Analytics Explorer

Analytics Explorer is an AI chat assistant built into the Analytics workspace. Instead of hunting through tabs and filters, ask a question in plain language — English or French — and it queries Cothon's analytics data and answers with a written summary plus structured result cards.

Opening the Explorer

The Explorer lives as a floating chat bubble in the corner of the Analytics page. Click it to open the chat panel; you can also expand it to full screen for longer research sessions. Starter suggestions (for example, top vendors, largest contracts, market trends) appear when the conversation is empty, and each answer proposes follow-up questions.

What you can ask

The Explorer answers questions that map onto Cothon's analytics endpoints, for example:

• "Who are the top vendors in IT services?"
• "What were the largest contracts awarded this year?"
• "Compare vendor A and vendor B"
• "Are IT prices going up?" — served by the price index, a median-based benchmark of contract values over time
• Questions about departments, categories, market trends, and Québec or provincial data

Answers include the conversational response, the underlying structured data rendered as cards or tables, and suggested next questions.

How it works

Your question is sent to the backend, where an AI model selects one or more functions from a fixed whitelist of read-only analytics endpoints — the same endpoints that power the Analytics tabs. The selected queries run with your own credentials, and the results are summarized back to you.

Conversation controls

• Multi-turn — follow-up questions keep the context of the conversation, so "and in Québec?" works after a federal question.
• Clear history — the trash button resets the conversation.
• Full screen — the expand button opens a larger research view.

Tips for better answers

• Name things the way the data does: department names or acronyms (PSPC, DND), vendor legal names, category keywords.
• Be specific about scope — a sector, a time frame, or a jurisdiction — to get tighter results.
• If an answer looks too broad, ask a narrowing follow-up rather than restarting.