More About Assist

what Assist can do

Assist can answer questions about your project's RFIs, Submittals, Drawings, Specifications, and Documents. It can also answer questions about how to do something in Procore based on information from Procore's support site.

To learn more about what kinds of questions Assist can answer, and what information it can reference in your project to provide answers, see What can I ask Assist?

how it works

Assist is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, and its foundation is a Large Language Model (LLM). It is capable of reading a question asked in natural language, like the kind of question you might ask a coworker. It references certain information to respond using natural language, but a lot happens in between asking your question and receiving Assist's response. Here is how Assist works behind the scenes:

1. First, you ask a question in natural language. As opposed to the search engine technology we're used to, Assist responds much better to questions asked using full sentences, instead of just a few keywords. It needs your full thought written out to interpret the intent of what you're asking, just like a person might. It then takes your natural language question, and converts it into a sequence of numerical values on a kind of map, called vectors.
2. Next, Assist determines the intent of your question. When we talk about interpreting intent, we mean that Assist is deciding which "skill", or database, to access to find the right information to answer your question. If your intent is to find out how to do something in Procore, Assist sends your query in mathematical form over to the skill that addresses all questions about how to use Procore. The skill looks at the numerical values from your question, and finds the closest values present in the database to determine which information should be used to answer your question.
3. Then, information is sent from the service back to Assist.  When Assist receives the information from the relevant skill, still in numerical format, it collects it and translates it back to natural language. Finally, Assist presents the answer to you along with links to the files or items in Procore where it found the answer to your question. 

how to ask a question to get the best results

As opposed to the search engine technology we're used to, Assist responds much better to questions asked using full sentences, instead of just a few keywords. It needs your full thought written out to interpret the intent of what you're asking, just like a person might.

Ask questions using full sentences, and include as much context and detail as you can. Simple questions about a single piece of information yield the best results.

At this time, Assist can answer one question at a time. It can't yet answer follow up questions. It does not understand your project's history, or your role on the project. Be sure to provide Assist with any context that would be helpful if you asked an intern to find the same information.

View Sample Questions in the next chapter. 

How to Use Procore

• How do I create a Submittal package?
• How can I change or reset a password?
• How do I apply markups from a previous revision to a new Drawing revision?
• What does "mark official" do in RFIs?
• How do I publish an RFI in the Drawings tool?
• How do I change permissions for an RFI?
• What is a typical workflow for change orders?
• How do I add someone to the Directory?
• How do I grant granular permissions for a project? 

RFIs

• How many RFIs have a schedule impact?
• How many RFIs are on this job?
• Do we have any RFIs on the elevator sump pit?
• Where is the fire protection RFI?
• What RFI changed window size?
• Please summarize the response to RFI 67.
• How many overdue RFIs are there?
• Which RFIs have cost associated with them?
• Count the number of RFIs created on July 19th.
• How many RFIs are assigned to me?
• Which RFI manager has the most RFIs?
   

Submittals

• Give me a list of submittals.
• How many and which submittals are overdue and whose court are they in?
• What is the size of the hepa filter for the cleanroom air shower?
• How much attic stock was indicated in the bamboo flooring submittal?
• What is the most recent submittal with shop drawings for electrical work?
• What type of windows are used on our project?
• What is the submittal type for natural gas distribution?
• Which specialty contractor submitted the LED exterior lighting?
• What does the submittal for cable trays indicate about fire rating?
• Are the common area casework shop drawings approved?
• How long of a warranty was indicated in the door hardware submittal?
• Which submittals are in [user name] ball in court?

Drawings

• How many large offices are on the third floor in drawing A132?
• Which drawings have markups?
• How many civil drawings are there?
• How many drawings are connected?
• What discipline is the Third Floor - Reflected Ceiling Plan drawing under?
• What is the elevation in the exterior elevation drawing on the south side of level 3?
• What is the ADA mounting height of the changing bed?
• What is the abbreviation for the expansion joint in the general information drawing?
• What is the square footage of the mechanical penthouse?
• What is the drawing number for the third floor dimension plan?
• How many square feet is the women's restroom in drawing a112?
• What is the fire rating for solid wood and glass for door 15?

Specifications

• What is the required insulation thickness for copper pipe in the specifications?
• Which specifications require third-party testing?
• What specs require owners training?
• What are the warranty requirements for the emergency generator?
• Are the maintenance procedures listed for the elevator system in Specifications?
• What product do we need to use to clean the countertops, per the Submittals?
• What is the recommended installation procedure for the carpet?
• Can you show me the roof hatch specification requirements?
• How many shop drawings are we required to submit for review?

Documents

• Who are the subcontractors in the Emergency Room compliance report?
• What is the term of warranty for the final finishes?
• What was the description of the incident that occurred on 6/1/24 in the incident report?
• What is the owner-builder declaration for this project?
• Where is the application for the building permit?

Action Plans

• Which action plans are missing required signatures?
• Who has the most outstanding action plan items?
• Which Action Plans have unfulfilled inspections?

Budget

• What is the amount of budget changes I have on this project?
• What is my budget change amount for concrete?
• What is the original budget for this project?
• How much of the actual quantity has been installed in total?
• Show all the Actual production quantities grouped by UOM?
• Show all the Actual production Quantity created by [user name].
• Which budgeted quantities have been created but do not yet have corresponding actual quantities recorded ?
• Show the trend of budgeted production entries?

Change Events

• What change events are open on this project?
• What are my change events with related costs, quotes, and commitments?
• Can you reconcile my prime contract change orders and my commitment change orders?
• What is the variance between by prime contract change orders and commitment change orders?
• What are my unexecuted change orders with contract and reviewer details?
• What are my committed costs by vendor on this project?

Change Orders & Prime Contracts

• What are my biggest commitment change orders larger than $60k not including markup on this project?
• Which cost codes have been most impacted by CCOs?
• How much do I have in change orders with [vendor name]?
• Do I have any pending CCOs with [vendor name]?
• How many prime contracts does this project have

Commitments

• Show me my committed costs.
• How many approved commitments does this project have?
• What is the buyout status of my project?
• What are my concrete commitments?
• What are the committed costs with minority business enterprise vendors?
• What are my commitments over $10,000 with vendor details?

Correspondence

• Which correspondence have cost impact?
• How many Correspondence are assigned to [user name]?
• How many Monthly Progress Reports are assigned to [user name]?
• Which correspondence are closed with official responses?
• Which Correspondence items have been created from RFIs?

Crew, Timecard, and T&M Tickets

• How many crew members are assigned under each crew lead?
• Which crews are currently missing a crew lead?
• Show the number of crews created in the last 30 days along with their lead and member names.
• Show all Timecard entries of employees for July
• List all employees Timecard from this week that are pending and not signed?
• List all Timecards approved by [user name].
• which Employee are assigned to T&M Ticket Labor?
• What's the total number of T&M Ticket Materials entries for concrete?
• For each T&M Ticket, show the linked T&M subcontractor description missing.
• Are there any T&M equipment tickets created  by [user name]?

Daily Log, Punch List, Observations, Photos, and Coordination Issues

• How many accidents has [company name] logged this year?
• How many delays have occurred due to quality this year?
• How many daily logs are missing this month?
• What is the total number of foreman workers this week for [company name]?
• How many inspections have been logged for building B?
• How many weather-related incidents have been logged this year?
• How many safety violation logs have been filled out on this project?
• How many Punch Items have not received a response yet?
• Which observation types are most common?
• Give me a breakdown of photos uploaded by user.
• Which location has the most coordination issues?
• Which trade has the most open coordination issues?

Invoices

• What are my owner invoices?
• How many prime invoices are approved on this project
• Which pay applications are still pending approval?
• What are my subcontractor invoices from the last month by budget code?
• What sub invoices do I have pending approval?

Schedule, Tasks, and Meetings

• How many tasks on the critical path finished late?
• Which calendar items start this week?
• How many tasks were completed this week?
• How many tasks have been voided?
• How many tasks are assigned to [user name]?
• How many meetings have we had over the course of the project?
• Which attendees have not approved the meeting minutes?
• Which meetings has [company name] missed?

See Also

• What data can Assist access? 

What’s the current status of Procore Assist?

Procore Assist is gradually becoming generally available to customers in North America who license the required tool set. These customers will need to enable Assist, activate it on projects, and assign permissions to users through permissions templates to access the feature. Additional beta features are being made available gradually and can be enabled on an opt-in basis.

For international customers who license the required tool set, two Assist beta experiences will gradually become available. The core beta experience offers access to Assist in Procore's Global Search. The second beta offers additional features. You can choose to opt into either or both beta experiences if your company licenses the required tool set. It's important to note that Assist currently only answers questions in English, and uses United States English construction terminology. 

See Enable Assist to learn more.

How can my company participate in the Open beta program? 

To learn if the beta is available to your company, visit your Company Admin tool and look for the option to sign the beta agreement. Then, follow the steps in Enable Assist to start participating.

Which third party generative AI technologies does Procore Assist utilize?

Procore Assist currently utilizes Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service. Microsoft Azure OpenAI is a listed Procore subprocessor. 

Does Microsoft Azure OpenAI use customer data to train their AI models? 

No, customer data is not used to train, retrain, fine-tune, or improve Microsoft Azure OpenAI or any other Microsoft products or services, and is not provided to OpenAI. Additionally, the indexed data sent to the LLM is not persistently stored by Microsoft, only the prompts and responses are stored securely for up to 30 days by Microsoft to detect and mitigate abuse. You can learn more about how Microsoft uses prompts and data by reviewing Microsoft's Data Privacy and Security for Azure OpenAI page. 

How do other AI models, besides the LLM, used by Procore Assist utilize customer data?

In addition to Azure OpenAI, Procore Assist also utilizes internal AI models that help it better understand user inputs and prioritize relevant search results, improving the overall user experience. These internal models may utilize data collected from customer inputs and outputs to help improve Assist accuracy. Procore never shares or discloses a customer’s data with another customer, and that includes customer prompts to Procore Assist and Procore Assist’s responses. Due to the nature of machine learning and the technology powering Procore Assist, output may not be unique, and Procore Assist may generate the same or similar output for third parties.

How does Procore Assist follow permissions in our Procore instance?

We've designed Assist to strictly adhere to existing data permissions set in Procore. Assist’s responses (output) are based only on data that the user can access based on these set permissions. As an example, if a user does not have access to the RFIs tool at all (based on the settings in the permissions tool), and they ask a question related to a specific RFI, then they would not get any answer based on RFIs.

Introduction

Procore Assist provides powerful tools for enhancing productivity and problem-solving on your construction projects. However, it is critical to use this technology responsibly. These guidelines are designed to help you use Procore Assist effectively.