{"id":"sheet-off-help-desk-pivot-plan","audience":"office","category":"spreadsheets","track":"data","technique":"format","title":"Plan a pivot table of help desk tickets by month","free":false,"task":"Your manager wants to see how many help desk tickets each category got per month from July to October 2026, leaving out tickets closed as Duplicate. Ask for the pivot plan as exactly 4 numbered lines labeled Rows:, Columns:, Values: and Filter:, naming the exact column on each line. Plain text, under 70 words.","materialLabel":"Your ticket export (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Help desk export - Jan 1 to Nov 5, 2026 (1,904 rows)\n\nColumns:\nA Ticket ID | B Opened | C Closed | D Category | E Priority | F Assigned to | G Status | H Minutes spent\n\nSample rows:\nHD-4410 | 2026-07-02 | 2026-07-02 | Password reset | Low | Kai | Resolved | 10\nHD-4411 | 2026-07-02 | 2026-07-05 | Printer | Medium | Rhea | Resolved | 45\nHD-4475 | 2026-08-14 | 2026-08-14 | Password reset | Low | Kai | Duplicate | 0\nHD-4590 | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-03 | Laptop | High | Omar | Resolved | 180\nHD-4702 | 2026-10-21 | | Printer | Medium | Rhea | Open | 30\n\nNotes:\n- Status values: Open, Resolved, Duplicate\n- Opened is a date; Closed is blank for open tickets\n- Last time someone summed Minutes spent and called it \"ticket volume\"","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":4},{"type":"maxWords","max":70},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Not saying what to count","why":"The AI sums Minutes spent, the same mistake as last time.","fix":"Add: \"Values: count of Ticket ID.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Not saying which date","why":"The AI groups by Closed date, which drops every open ticket.","fix":"Add: \"Months come from the Opened date.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Forgetting the exclusions","why":"Duplicates and January tickets sneak into the counts.","fix":"Add: \"Filter: no Duplicates, Opened July 1 to Oct 31, 2026.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Getting click-by-click steps","why":"The AI writes a long how-to with bold menus.","fix":"Say: \"Just the plan: exactly 4 lines. Plain text.\"","checks":["numberedItems","maxWords","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Says what to count","patterns":["count","number of tickets","ticket id"]},{"label":"Picks the date column","patterns":["opened","column b","by month"]},{"label":"Sets the filter","patterns":["duplicate","july","october"]},{"label":"Names the 4 labels","patterns":["rows:","columns:","values:","filter:"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown"]}],"hint":"A pivot table answers one question. Tell the AI what to count, which date to group by and what to leave out.","rubricLabels":["Rows: is Category (column D) and Columns: is the month of Opened (column B, grouped by month)","Values: is a count of Ticket ID (column A), not a sum of Minutes spent","Filter: excludes Status = Duplicate and keeps Opened dates from July 1 to October 31, 2026"]}