Blog

Can an AI assistant build a Fishbowl BI Report?

Israel LopezOctober 19, 20263 min

Fishbowl’s BI Report module is where CloudPages started. A BI Report is a web page that runs inside Fishbowl, and seeing what those pages could do is what got us building CloudPages, which go further with printing, scanning and tools. Fishbowl ships the BI Report module itself, so there’s no plugin to install. For teams that want to keep it that way, ILC MCP lets an AI assistant build BI Reports too.

How it works

1You describe the reportOpen orders by customer2Drafts it like a CloudPageReport only3Previews it on your data✓ 0 problems4Asks before it installs“Install it?” · Yes5Opens in BI ReportBI Report module · v1
A BI Report is built the same way as a CloudPage report and installed into Fishbowl's BI Report module.
  1. You describe the report. For example, “open orders by customer, with the order count and value.”
  2. The AI drafts it the same way it drafts a CloudPage report: the query, the columns and the choices at the top of the report.
  3. You preview it on your data. The preview reads your Fishbowl data and can’t change it. If the preview reports a problem, the AI reads it and fixes it.
  4. The AI asks before it installs. Drafting and installing are separate permissions.
  5. It opens in the BI Report module. Each BI Report needs its own name. You choose which groups can see it in Fishbowl, the same way you do for any BI Report.

Changing a report

Add each customer's next ship date. BI Report Inventory ValueOpen Orders by CustomerSales SummaryVendor Spend Open Orders by Customer CUSTOMERORDERSVALUE NEXT SHIP Acme Supply3$8,420 Bayside Marine2$5,180 Cedar Labs4$11,060 Delta Tools1$2,975 Oct 24Oct 27Oct 22Nov 3 VERSIONS v1 → v2 Next ship date added ↺ Roll back to v1 Who can see it: Sales, Customer Service · unchanged
A change to a BI Report is saved as a new version, and the groups that can see it stay the same.

Ask for a change and the AI opens the installed report, makes the change and previews it again. It edits the report you have rather than building a new one. Installing the change saves a new version, and the groups that could see the report still can. If the new version is wrong, the AI can roll back to an earlier one.

The AI can remove a BI Report too. It tells you which report it matched and waits for your yes. The report is saved to its history first, so it can be put back.

Limits today

  • BI Reports are reports. They can’t print documents or labels, or save files. Those are CloudPages or Jasper reports.
  • The preview runs in your browser. Open the report in Fishbowl after it’s installed to check it there.

Building BI Reports is part of the Custom reports add-on for ILC MCP, for teams that need it.

BI Report or CloudPage?

If your team only needs reports on screen and you’d rather not install anything in Fishbowl, use BI Reports. If you want printed documents, labels or a page that does more, use CloudPages. Your AI assistant builds both the same way.

If there’s a report your team has been waiting on, tell us what it should show.

Related: