Asking Aimee Questions

Aimee answers questions about your system in seconds: who has access, who changed what, what's offline and what needs attention. This article shows how to ask so you get a useful answer the first time.

1. The Basics of a Good Question

• Name the what, where and when. "Denied events at the Lobby Door on November 4 between noon and 1 pm" beats "any problems at the lobby?"
• Use real names for doors, people, schedules and sites, or pick them with the # mention selector.
• Ask one thing at a time. Several asks in one message can stall on a "multiple matches" picker. Go deeper with follow-ups instead.
• Ask for analysis, not just a list. End with "flag anything that looks wrong", "rank by priority" or "summarize by person".

2. Questions That Work Well

Who has access?

"Who has access to [door], through which groups and schedules? Flag anything that looks wrong."

Aimee lists each person or group and the schedule that grants access, then flags risks, such as a test schedule protecting a real door, access that's 24/7 with no end date, or only one person with access.

Who changed what?

"Show me who changed anything in the system in the last 7 days. Summarize by person and type of change."

Aimee summarizes the audit trail by person and category, and points out anything unusual, such as one person making thousands of changes in a day.

Is everything healthy?

"Run a full system checkup and list anything that needs attention, ranked by priority."

Aimee checks devices, alerts, users and schedules and ranks what she finds, for example: devices offline (critical), no alerts firing in a week (high), schedules with no doors attached (medium). It makes a good daily or weekly routine.

A checkup can also cover credential hygiene, such as how many cards are active versus how many users are inactive, plus failed access events and incomplete schedules. Aimee then offers next steps, such as a panel health check or a cleanup list.

Simple questions work too

"Who was the first to enter the building today?"

If Aimee can't answer, she explains why. For example: no events since midnight because the panels are offline, so the logs may be incomplete. She then offers alternatives, such as the last 7 days of events or a camera search.

3. Counts, Charts and Exports

For totals and trends, ask Aimee to count or group. She uses a summary instead of listing every row, so answers are faster and easier to read.

Cross-check two sources

"Compare offline devices with offline alerts for the last 7 days."

Cross-checks expose silent failures, such as devices that went offline without raising an alert.

Be specific

4. Follow Up

• "Tell me more about item 2."
• "Which users were disabled in that bulk change?"
• "Are you sure? Check the audit trail." — Aimee rechecks and corrects herself if she was wrong.

5. Quick Reference

To dig into a specific incident, see Investigating Incidents with Aimee.

Aimee articles: What Is Aimee? · What Aimee Can Do · Asking Aimee Questions · Investigating Incidents with Aimee · Making Changes with Aimee · Bulk Importing Users and Doors with Aimee · Aimee Prompt Library

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