Write down definitions and rules

Get the rules that live in people’s heads written down where Querri reads them, so answers follow your business’s definitions instead of a reasonable guess.

Before you start

• Permissions: anyone who can open a column’s panel sees Attach a fact, and anyone who’s signed in can ask the Librarian to record a rule. Context Settings, where the Organization Glossary lives, is admin-only.
• Data you need: the tables your questions read from. The example uses the Curio Library in these docs.
• Credits this uses: attaching or editing a fact costs nothing. Each message to the Librarian uses a credit.

Steps

1. List what people keep explaining

Think about what a new analyst would get wrong in their first month. That’s your list. It usually includes:

• what counts as revenue, an active customer or a late shipment
• calculation rules, like net or gross, or which date a sale belongs to
• groupings, like which states make up a region
• your calendar, like when the fiscal year starts
• codes and units, like what status 3 means or whether an amount is in cents
• known problems, like a column that’s often blank

2. Decide where each one goes

Kind of rule	For example	Where it goes
A term the whole business uses	”Revenue means paid invoices, not invoices sent”	The Organization Glossary, plus a fact on the table revenue comes from
Your calendar	”Our fiscal year starts on February 1”	The Fiscal calendar in Settings → Customize
A grouping	”Northeast means New York, New Jersey and New England”	The Organization Glossary, or a fact on the region column
A rule about one view or table	”On-time delivery counts only delivered shipments matched to an SLA target”	A scope fact on that view
A code or unit	”Status 3 means cancelled”	A fact on that column
A known data problem	”customer_id is blank on a large share of in-store sales”	A data quality fact on that column
A number you track	Average deal size	A KPI’s measurement. See One number, one definition

Why not put the fiscal year in the glossary? The Fiscal calendar setting is what date filters such as Quarter to date and metrics measured by fiscal quarter or year actually follow. A sentence in the glossary only tells the AI. See Customize.

Why record revenue in both places? A fact applies only to what it’s attached to, and Querri takes it into account whenever it queries that table or builds a view from it. The glossary’s own note says it’s read everywhere, including the final answer.

Curio’s on-time delivery rate shows why the scope fact matters. Its view counts only delivered shipments matched to an SLA target. Without that fact, “our on-time rate” sounds like it covers every shipment.

3. Attach rules to your data

The quickest way is to ask the Librarian. Say what the rule is and what it’s about, such as “Record that shipments with no delivery date aren’t counted toward on-time delivery.” It records settled rules as facts straight away. Nobody has to approve a rule first, so read what it recorded.

Or attach the fact yourself, which is the only way to write one by hand:

1. Open the column’s panel.
2. Click Attach a fact.
3. Type the rule where it asks “What do you know about this column?”
4. Set % confident, which starts at 100.
5. Click Save.

A fact you attach is saved as a note. If it’s really a data quality, timing or scope rule, open it and change its kind. That saves straight away.

4. Set your fiscal calendar

If your year doesn’t start in January, or you count in 4-4-5 weeks, an admin sets it once in Settings → Customize, under Fiscal calendar: pick the month in Fiscal year starts in, and Fiscal periods (Calendar months, 4-4-5 weeks, 4-5-4 weeks or 5-4-4 weeks). Click Save Settings. See Customize.

5. Put business-wide terms in the glossary

An admin opens Settings, then Customize, where the page is titled Context Settings. Find Organization Glossary, write each term with its definition, and click Save Settings. The glossary holds up to 4,000 characters, and every saved change is recorded in Settings history.

Keep the glossary to terms. How answers should read, like leading with the number, belongs in Final Analysis Preferences instead. See Context settings.

6. Accept Worth remembering cards

Your Inbox offers Worth remembering cards, and accepting one records the fact it proposes. Read the statement and its Evidence first. If it’s wrong, click Not useful and say why.

Accepting any other card records a fact too, with the reasoning behind it.

7. Review what’s been recorded

Facts from chat and from accepted cards go straight in, so read them now and then. The Facts & Rules tab lists every fact. Open one to see its full statement, its confidence and what it’s About. Click the statement to fix it, or change its kind.

8. Use the history when a definition changes

Every change to a rule, a metric or a view is kept as a numbered version, with who made it, when and why. Open the item and expand History to see them. Compare shows what changed between two versions, and Restore brings an old one back as a new version without losing anything.

If your organization has turned on Require approval for definition changes, a change to a view or metric is marked Pending approval and an Approval needed card goes to the Inbox until someone else approves it. The change is already in effect while it waits. Rules aren’t marked this way. See Definition versions and approval.

Check your work

• Every rule on your list is a fact under Facts attached on the right view, table or column, or a term in the Organization Glossary.
• Each fact reads as a rule someone else could follow without asking you.
• Facts the Librarian recorded say what you meant.
• An answer that depends on a rule follows it when you open Show the query. Answers don’t list the facts they used, so check. See Check an answer before you share it.

Troubleshooting

The fact wasn’t saved. You’ll see “Couldn’t attach the fact”, and your text comes back so you can try again.

Save Settings is turned off. A box is over its limit and shows “Character limit exceeded”. Trim it, and the button comes back.

An answer ignored a rule. A fact applies only to what it’s attached to. Check which table the answer read in its route row, and attach the rule there.

The Librarian recorded a rule wrong. Open the fact on the Facts & Rules tab and click its statement to correct it, or restore an earlier version from its History.

A number moved after someone changed a definition. Open the metric or view’s History and Compare the last two versions. See Definition versions and approval.

You can’t open Context Settings. It’s admin-only. Ask an admin to add the term, and attach it as a fact in the meantime.

Next steps

• Facts & Rules: what a fact is and how Querri uses it.
• Context settings: every instruction box, glossary included.
• One number, one definition: settle a number people disagree on.
• Definition versions and approval: history, restore and sign-off for definitions.
• Clean up messy data: fix a data problem and record the rule.