Connecting Slack to your Vendorful AI Assistant

With your organization's knowledge safely loaded into Vendorful, accessing it is on demand is the next step. While the Vendorful web app provides an interface for responding to written questionnaires, you can also leverage the capabilities of your AI Assistant in a different context. Specifically, you can use Slack or Microsoft Teams to ask specific questions and get answers on demand.

Let's look at the steps you need to take in order to start using Vendorful via Slack.

Make Sure Your Account Supports It

Not every account is eligible for Slack integration. If you are unsure or seem unable to connect your Slack to Vendorful despite following the steps that follow, reach out to us for help.

Activate the Integration in Vendorful

As an authorized user, visit your organization's settings page. Note that you might need to reload if your account configuration was updated. At the bottom of this page, there is a link that reads "Install Slack Chat Bot." (We've got a handy red arrow in the screenshot below to make it easier to find.) Click the link.

Authorize the Integration in Slack

Before you proceed, be advised that the Slack bot will assume the same privileges as the User that completes the following step. Once you've clicked the link from the previous section, you'll be directed to a page that looks like this, but with a different logo for your organization:

Simply click the "Allow" button and you'll be all set.

Note:  Users from different Organizations in the Vendorful AI Assistant who are using the same Slack team can install the Slack app multiple times, Slack will use the last installed instance of the App. In practice, this should not be an issue. However, if you work at an organization that has multiple Vendorful accounts but a single Slack instance, this should be considered.

Using Slack

Now that Slack is connected to your Vendorful AI Assistant, you can ask it questions. As with the questionnaire response, the responses are synthesized from your content library. This means that if there isn't content relating to your question, the Assistant will not be able to answer. If you are a software company, for example, and have product documentation in your content library, then the AI Assistant should be able to answer questions relating to your product. However, if you inquire as to the best seafood restaurant in New Jersey, you will not get an answer. (Unless, that is, you have populated your content library with information relating to seafood restaurants.)

To query your AI Assistant, you use a slash command:

/vendorful This is where your question goes.

Removing the Integration

Now that Slack is connected to your Vendorful AI Assistant, you can ask it questions. As with the questionnaire response, the responses are synthesized from your content library. This means that if there isn't content relating to your question, the

On the Slack Side

The Slack App can be removed by the user from his/her workspace on https://app.slack.com/apps-manage/${slackTeamId}/integrations/installed.

In Vendorful

There is nothing you need to do here if you have removed the integration via Slack. If there is no matching integration (in Slack) found for the team_id of a received slash command, no Content Library will be queried. However, you may notice that there is a garbage can icon next to the integration information on your organization's settings page.

If you click the garbage can, you won't actually remove the integration from Slack -- as mentioned above, you'll need to do that via Slack -- but will disable Slack's access to your content library. So it's probably best to think of this as disabling the integration without removing it.