Ask before every school trip, answered in Teams

The challenge

Before each trip, she checks the weather, the roads and the trams on five different websites. Twice last year, a class of fifty set off into a storm. Once, the coach sat for an hour behind a closed bridge.

How the flow works

With xMap Flows, Hanna built Guide. Guide is an AI employee: a flow of 5 blocks.

1. When a teacher asks in Teams,

   A teacher asks in Teams (Microsoft Teams event)

2. Guide reads where and when the trip is,

   Plan the trip (AI agent)

3. checks that day’s forecast,

   The day’s forecast (Weather forecast)

4. looks for closures on the way,

   Closures on the way (Traffic incidents)

5. and answers in the same chat.

   Answer in Teams (Reply)

What it solves

• Five websites to check: solved by Weather forecast and Traffic incidents
• Fifty pupils in a storm: solved by AI agent and Weather forecast
• Coach stuck an hour: solved by Traffic incidents and Reply

The result

Now any teacher types in Teams: Danube island, Friday, fifty pupils. In a minute Guide answers with the forecast, any closures on the way, and a clear go or rethink. Last month it moved two trips before the rain came.

Hanna still plans the trips. She just stopped planning the storms into them.

An illustrative scenario: the figures are modelled to show what the flow produces, not a customer's results.

The flow, block by block

1. 1

   A teacher asks in Teams

   Microsoft Teams event · Teams event

   Starts the flow when something happens in Microsoft Teams: a new record, a message, a change.

2. 2

   Plan the trip

   AI agent

   An AI agent: for each incoming message it thinks, uses the blocks you link to its Tools port (data, xMap AI, lookups, your tables, other flows, apps), remembers the conversation and writes an answer in {{reply}}.

3. 3

   The day’s forecast

   Weather forecast

   The weather forecast (Open-Meteo, from national weather services) for up to 16 days: temperature, rain, wind and UV.

4. 4

   Closures on the way

   Traffic incidents

   Road closures, roadworks and other incidents on online maps right now, with where they are.

5. 5

   Answer in Teams

   Reply

   Answers whoever started the flow, on the same channel: the app or system that called its Webhook / API gets the answer back, and a message from Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Teams, SMS, Outlook or Discord gets a reply in the same chat, through the account of the block that received it.

Templates to build it

Ready-made flows with the same blocks. Open one, change the city and the kind of place, and run it.

• Traffic desk assistant for presentersA traffic assistant presenters can ask about any road, live.
• Road and weather chat for my driversA chat for drivers: closures, roadworks, the weather and the nearest fuel or truck stop where they are going.
• Storm and outage helpline chat for my customersA chat that tells customers the weather and road incidents around them in a storm or outage.
• A local guide chat for your news siteA chat for readers: what is near them, the roads and the weather, live.
• Attendee concierge chat for my conferenceA concierge chat for attendees: food, travel and weather near the venue.
• Site helper chat for contractors on the roadA chat that tells contractors the nearest hospital, police and fuel to a site, and the weather.

Industries

Learn how it works

• How to build a WhatsApp assistant that answers about placesCustomers ask on WhatsApp; an AI agent searches and replies.
• AI agentAn AI that decides which tools to use to answer or complete a task.
• Reverse geocodingTurning coordinates into a street, district or address.
• AI agents with tools and memoryAn agent that answers questions using your blocks as tools.
• Answer on WhatsApp, Telegram or SlackAn assistant that replies in the same chat.
• Traffic incidents and road closuresClosures and roadworks in an area or near each of your places.

More stories from Education

• Forty school buses, no surprise road closuresSaeed coordinates transport for a group of eight schools in Abu Dhabi. Forty buses, three thousand children.
• The tutoring school that answers parents at midnightNisha owns a small English tutoring school in Colombo, with three branches across the city.
• A reading tutor down the street, for every new childMaya is the only coordinator at a small reading charity in Atlanta. She pairs children with volunteer tutors.
• Two thousand students, never stranded by a strikeLuca leads the international office at one of Rome’s largest universities. Two thousand exchange students a year.

All 137 stories →