When you ask Ask Paddy to do something, it does not just go ahead. It works out exactly what it would do, shows you, and waits.
The confirmation card
Paddy replies with a card headed Confirm this action. It sets out what will happen in plain English, along with the details that matter: which site, which people, which dates. Underneath are two buttons, Confirm and Cancel.
Nothing is written to your account until you press Confirm. Press Cancel and nothing happens at all.
Read the card, not just the message. The card is the thing that is actually going to run. If it does not match what you meant, cancel it and rephrase.
Who can confirm
Only owners and managers can ask Paddy to do things at all. Staff can ask questions and get answers.
Only the person who asked can confirm that action. A colleague cannot approve it for you, even another manager.
An action waits for one hour. After that it expires and you need to ask again, which stops a card sitting confirmed hours later against out-of-date information.
What gets recorded
Every action Paddy carries out writes a line to your audit log, showing what was done, by whom and when. From the record itself there is no difference between something you did by hand and something you asked Paddy to do, because in both cases you are the one who decided.
Actions with more than one step
Some requests take several steps. "Duplicate the opening checks for the new site and assign them to the kitchen team" is two. The card lists every step, and confirming runs them in order.
If a step fails part way through, Paddy tells you what succeeded, what it undid, and what is still in place, so you are never left guessing about the state of your account.
If Paddy declines
Sometimes Paddy will refuse, and it will say why. Common reasons:
You asked it to fill in a record, complete a check, or sign something. It never does that.
You asked it to remove an allergen. It can add, never take away.
You asked it to delete a person. It offers to deactivate them instead.
The request needs owner or manager permissions and you are signed in as staff.
The request would create an unreasonable amount at once, such as hundreds of pieces of equipment in a single go.
See Ask Paddy cannot answer a question if you think it has declined something it should be able to do.
On the mobile app Paddy answers questions but does not carry out actions, so you will not see confirmation cards there. Use the admin panel in a browser.