the prompt as an AI Insight variable into a variable-aware field, such as the email body. At delivery time the prompt runs and its generated narrative is embedded there.

An AI Insight is embedded narrative, surfaced in Run History's per-output AI Insights section. It is not a standalone output file.

Option B: in-workbook insights with RWAIINSIGHT#

Use this when the narrative belongs inside the workbook, for example, a commentary box that flows into a PowerPoint or PDF output.

RWAIINSIGHT sends a prompt, optionally with a data range, to a configured provider during report generation and writes the response into a named Excel TextBox or a target cell. It runs after data import, sorting, and suppression, so the model sees the fully expanded dataset.

Arguments:

Example: RW.Tools.AIInsight("OpenAI", "CommentaryBox", "Provide a one-paragraph executive summary of the month's P&L variances.", A1:C20, 500) sends the range as a table and writes the narrative into a TextBox named CommentaryBox.

On success the formula cell is set to an empty string. If the provider is not found or disabled, or the provider returns an error, the cell shows #VALUE!.

Notes and limits#

• Both mechanisms need an enabled AI provider connection; token limits are ultimately bounded by the provider.
• Distribution-time insights and RWAIINSIGHT are separate paths. Distribution insights embed into the delivery message and fields; RWAIINSIGHT writes into the workbook itself.
• The AI Insight variable cannot be nested inside another prompt body.

Going deeper. For where AI insights sit among the other delivery formats, see Output formats.