What makes a good use case
Before you build an agent, size the job. This page helps you judge whether a task is a good fit for Ask, and estimate how much effort it will take to implement well.
Characteristics of a good Ask use case
The most successful Ask implementations share a few traits. A strong candidate:
- Solves a clear business problem with measurable value.
- Involves repetitive or knowledge-intensive tasks.
- Has well-structured, reliable source data: the answer exists somewhere; it's just slow to find.
- Requires information retrieval, summarization, or guided decision support.
- Has clearly defined users and expected outcomes.
- Can be validated against measurable success criteria.
When to build an agent, and when not to
Good candidates for an agent are tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming, information-intensive, rule-based (even with some complexity), or already well documented. If you find yourself answering the same questions or assembling the same report every week, that's an agent.
Highly sensitive decisions, one-off tasks, and decisions where an error is very costly are better left to human judgment, or built with explicit approval steps so a person confirms before anything happens.
How hard will it be?
Not every use case takes the same effort. Complexity is driven by how many knowledge sources you need, how many systems the agent must talk to, how much business logic sits in the workflow, and how strict the governance requirements are. Use the three tiers below as a rough sizing guide.
Easy
Retrieving, summarizing, or generating information from one or a few knowledge sources. Minimal configuration, few or no integrations with external systems: usually a knowledge base, good instructions, and not much else.
- Characteristics: single or limited knowledge source · retrieval-based Q&A · no external integrations · minimal business logic.
- Examples: company policy and handbook assistant · HR and IT FAQs · knowledge base search · document summarization · meeting-transcript Q&A · research assistant.
Medium
Combines information from multiple sources and introduces workflow automation or system integrations. These usually involve user permissions, some business logic, and one or two connected tools.
- Characteristics: multiple knowledge sources · one or more system integrations · basic workflow automation · role-based access control.
- Examples: employee onboarding assistant · customer-support assistant with CRM integration · contract review and clause analysis · procurement support · compliance guidance · multilingual knowledge assistant.
Hard
Complex business processes, multiple enterprise systems, external-facing users, or mission-critical decision support. These projects need real solution design: orchestration, governance, testing, and often custom integration work.
- Characteristics: multiple enterprise integrations · multi-step workflows and approvals · external-facing users · advanced orchestration and business logic · high governance and compliance requirements.
- Examples: citizen or customer self-service portals · dispute resolution workflows · insurance claims processing · banking onboarding and verification · procurement approval workflows · enterprise case management · multi-agent workflows across business systems.
Which connectors, tools, and models are available depends on your deployment (public cloud, sovereign cloud, or on-prem). Before sizing a Medium or Hard use case, check with your Ask admin which integrations your organization has enabled. A "Medium" use case can become "Easy" if the integration already exists, or "Hard" if it needs custom work.
Complexity assessment checklist
When evaluating a new use case, score it against each row. Most of your answers will cluster in one column, and that's your tier.
| Assessment area | Easy | Medium | Hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge sources | One | Several | Many enterprise sources |
| System integrations | None | One or two | Multiple enterprise systems |
| Workflow complexity | Information retrieval | Guided workflows | Multi-step business processes |
| User audience | Internal | Internal departments | External users, multiple stakeholders |
| Business logic | Minimal | Moderate | Complex decision rules |
| Governance & compliance | Low | Moderate | High |
| Human approvals | Not required | Occasionally | Frequently required |
| Typical implementation effort | Low | Moderate | High |
A use case doesn't need to match every characteristic in a column. Use the framework to estimate overall effort, and start with an Easy version of your use case first, then layer on integrations once the basics work.