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Master the AI Copilot

AI Copilot — ask questions, check quality, paste progress from ExcelAI Copilot — ask questions, check quality, paste progress from Excel

Time: ~20 minutes Level: Beginner Applies to: Free · Pro · Enterprise

What You Will Learn​

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

  • Open the AI Copilot panel and navigate the interface
  • Ask natural language questions about your schedule
  • Request schedule modifications and review confirmation cards
  • Generate a narrative report
  • Switch between AI models
  • Start a new conversation

Prerequisites​

  • A Kazinex account (any tier — some tools require Pro+)
  • A schedule loaded with activities (see Your First 15 Minutes)

Step 1 — Open the AI Copilot Panel​

Launch the AI assistant.

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+I, or click the sparkles icon (✨) in the toolbar.
  2. The Copilot panel opens on the right side of the screen.
  3. A welcome screen appears with 6 suggested prompts.

What you should see: A chat-style panel with a text input at the bottom. The welcome screen shows prompt suggestions such as "Give me an overview of this schedule" and "Show the critical path".

Step 2 — Ask for a Schedule Overview​

Get a high-level summary of your loaded schedule.

  1. Type: "Give me an overview of this schedule"
  2. Press Enter or click the send button.
  3. The Copilot processes your request and returns schedule statistics.

What you should see: A response containing the total number of activities, the project start and finish dates, activity status breakdown (Not Started, In Progress, Completed), and basic schedule metrics.

Step 3 — Query the Critical Path​

Ask about the most important activities in the schedule.

  1. Type: "Show activities on the critical path"
  2. Press Enter.
  3. The Copilot returns a table of critical activities.

What you should see: A formatted table listing critical path activities with their Activity ID, Activity Name, Duration, Early Start, Early Finish, and Total Float (which should be 0 for critical activities).

Step 4 — Ask About Quality​

Check the schedule health without leaving the Copilot.

  1. Type: "What's the quality score?"
  2. The Copilot retrieves and displays the quality check results.

What you should see: A summary showing the overall quality score, grade, and a breakdown by category (Logic, Duration, Constraints, etc.) with pass/fail counts.

Step 5 — Explore the WBS Structure​

Ask the Copilot to display your work breakdown structure.

  1. Type: "Show me the WBS structure"
  2. The Copilot returns the full WBS hierarchy.

What you should see: A tree-like display showing all WBS levels with their names and the count of activities under each node.

Step 6 — Run a Custom Query​

Ask a specific analytical question.

  1. Type: "What are the top 10 activities with the most float?"
  2. The Copilot queries your schedule and returns a sorted list.

What you should see: A table of 10 activities sorted by Total Float in descending order. Activities with the most scheduling flexibility appear first.

Step 7 — Generate a Narrative Report​

Ask the Copilot to write a professional schedule narrative.

  1. Type: "Write a schedule narrative report"
  2. Wait for the Copilot to generate the report (this may take 10-15 seconds).

What you should see: A multi-paragraph narrative covering: project overview, WBS structure, critical path analysis, float distribution, progress status, resource summary, and milestone outlook. The narrative reads as a professional consultant report.

Step 8 — Request a Schedule Modification​

Try a write command to change the schedule.

  1. Type: "Change the duration of [Activity Name] to 15 days" (replace [Activity Name] with an actual activity in your schedule).
  2. The Copilot processes the request.
  3. A Confirmation Card appears before the change is applied.

What you should see: A coloured card showing the operation type, the activity affected, the old duration, the new duration, the risk level (Low/Medium/High/Critical), and two buttons: Apply and Cancel.

Step 9 — Review and Apply the Confirmation​

Decide whether to accept the change.

  1. Read the Confirmation Card details: operation, affected data, risk level.
  2. Click Apply to accept the change.
  3. The activity duration updates in the grid.
  4. If you change your mind, press Ctrl+Z to undo the change.

What you should see: The grid updates immediately after clicking Apply. A success message appears in the Copilot chat. The change is also recorded in the undo history.

Step 10 — Switch AI Models​

Try different models for different tasks.

  1. Click the model selector dropdown in the Copilot header.
  2. You see available models: GPT-4.1 Mini, DeepSeek V3, GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 4.
  3. Select a different model (for example, switch from GPT-4.1 Mini to GPT-4.1).
  4. Ask the same question again and compare the response quality.

What you should see: A dropdown list of AI models. Selecting a different model changes the underlying engine. GPT-4.1 Mini is faster and cheaper; GPT-4.1 and Claude Sonnet 4 provide more detailed responses.

Step 11 — Start a New Conversation​

Clear the chat history and begin fresh.

  1. Click the refresh icon (🔄) in the Copilot header.
  2. The chat clears and the welcome screen reappears.
  3. Previous conversations are saved in the conversation history.

What you should see: An empty chat panel with the welcome screen and suggested prompts. Your previous conversation is archived and accessible from the history.

Step 12 — Verify Your Skills​

Confirm you can use all core Copilot features.

  1. You can open and close the Copilot panel.
  2. You can ask read-only questions and get data tables.
  3. You can request modifications and review confirmation cards.
  4. You can generate narrative reports.
  5. You can switch models and start new conversations.

What you should see: Confidence in using the AI Copilot for querying, modifying, and reporting on your schedule using natural language.

What's Next?​

Troubleshooting​

IssueSolution
Copilot panel does not openTry Ctrl+Shift+I. If the keyboard shortcut does not work, click the sparkles icon in the toolbar.
Copilot says "No schedule loaded"Open a schedule from the Projects tab before using the Copilot. The AI needs schedule context to answer questions.
Response is slowComplex queries like narrative generation take 10-15 seconds. Larger models (GPT-4.1, Claude Sonnet 4) are slower but more capable.
Confirmation Card not appearingWrite commands always show a confirmation card. If it did not appear, the Copilot may have interpreted your request as a read query. Rephrase with a clear action verb ("Change", "Set", "Delete").
Token limit warningLong conversations may approach the token limit. Start a new conversation to reset the context window.
Model selector not availableModel switching may be restricted on lower tiers. Check your subscription level.