DataXcel AI Briefing: Beta Tester Training Guide
· By Mike Hagberg
Beta training reference for the DataXcel CEO Weekly Briefing — covering pipeline, the 10 alert categories, urgency scoring, and tool walkthrough.
DataXcel AI Briefing: Beta Tester Training Guide
Recording Notice: This training session is being recorded. The recording and this training guide will be bundled together as reference material for all customers who purchase the CEO Weekly Briefing AI report.
Welcome to the beta training for the DataXcel CEO Weekly Briefing — an AI-powered financial alert system designed for construction company owners and controllers using Sage 100 Contractor. The briefing integrates into existing Metabase dashboards, delivering prioritized alerts across 10 financial categories weekly.
Today's Topics
- How AI alerts function operationally
- The 10 alert categories and scoring methodology
- Tool usage — expanding alerts, accessing dashboards, managing items
- Feedback collection — improving each section and identifying additional needed reports
- Live walkthrough of your alerts
- Sage Setup configuration details and guidance articles
1. How CEO AI Alerts Work
The briefing runs through an automated weekly pipeline:
Sage 100 Contractor (SQL Server database)
→ dbt Views (standardized financial data models)
→ Metabase API (SQL queries)
→ Python Briefing Script (data aggregation)
→ Claude AI (financial analysis)
→ Structured Alert JSON (scored with recommendations)
→ Firestore (secure cloud storage)
→ Your Metabase Dashboard (embedded iframe)
Key Points:
- "Your data stays secure. The pipeline reads from your Sage database through the same connection your Metabase reports already use."
- Claude AI functions as a senior financial controller, delivering structured alerts with specific recommendations rather than generic guidance.
- Updates occur automatically each Monday with scheduling that regenerates analysis and pushes new briefings.
- No separate login required — the briefing loads directly inside Metabase using secure, time-limited tokens.
2. The 10 Alert Categories
| Category | Short | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts Receivable | AR | Past-due invoices, aging trends, collection priorities |
| Accounts Payable | AP | Vendor bills, overdue payments, spend anomalies |
| Over/Under Billing | WIP | Over-billed and under-billed jobs, WIP variances |
| Project Management | PM | Backlog health, stale jobs, resource allocation |
| Budget vs Actual | Budget | Budget variances, departmental over/under-spend |
| Balance Sheet | BS | Liquidity, unusual account movements, cash position |
| Income Statement | P&L | Revenue trends, expense anomalies, margin analysis |
| Bookkeeping Review | Books | Stale accounts, uncleared transactions, bank rec gaps |
| End of Year Close | EOY | Period close readiness, 1099 compliance, fiscal year rollover |
| Sage Setup | Setup | Configuration issues, missing defaults, schema problems |
Urgency Scoring System
Every alert receives an urgency score from 1 to 100, beginning at baseline 50 and adjusted based on financial signals. Higher scores indicate greater urgency.
| Severity | Score | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | 80–100 | Red | Escalate immediately — needs today's attention |
| High | 60–79 | Orange | Needs attention this week |
| Medium | 40–59 | Amber | Monitor closely — negative trend direction |
| Low | 1–39 | Green | On track — no immediate action required |
3. Category Deep Dives
Accounts Receivable (AR)
The AI monitors past-due invoices, aging concentration, collection velocity, and newly delinquent clients. Scoring increases urgency for high balances, extended aging, and amounts exceeding $10K, while reducing scores for recent payments.
Summary Cards: Total AR, 91+ Days Past Due, 7-Day Collections (week-over-week trend), 7-Day Billing
Feedback Requested: What additional details would prove most valuable? Consider payment history trends, client contact information, or aging by project breakdown.
Explore the Service AR Dashboard →
Accounts Payable (AP)
The AI identifies overdue vendor bills, spend anomalies, and vendors with substantial unpaid balances. Urgency rises proportionally with aging duration and dollar amounts.
Summary Cards: Total AP, Overdue AP, 7-Day Paid, New Bills This Week
Feedback Requested: What would accelerate your response? Vendor payment terms, check history, or duplicate invoice detection capabilities?
Explore the Open AP Dashboard →
Over/Under Billing (WIP)
The AI detects jobs significantly over-billed or under-billed relative to completion percentage, WIP schedule variances, and jobs with cost overruns not yet invoiced.
Summary Cards: Active Jobs, Total Contract Value, Over Budget Jobs, Average Margin %
Feedback Requested: Which WIP details matter most? Percent-complete-versus-percent-billed by cost code, or trending views showing billing gap expansion?
Explore the Over/Under Billings Dashboard →
Project Management (PM)
The AI monitors backlog health, stale jobs lacking recent activity, resource allocation gaps, and jobs exceeding expected completion timeframes.
Summary Cards: Active Jobs, Backlog Value, Stale Jobs (no recent activity), Avg Days to Complete
Feedback Requested: What project-level detail helps team management? Timecard summaries by employee or job profitability ranking by project manager?
Explore the PM Oversight Dashboard →
Budget vs Actual
The AI identifies departments or cost centers exceeding budget, significant unfavorable variances, and accelerating spending trends beyond projections.
Summary Cards: Total Budget, Total Actual, Over-Budget Departments, Under-Budget Departments
Feedback Requested: Would budget variance views by job, GL account, or department prove most beneficial? What granularity drives maximum impact?
Explore the Budget & Committed Costs Dashboard →
Balance Sheet
The AI detects liquidity concerns, unusual account movements, cash position changes, current ratio trends, and working capital issues.
Summary Cards: Total Assets, Cash Position, Current Ratio, Working Capital
Feedback Requested: When balance sheet items surface, what drill-down proves most valuable? Transaction-level detail, month-over-month comparison, or prior-year comparison?
Explore the Balance Sheet Dashboard →
Income Statement (P&L)
The AI analyzes revenue trends, expense anomalies, margin compression, and unusual line items versus prior periods.
Summary Cards: Total Revenue (with growth %), Total Expenses, Net Income, Net Margin %
Feedback Requested: Which P&L view provides most value? Year-over-year comparison, departmental breakdown, or job-level contribution analysis?
Explore the Income Statement Dashboard →
Bookkeeping Review
The AI identifies GL accounts with 14+ days inactivity (historically active), uncleared bank transactions, periods without completed reconciliations, and suspense balances. Urgency increases for missing bank reconciliations, large uncleared amounts, and cash gaps exceeding $50K.
Summary Cards: Stale Accounts, Uncleared Items, Unreconciled Periods, Suspense Balance
Feedback Requested: What bookkeeping detail saves your team most time? Specific uncleared transaction listings, bank reconciliation completion status by account, or stale account activity history?
End of Year Close (EOY)
The AI monitors prior-year open periods, 1099 vendors with "Undetermined" classification, open prior-year AP, retained earnings rollover status, and proximity to fiscal year-end. Urgency increases as year-end approaches and for each compliance gap.
Summary Cards: Unclosed Periods, 1099 Issues, Prior-Year AP, Days to Fiscal Year End
Feedback Requested: Which year-end detail delivers maximum value? A 1099 readiness checklist, period-by-period close status, or timeline showing pre-year-end requirements?
Sage Setup
The AI detects jobs with costs but no budgets, missing cost codes, 1099 vendors without tax IDs, unmapped GL accounts, missing system defaults, and employees missing required payroll fields. Each issue type contributes to urgency scoring.
Summary Cards: Jobs Without Budget, Missing Cost Codes, Vendor Tax ID Issues, Unmapped GL Accounts
This category uniquely links to step-by-step help articles explaining exactly how to resolve issues within Sage 100 Contractor, rather than dashboard links.
4. Score Calculation Details
All scores begin at 50 and cap at 100 (minimum 1). Here are the specific formulas:
AR / AP Scoring
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Per 30 days past due | +1 |
| Per $1K balance | +1 |
| Balance greater than $10K | +10 |
| Past due more than 365 days | +15 |
| Past due more than 180 days | +10 |
| Newly delinquent (90–120 days) | +5 |
| Paid in last 14 days | −10 |
Bookkeeping Scoring
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Per 7 days since last GL activity | +1 |
| Per $5K in uncleared transactions | +1 |
| Bank rec not completed for prior month | +10 |
| Bank rec missing for 2+ months | +15 |
| Cash account gap greater than $50K | +10 |
| Suspense account balance greater than $0 | +5 |
| Account reconciled in last 7 days | −10 |
End of Year Close Scoring
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Per unclosed prior-year period | +10 |
| Per 1099 vendor with "Undetermined" type | +5 |
| Per $1K in open prior-year AP | +1 |
| Retained earnings not rolled forward | +15 |
| Within 60 days of fiscal year end | +10 |
| Per 1099 payment mismatch greater than $600 | +5 |
| All bank recs complete for fiscal year | −10 |
Sage Setup Scoring
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Per job with costs but no budget | +5 |
| Per missing cost code | +3 |
| Per vendor missing tax ID (if 1099) | +2 |
| Per GL account without category mapping | +5 |
| Default checking account not set | +10 |
| Per employee missing required payroll field | +3 |
5. Using the Tool — Features Walkthrough
Category Tabs
Colored pill-shaped tabs appear at the briefing top — one for each category plus an "All" button. Selecting any category filters to that area; "All" displays everything. Selected categories expand to full names; unselected categories show abbreviated labels.
Summary Bar
Below tabs appears a KPI card row:
- "All" Selected: One card per category showing headline metrics (e.g., "Total AR: $500K — 12 clients"). Click any card to jump to that category.
- Category Selected: Four detailed cards specific to that area (e.g., for AR: Total AR, 91+ Days Past Due, 7-Day Collections, 7-Day Billing).
Alert Sections
Alerts organize into sections based on urgency:
- Critical Issues (red header) — "Escalate immediately." Always prominent at top.
- Warnings (orange header) — "Needs attention this week."
- Watch Items (blue header) — "Monitor closely."
A Wins section (green) appears at bottom, highlighting positive momentum — increased collections or reduced costs.
Expanding an Alert
Each alert row displays a severity dot, urgency score, category badge, entity name, dollar amount, and key metric. Click any row to expand and see:
- Action Recommendation — AI-generated guidance specific to your numbers with suggested action steps
- Dashboard Link — Blue link opening relevant Metabase dashboard pre-filtered to this specific entity
- Detail Records — Expandable table showing underlying invoices, cost lines, transactions, or accounts
- Positive Signals — Recent favorable developments related to the item (e.g., recent collections or paid invoices)
Ignore, Snooze, and Dismiss
Available options for alerts you're already addressing:
- Snooze 2 weeks — Hides for 14 days, then reappears
- Snooze 1 month — Hides for 30 days
- Remind in 10 days — Quick snooze option
- Dismiss permanently — Hides forever (undo available)
Dismissed items appear grayed out at section bottom with an Undo button.
Dashboard Links
Expanding an alert and clicking the dashboard link opens your Metabase dashboard in a new tab, pre-filtered to the specific client, vendor, job, or account. You navigate directly from AI alert to full interactive data. If the dashboard isn't yet installed, the link directs to the DataXcel shop for installation.
6. Your Feedback — What Would Make This More Useful?
This section prioritizes your input. For each briefing area, we want to understand: "When you click into the data, what would prove most helpful? What additional reports, drill-downs, or views would make this more actionable?"
Currently available dashboards connecting directly to AI alerts:
| Category | Available Dashboard | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| AR | Service AR Dashboard | Client-by-client aging, collection history, payment trends |
| AP | Open AP Dashboard | Vendor aging, payment history, bill detail |
| WIP | Over/Under Billings Dashboard | Job-by-job WIP schedule, billing vs. earned revenue |
| PM | PM Oversight Dashboard | Job status, backlog, timecard analysis, profitability by PM |
| Budget | Budget & Committed Costs Dashboard | Budget vs. actual by job, department, and cost code |
| BS | Balance Sheet Dashboard | Account balances, trends, month-over-month changes |
| P&L | Income Statement Dashboard | Revenue, expenses, margins, period comparisons |
Connecting more dashboards enriches your AI alerts — clicking directly from alerts into complete data for investigation and action.
Want more frequent updates? The standard briefing runs weekly Mondays. Daily or bi-weekly updates are available for teams wanting real-time alerts. Contact us for preferred cadence options.
7. Show and Tell
Now examine your live briefing together.
- Open your briefing — Navigate to your Metabase homepage or CEO Briefing dashboard.
- Review top 3 critical items — Expand each, read AI recommendations. Does the score feel accurate? Is the recommendation useful?
- Click a dashboard link — Does the pre-filtered view display needed information?
- Try ignore/snooze features — Select an item you're already addressing and snooze it. Did it behave as expected?
- Check the Wins section — Do positive items feel accurate? Are wins being missed?
Discussion Questions:
- Are urgency scores reasonable? Overly aggressive? Too lenient?
- Are AI recommendations specific enough to act upon?
- What's missing that would drive biggest impact?
- Is weekly cadence appropriate, or would more frequent updates benefit your workflow?
8. Sage Setup Deep Dive
The Sage Setup category uniquely links to step-by-step help articles guiding you through fixing configuration issues within Sage 100 Contractor.
Currently available help articles:
| Issue Type | What AI Detects | How to Fix It |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs Without Budgets | Active jobs with costs posted but no estimate entered | How to set up job budgets |
| Missing Cost Codes | Cost codes used on jobs but not in the master list | How to configure cost codes |
| Vendor & 1099 Issues | 1099 vendors with "Undetermined" type or missing tax ID | How to set up vendors & 1099s |
| Unmapped GL Accounts | GL accounts without a proper category/group mapping | How to map GL accounts |
| Employee Setup Gaps | Employees missing position, department, or pay class | How to set up employee records |
| Unassigned Jobs | Jobs without a supervisor or salesperson assigned | How to assign job supervisors |
Feedback Requested: Is the Sage Setup section helpful for your team? What other configuration topics warrant help articles? What Sage setup issues do you encounter regularly that should trigger alerts?
9. What's Next — Subscribe and Keep Your AI Briefing
Your beta participation directly influences what we build next.
To maintain your weekly AI briefing:
Subscribe to the CEO Weekly Briefing — Automated AI analysis across all 10 categories, delivered to your Metabase dashboard every Monday.
Add dashboards to maximize alert value:
Each dashboard connects directly to your AI alerts. When AI flags an issue, you click through to complete interactive data. More dashboards = more actionable alerts.
- Service AR Dashboard — Client aging, collections, payment trends
- Open AP Dashboard — Vendor aging, payment history
- Over/Under Billings Dashboard — WIP schedule, billing variances
- PM Oversight Dashboard — Job status, backlog, profitability
- Budget & Committed Costs Dashboard — Budget vs. actual
- Balance Sheet Dashboard — Account balances, trends
- Income Statement Dashboard — Revenue, expenses, margins
Interested in more frequent AI updates? Daily briefings are available for companies wanting real-time financial monitoring. Ask your DataXcel account team about daily or bi-weekly cadence options.
The live AI Briefing application is available at ai.xcel.report.
Questions? Reach out to your DataXcel account team or email support@xcel.software.
This training guide accompanies the recorded beta tester training session. Both the recording and this article are included as reference material for all CEO Weekly Briefing customers.