Section 16 · Management Intelligence — Ask the Business Questions
16.1Ask DMA data in plain English
Built in the POC- No.
- 16.1
- DMA's reference
- Decision Book p.30
- Phase
- Phase 3
- Autonomy
- L1 · Recommend
- DMA's decision
- Yes
◆ Amended in v3 of the book.
What DMA asked for · Decision Book p.30
Let DMA ask its data questions in plain English, for example "show me every PPC opportunity over $20,000 a month not contacted in 7 days".
Why it matters to DMA: Management gets answers without a report request; DMA's amendment approves it as part of management intelligence.
In our words, from DMA's Product Decision Book v3, page 30.
How we do it
- DMA's book schedules this for Phase 3; the POC already has it in the team workspace (LibreChat, branded DMA AI), for the questions its tools cover.
- The workspace assistant answers through narrow, read-only tools, never raw database access: search accounts by tier, service, owner, status or country; the money list of dormant opportunities; an account brief; an account's timeline; a past conversation; a score and its reasons.
- Numbers in the answer are copied from the tools (which compute them in code); the assistant is told never to recalculate them. Every call is logged with its cost.
- Questions the tools can't answer yet (such as a value threshold combined with "not contacted in 7 days") get an honest "I can't filter on that yet"; Phase 3 adds those filters.
The flow
It plays on its own while it's on screen; hover or use the controls to pause or step through.
A question
"Brief me on Northside Dental."
- Person
- AI
- Rule in code
- Stored data
- Screen
Where the data goes
The same six stages on every page. Nothing reaches Nutshell except through the write gate.
- 1Team workspace
Source
A question typed by someone at DMA.
- 2Sync
Copies Nutshell changes into the bridge database
Keeps the data the tools read current.
- 3Bridge database
A copy of the CRM data, plus what the AI works out
The accounts, scores, timelines and conversations the tools read.
- 4AI
Claude models, only through DMA's own gateway
Chooses the tool and writes the answer; numbers come from the tool.
- 5Write gate
The only way back into Nutshell: checked, approved when needed, sent once
Not involved: these tools only read.
- 6Nutshell
The system of record
Unchanged.
The tables behind it
Drawn from the POC's database catalogue: structure only, no data.
PK primary keyFK reference the database enforces (solid line)ID reference kept by id (dashed line)
| Table | What it holds | Columns |
|---|---|---|
| agent.mcp_tools | Every tool an AI worker may call, with its risk and the lowest autonomy level it needs. | 13 |
| agent.tool_grants | Which AI worker may use which tool. | 5 |
| ai.account_twin | The account profile the brief is built from. | 16 |
| ops.llm_calls | Every AI call: who asked, model, tokens, cost. | 37 |
How the tables connect (8)
| Column | Points to | Kept by |
|---|---|---|
| agent.mcp_tools.server_key | agent.mcp_servers | The database (foreign key) |
| agent.tool_grants.agent_version_id | agent.agent_versions | The database (foreign key) |
| agent.tool_grants.tool_id | agent.mcp_tools | The database (foreign key) |
| ai.account_twin.prompt_id | agent.prompts | The application (by id) |
| ops.llm_calls.agent_version_id | agent.agent_versions | The application (by id) |
| ops.llm_calls.run_id | agent.runs | The application (by id) |
| ops.llm_calls.conversation_id | conv.conversations | The application (by id) |
| ops.llm_calls.decision_id | ctrl.decision_log | The application (by id) |
Worked example
Synthetic demo data: every name, business and number is made up.
One question in the team workspace
What you see
1.The question
Someone at DMA types a plain question.
What happens in the system
- AI agent
workspace-assistantThe workspace assistant reads the question; its instructions are a versioned, approved prompt.
Questions the workspace answers today, and the tool behind each (synthetic demo data).
Questions and tools
| Question | Tool it uses |
|---|---|
| Brief me on Northside Dental | Account brief |
| Top 10 revivable deals today | Dormant opportunities (money list) |
| Which tier-A accounts in legal does Sean own? | Search accounts |
| What happened with Harbor & Finch last year? | Account timeline |
In the running POC
The team workspace (DMA AI): a plain-English question and the brief it returns.
- 1The question, as typed.
- 2The answer, built from the account's data.
Team workspace (LibreChat, branded DMA AI) · account brief. Captured from the running POC on September 25, 2026; synthetic data.
Status
Built in the POC. This capability runs in the POC today, on synthetic data, end to end.