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Plan a pivot table of help desk tickets by month
- For Office and admin
- You practice Asking for a format you can use
- Time about 5 minutes
About this exercise
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.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Not saying what to count. The AI sums Minutes spent, the same mistake as last time. Try: Add: "Values: count of Ticket ID."
- Not saying which date. The AI groups by Closed date, which drops every open ticket. Try: Add: "Months come from the Opened date."
- Forgetting the exclusions. Duplicates and January tickets sneak into the counts. Try: Add: "Filter: no Duplicates, Opened July 1 to Oct 31, 2026."
- Getting click-by-click steps. The AI writes a long how-to with bold menus. Try: Say: "Just the plan: exactly 4 lines. Plain text."
What a strong prompt includes
- Says what to count
- Picks the date column
- Sets the filter
- Names the 4 labels
- Asks for plain text
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