The AI Generated Cells in Mesh AI can take your natural language descriptions for a type of analysis and create graphs, tables, lists, and other outputs that meet your needs. But it's not a mind reader - it's more like a junior analyst that has just joined your team and needs good descriptions. This article gives some hints to help you describe your needs.

Specify the Type of Output You Want – For example, if you want a graph chart, table, or summary, say so (e.g., "Show a pie chart of... " or "Create a list of... ").
Be Specific About Your Analysis Needs – Instead of "Show shift data," try "Show a bar graph of how many shifts each associate has."
Include Key Details – If your analysis deals with specific jobs, request types, positions, or others, mention them and how they're used (e.g., "only for Night shifts", or "only for weekend shifts").
Tell the AI How Your Team Uses the System – The AI understands Mesh AI concepts like Shifts, Requests, and Associates, but it doesn’t know the specific ways your team uses them. If your team has unique workflows or definitions, include them. (Example: “Having a 'Conference' request doesn't lower the number of shifts that person can have.”)
Describe Your Thought Process – If you usually follow certain steps to analyze data, explain them in your prompt. (Example: “First, gather all approved requests, then calculate the total days per associate.”) This helps the AI match your approach instead of guessing.
Mention Relevant Rules – The AI doesn’t know your team’s scheduling rules unless you include them. If a rule matters to your analysis, spell it out. (Example: “List any cases where a doctor has more than four night shifts in a row.”)
If It’s Wrong, Refine It – If the result isn't quite right, tweak your request instead of starting over (e.g., changing "A pie chart of shifts" to "A pie chart of shifts but only for associates with the ER position").

Examples

❌ Unclear Prompt	✔️ Clear & Effective Prompt
Show shifts numbers.	Create a graph of the number of shifts each associate has.
Who works too much?	Show a list of the people who have more than 9 shifts.
Show max shifts per week.	For each week, calculate the number of shifts each associate has that week; then show a table of the maximum number of shifts that associate has in any one week.
Find weeks where people are overbooked.	Give me a list of times that people have more than 2 shifts in any week, along with the shifts that contribute in order by start date.
Break down shifts by job.	Show a stacked bar graph of the number of shifts each associate has, separated by job.
Find out if scheduling rules are broken.	List all shifts where someone is scheduled for more than 5 consecutive days, along with the shift details.
Tell me the percentage of Prefer On - Day requests that were honored	Show the percentage of Prefer On - Day requests being honored. Having a Prefer On - Day request means the associate wants a shift that starts between 8am and 4pm during that request.
Shifts for each person vs. GME limit.	List the amount of shifts each person has worked compared to the GME limits. The GME limits for our team are: no more than 1 in 4 'In Hospital Call' days and no more than 1 in 3 'Home Call' days, and no more than two weekends in a 28 day period.

Information for Coders

If necessary or required, the code for an AI cell can be directly created or modified. The code has access to several arrays of date that are provided for analysis: 'shifts', 'requests', 'tours', 'associates', 'jobs', 'positions', 'requestTypes', 'holidays', and 'specialDates'. Below is the schema for each of these entities for reference.

Associate: Represents a person, user, employee, resident, doctor, nurse, etc.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Links associate to shifts or requests
name	string	Name of the person
email	string	Account owner’s email
organization_email	string	Organization-specific email
contact_info	object	Object with `primary_contact`, `secondary_contact`, `tertiary_contact`; blank = 'N/A'
role	string	Role in organization; blank = 'N/A'

Shift: A job done for a specific period of time by one Associate.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
job	string	Job name this shift is linked to
start	string	Start datetime (with offset)
end	string	End datetime (with offset)
allDay	boolean	True if all-day shift
weight_modifier	integer	—
has_issues	boolean	True if breaking rules
cluster	string	Common strings define clusters
view_priority	integer	—
metadata	object	Object of key-value pairs
associate_id	integer	Linked associate (null = unassigned)
cached_position_ids	array	IDs of positions held
is_special	boolean	True if holiday/special
specialness_cache	string	Name of holiday/special date
associate_name	string	Cached associate name
changed_since_publish	boolean	—
team_metadata	array	—

Request: Period of time that an associate asks to be specifically on or off work.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
request_type	string	Type of request
start	string	Start datetime (with offset)
end	string	End datetime (with offset)
allDay	boolean	True if all-day request
show_to_team_associates	boolean	True if visible to non-admins
metadata	object	Object of key-value pairs
associate_id	integer	Linked associate
all_teams	boolean	Applies to all teams
cached_position_ids	array	IDs of positions during the request
team_ids	array	—
request_targets	array	—
approval_state	enum	0=pending, 1=approved, 2=denied, 3=acknowledged

Job: The task type of a shift

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
name	string	Job name
team_id	integer	Linked team
weight_modifier	integer	—
color	string	—
can_take	integer	—
view_priority	integer	—
can_be_empty	boolean	—
postcall_period	integer	—
positions	array	Positions qualifying for this job

Position: A tag or group indicator for an associate through a tour.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
name	string	Position name
team_id	integer	Linked team
jobs	array	Jobs qualified for this position

Tour: A period of schedulability for an associate, including job qualifications, positions, and metadata

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
associate_id	integer	Linked associate
start_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD (nullable)
finish_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD (nullable, inclusive)
job_ids	array	Qualified jobs
position_ids	array	Held positions
metadata	object	Extra key-value data
weight_modifier	integer	Workload/FTE (0–1)
tour_block_name	string	Block name

Holiday: A predefined country-based holiday

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
name	string	Holiday name (e.g., “Christmas”)
date	string	YYYY-MM-DD

SpecialDate: A date label

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Unique identifier
description	string	Label name
date	string	YYYY-MM-DD
is_holiday	boolean	True if holiday

AI Generated Cells in Reports