The Stages Assistant is an AI-enabled chatbot that can answer a variety of questions about the processes managed in Stages.

To access the Stages Assistant, click the icon in the top right corner from anywhere in Stages.

The Assistant opens on the right side of the process content.

Use the dialog box at the bottom of the screen to ask your questions.

The Assistant is trained to answer both initial questions and subsequent follow-up questions in the same context. If the follow-up questions address a completely different topic, use the New Topic button to start a new conversation with a new context.

The Assistant keeps a personalized history of your most recent conversations. To see the history, use the Settings menu (three dots) in the top right corner.

The answers include footnotes (grey boxes) with clickable links to the process content the Assistant used to create its response. Use the links to access the original and complete information and easily verify the correctness of the answers.

At the end of each answer, the Assistant lists all its sources as well as useful links to downloads and other information.

The Stages Assistant is trained on different process views. A view typically contains processes for a specific scope, such as:

• Standard processes that everyone should follow
• A specific process variant, such as a development process for products that are safety critical (with a separate view for the development process for non-critical products)
• A process tailored for a specific program or project

A view can span one or multiple workspaces, and can use a specific color scheme for easier recognition.

You might have access to one or multiple views. Choose the view that best fits your needs and context for your questions.

The Assistant keeps a personalized history of your most recent conversations. To see the history, use the Settings menu (three dots) in the top right corner, then select History.

You can customize characteristics of the Assistant's responses, for example, the amount of detail, by choosing a different “personality”. Use the Settings menu (three dots) in the top right corner, and the Settings tab to select a personality from the available list:

Details around the personalities can be adjusted and other personalities can be added upon request.

To improve answer quality, keep conversations in context of a single topic. To change the context, use the New Topic button to start a new conversation.

Use the references and links provided in the answers to verify the information and its completeness.

Here are some sample questions:

• Where is the project plan template?
• Which verification and validation steps must be performed before product release?
• How to do I report a bug?
• What is a safety case?
• Explain TARA
• Describe the process to create a new project manual
• What should I do for a project kickoff?
• What is a good agenda for a project kickoff meeting?
• Provide a summary about nominal software requirements for a non-technical person

The Stages Assistant is trained to answer questions about all process content contained in the selected view.

However, due to limitations in the context window of the AI system used for training, the Assistant cannot answer questions that require knowledge of the entire process model (such as “List all work products of all processes”).

A more detailed explanation about the current limits of the Assistant can be found here.