Ask ARIA

ARIA (Anchor Retrieval & Insight Assistant) answers questions about your books. Open it with Ask ARIA in the top bar.

What you can ask

You can ask in English or Afrikaans. Answers are in English.

Dates follow your financial year: Q1 is the first quarter of your financial year unless you say "calendar Q1". A month without a year means the most recent one. Every answer says which dates and accounts it used.

How ARIA answers

ARIA picks one Anchor report or search, runs it with your permissions, and writes the answer from that result. Every amount comes from the report; ARIA does not calculate or estimate figures. Each answer names the report it used and links to it, so you can check.

If ARIA is not sure what you mean, it asks once and shows choices.

Draft an invoice from an earlier one

Ask ARIA to invoice a customer "like last month", or to make an invoice from a quote number. ARIA copies the customer, lines, items, tax rates, discounts and currency of that customer's latest invoice (or the quote you named) and shows them on a card. Nothing is created yet.

• Click Create draft invoice to create it. It is a draft: totals are calculated by Anchor, the number comes from your document numbering, and nothing is sent. Open the draft to change dates, prices or lines before you send it.
• Click Cancel, or ignore the card, and nothing is created. The card lapses after 15 minutes; ask again for a new one.
• Only you can confirm your own card, and only once.

Create a new invoice or quote from your request

Ask in your own words, in English or Afrikaans: "Create an invoice for Ms Simone Basson for her 2026 personal income tax return, R2 200", or "Invoice the Edge at Knightsbridge: BO 2026 R500, AR 2026 R750". ARIA reads the request on Anchor's own server (usually 10–15 seconds) and shows a card. Nothing is created yet.

• Customer. ARIA picks the customer only when you name them exactly: their account code, email, VAT number or name (Ms Simone Basson matches Ms S Basson; Mr N Basson does not). Otherwise choose one: the list shows first the customers your request names (for example the same surname), then New contact, and last other customers that are only similar — check those carefully. You can also search all your customers.
• Items. ARIA picks an item only when you name it exactly (its code, such as BO or PIT, or its full name). Otherwise it may suggest one; click the suggestion or choose from the list, or leave the line as a description.
• Amounts are the prices you typed, before VAT. A line without a price uses the item's own price. VAT comes from the customer's default tax rate; the card warns you when the customer has none.

Click Create draft invoice to create it as a draft (Anchor calculates the totals), or Cancel. The card lapses after 15 minutes.

Ask for a quote the same way ("Make a quote for …", "Quote Botha for …", "Maak 'n kwotasie vir …"): the card is the same and the button reads Create draft quote. The quote is dated today and valid for 30 days; change the expiry date on the quote. A quote line without a price uses the customer's price list, if they have one, or else the item's own price. Your administrator turns this on under Admin → Site Settings → Who can ask ARIA to create documents; until then ARIA tells you to use Sales → Invoices → New invoice.

When you ask for a copy instead ("Invoice Ms S Basson like last time"), ARIA picks the customer only when you name them exactly (a name like Ms Simone Basson matches Ms S Basson); otherwise you choose.

Read a customer's order

Attach a customer's order with the paperclip in ARIA (or Import from document on Sales → Orders). A PDF works best; a clear photo (JPEG, PNG or WebP) works too. ARIA reads it on Anchor's own server, usually in 20–30 seconds; you can close ARIA while it reads.

ARIA then shows a card with what it read: the customer, the order reference and dates, and each line with its code, quantity, price and discount.

• Customer. ARIA picks a customer only when the document's VAT number, email or exact name matches one of yours. Otherwise choose one: the closest names are listed, you can search all your customers, or pick New contact to create one from the document's details.
• Items. ARIA picks an item only when the line's code, SKU or exact name matches one of your items. Otherwise the line stays a description-only line (no stock) unless you choose an item from the list.
• Prices. The order uses the prices on the document. Where one differs from your price list (or the item's sale price) by more than 1 %, the card shows your price too.
• Checks. Every quantity, price and date must appear in the document; anything ARIA could not find is marked, and a missing quantity becomes 1 and a missing price your own price. Lines read from a photo are marked so you check them. If the document charges VAT but the customer has no default tax rate, the card warns you: the lines would have no VAT.

Nothing is created until you click Create draft sales order. The sales order is a draft: it reserves no stock and is not sent, and the document is attached to it. Open it to correct anything before you send it. Discard creates nothing.

ARIA reads up to 10 pages and 25 MB per document, and 50 documents a day per organisation. A scanned PDF (a picture with no text in it) is not read yet: attach a photo of each page instead.

What ARIA does not do

• It does not give tax or accounting advice. Ask Tax Shop or your accountant what to claim or how to treat a transaction.
• It does not forecast, compare you with other businesses, or search the web.
• It does not post or change anything in your books without your click. The only things it can create are a draft invoice, a draft quote or a draft sales order, after you confirm the card.
• It only shows what your role can already see.

Privacy

Your questions and ARIA's answers are kept in your organisation's audit log (filters ARIA question and ARIA action), including each card you confirmed or cancelled. Your books and the documents you attach are not sent to any outside AI service: ARIA runs on Anchor's own servers. An attached document is kept as an attachment of the sales order; what ARIA read from it is kept for support for 90 days.

Turn ARIA off

The owner can turn ARIA off for the organisation under Settings → General → ARIA assistant.