Introduction
Scout is Spare's AI-powered analytics assistant, built directly into your Analytics workspace. Instead of manually navigating report builders or knowing which metrics to combine, you can simply ask Scout a question in plain language — and it will generate charts, tables, and reports for you automatically.
Where to find Scout
Right in Analytics Home. When you open Analytics, the home page features a conversational interface where you can describe what you want to see and Scout will build it.
How to ask Scout a question
1. Navigate to Analytics in the Spare platform.
2. Type your question into the Scout input field in plain language. You don't need to use specific terms or know which data fields to use.
3. If Scout needs more information to understand your request, it may ask a clarifying question — just select from the options provided or type your response.
4. Scout will display a summary of what it's about to generate. If it doesn't look correct, select "Continue Editing". Once it looks good to you, click "Create Report" then create a report with a live chart.
5. You can review the report that Scout generated, edit further talking back and forth with Scout, change the report visualization.
6. Once you're happy with the report, you can:
save the report, clicking the blue "Save" button
add to a dashboard, clicking "Actions" then "+ Add to Dashboard" and choose your preferred format: CSV, Excel, PDF
download directly, clicking on "Download"
navigate to the manual Report Builder view, clicking on "Report Builder"
Video Walkthrough
Example questions to try
"Show me on-time performance by service for last month"
"How many completed trips did we have per day this week?"
"Which routes missed their on-time targets in March?"
"Show me cancellations by driver over the past 30 days"
"What's our ridership trend for the last 3 months?"
Scout understands relative time expressions like "last month," "this week," and "yesterday," so you don't need to enter specific date ranges.
Tips for getting the best results
Mention your time periods. Phrases like "last month," "the past 7 days," or "Q1 2025" all work well.
Name the metric you care about. For example, "on-time performance," "completed trips," "cancellations," or "ridership" help Scout target the right data.
Add a dimension if you want to break data down. You can say "by service," "by driver," "by route," "by day", "by service and day" to slice the data.
Ask follow-up questions. Scout remembers the context of your conversation, so you can refine a result by saying something like "Now show that by contractor instead" or "Can you filter this to just last week?"
Review Scout's summary. After generating a report, read the summary Scout provides - it gives you a quick plain-language interpretation of what the data shows.
What Scout can and can't do
Scout can:
Generate analytics reports and charts from natural-language questions
Break data down by service, route, driver, contractor, date range, and more
Understand relative time expressions (e.g., "last month," "this week")
Provide a title and summary for every report it creates
Export reports to CSV, Excel, or PDF directly from the chat
Scout currently can't:
Access data outside of your organization's dataset
Predict future performance or provide forecasts
Replace the full custom report builder for highly specific or complex calculations - for those, use the manual report builder in Analytics
Frequently asked questions
Is Scout available in all regions?
Scout is available in analytics for organizations in the United States and Canada.
Can I share a Scout-generated report with my team?
Yes - save the report and it will appear in your Reports section, where team members with Analytics access can view it. You can also download and share it as a CSV, Excel, or PDF file.
Does Scout remember my previous conversations?
Your conversation history within a Scout chat session is preserved if you leave the page and return. Each new conversation starts fresh.
What if Scout's answer doesn't look right?
Scout is continuously improving. If a result looks off, try rephrasing your question with more specifics, or use the manual report builder for precise control. You can also reach out to your Spare support contact for help.
Need help?
If you run into issues using Scout or have questions about your analytics data, contact your Spare support team or submit a request through the Help Centre.