Getting the best from Lenni
Lenni understands ordinary language, so there’s no special syntax to learn. A few habits make its answers quicker and more useful, and knowing its shortcuts saves typing.
Asking Lenni good questions
Section titled “Asking Lenni good questions”- Name the thing. “Show me courses on Excel” works better than “show me some courses”, and “Tell me about GDPR Basics” is better than “tell me about that course”.
- Say how you want it when you’re asking for figures: “how many” for a number, “show” or “list” for a table, “chart” for a chart.
- Give the time period if it matters: “this month”, “last year”, “the last 90 days”.
- Use people’s full names when there could be two people with the same first name. If Lenni finds more than one, it asks which you meant and names each with their works ID, such as “Lynda Spence (957)”. Answer with the name as Lenni wrote it, or just the works ID.
Different ways to ask Lenni the same thing
Section titled “Different ways to ask Lenni the same thing”You can phrase a question however suits you. Each group below gets the same kind of answer:
| You want | Any of these works |
|---|---|
| Courses to take next | “What should I learn next?”, “What training do I need?”, “Recommend me some courses”, “What should I be doing?” |
| Courses on a subject | “Show me courses on leadership”, “Anything on leadership?”, “I need leadership training”, “I’m struggling with leading a team” |
| Popular courses | “What are the most popular courses?”, “What’s trending?”, “What are people doing?” |
| Your gaps | “What skill gaps do I have?”, “Where are my gaps?”, “What am I missing?” |
| People in a place | “Show everyone in London”, “Who’s in the London office?”, “List the London team” |
| A comparison | “Show completion by department as a chart”, “Graph completion per department”, “Chart departments by completion” |
| Someone out of a department (if your role lets Lenni make changes) | “Take Fred Jones out of Sales”, “Remove Fred Jones from the Sales department” |
| A location gone (if your role lets Lenni make changes) | “Delete the Leeds location”, “Get rid of the Leeds location”, “Remove the Leeds location” |
When Lenni asks which one you mean
Section titled “When Lenni asks which one you mean”Lenni asks rather than guesses when your question needs a name you haven’t given it. Ask for “users in a specific department” and Lenni asks Which department do you mean?, with some of your organisation’s real departments as choices, such as Show users in Sales. Choose one or type the name.
“Add” can mean two things, and Lenni works out which from what’s on screen:
- With a table showing, “add department” adds a Department column to it.
- “Create a department called Customer Success”, or “add a department called Customer Success”, creates a new department.
- With a table showing, “add a department” on its own could be either, so Lenni asks which you meant.
- With no table showing, “add department” is a new department, and Lenni asks what to call it. It never makes up a name.
How Lenni names people
Section titled “How Lenni names people”Whenever Lenni names someone in a sentence or on a change card, it adds their works ID in brackets if they have one, such as “Lynda Spence (957)”, so you can tell apart two people with the same name. Tables and charts don’t add it to the name, because you choose their columns: ask for the works ID as a column if you want it there.
Following up and changing the subject with Lenni
Section titled “Following up and changing the subject with Lenni”Lenni remembers the conversation, so a follow-up carries on from the last answer: “who are they?”, “what about last month?”, “add their manager” or “show that as a chart”. To start on something unrelated, say so with “forget that”, “never mind” or “different question”, and Lenni stops using the earlier answer.
The chips under an answer are things Lenni can do next, such as showing a table as a chart or downloading it. Each one is a complete request you can run as it stands, naming the actual department, course or person, and only things your role lets you do. Choose one instead of typing.
Lenni’s shortcuts
Section titled “Lenni’s shortcuts”- /help shows Lenni’s quick guide, built around what your role lets you do. /help followed by a topic, such as /help courses or /help figures, goes straight to that part.
- /clear deletes your whole conversation history with Lenni and starts afresh, the same as New chat. It can’t be undone.
- ↑ and ↓ in the question box bring back what you asked before (on the web).
- Help in Lenni’s header opens the quick guide too.
Checking Lenni’s answers
Section titled “Checking Lenni’s answers”Lenni can make mistakes. For anything that matters, check the answer against the course or help article it links to. Use Thumbs up or Thumbs down under an answer to tell us how it did; a thumbs down keeps the conversation leading up to it so it can be looked into.
Lenni understands questions in other languages, but it always answers in English.
What Lenni won’t do
Section titled “What Lenni won’t do”- It works only with your organisation’s Learnient and this help centre, never anyone else’s data.
- It declines harmful, offensive or illegal requests, political and religious debate, and attempts to make it ignore its rules. Workplace topics that sound sensitive, such as harassment training or mental health awareness, are fine.
- If a message suggests you might be thinking of harming yourself, Lenni stops and points you to people who can help, such as Samaritans, emergency services or your organisation’s employee assistance programme.
- It steers homework, essays and general trivia back to your training.
- It only changes things if your role allows it, and never roles, permissions, passwords, sign-in settings, billing or integrations. It can’t yet rename anything or delete groups. See How Lenni actions work.