Outcomes

ASK.

Get answers from your information with the context and evidence behind them.

Ask makes your information answerable: what applies to a case, why it applies, where it comes from and what supports it. It is designed to answer from your information, to show what each answer rests on and to say what it cannot establish.

iiRDS
Knowledge Graph
Information Units

EVERY ANSWER RAISES THE NEXT QUESTION.

A technician learns that the maximum operating temperature of this Model 200 is 65 °C. The next questions follow: why not the 60 °C in the data sheet, whether the value is released, why it changed and whether anyone tested it. The answers often sit in different places: a specification, a change record, a test report, or a colleague who remembers. Without them, even a correct value is hard to trust.

FROM AN ANSWER TO WHAT STANDS BEHIND IT

The technician keeps asking in the service portal, and each question goes one level deeper. The portal is one example. Ask is designed to take questions from other applications as well, to use what they know about the case, and to ask back when something is missing.

Illustrative exampleNot real customer or product data

Known about this caseModel 200, variant B, firmware 2.2 · English · signed in as service technician

AnswerFrom the record
Answer, From the record: “What is the maximum operating temperature?”
65 °C
For this Model 200, variant B, on firmware 2.2.
Rests on
- Product specification, revision C: maximum operating temperature for firmware 2.2
- Machine record: Model 200, variant B, firmware 2.2
ApplicabilityFrom the record
Applicability, From the record: “Why not 60 °C, as in the data sheet?”
The data sheet was written for firmware 2.1, where the limit is 60 °C. The specification records both limits, each with the firmware it applies to.
Rests on
- Product specification, revision C: limits for firmware 2.1 and 2.2
- Data sheet, page 14: written for firmware 2.1
OriginFrom the record
Origin, From the record: “Where does 65 °C come from, and is it released?”
From revision C of the product specification. Revision C has been recorded as Released since 12 May 2026. It replaced revision B, which recorded 60 °C only.
Rests on
- Product specification: revision history and recorded status
- Maintained by: product engineering
Recorded reasonNamed in a source
Recorded reason, Named in a source: “Why was the limit raised?”
Revision C names engineering change EC-⁠2207 for firmware 2.2 as the reason for the new value. It says nothing more about the change.
Rests on
- Product specification, revision C: change note naming EC-⁠2207
Evidence boundary, Not established: “Was the higher limit confirmed by a test?”
This answer cannot establish that. No test report linked to revision C is found in the information you can open.
Not found: A test report linked to revision C

WHERE AN ANSWER STOPS

Missing context: If the machine or its firmware is not known, the answer asks for it or gives each value with the firmware it applies to.
Nothing found: If the information a person can open does not cover a question, the answer says so and names what was not found.
Restricted information: Information a person may not open neither shapes their answer nor appears in it. The answer reads the same whether information is missing or closed to them.
Not an approval: A source shows where a statement comes from. A recorded status, such as Released, is what is recorded with the source. Review and approval stay with the people and processes responsible for them.

EVERY ANSWER RAISES THE NEXT QUESTION.

FROM AN ANSWER TO WHAT STANDS BEHIND IT

Answer, From the record: “What is the maximum operating temperature?”

Applicability, From the record: “Why not 60 °C, as in the data sheet?”

Origin, From the record: “Where does 65 °C come from, and is it released?”

Recorded reason, Named in a source: “Why was the limit raised?”

Evidence boundary, Not established: “Was the higher limit confirmed by a test?”

WHERE AN ANSWER STOPS

WHAT COULD YOUR INFORMATION DO NEXT?