Interviews

Interviews are the primary way knowledge gets into a store. The most valuable expertise is rarely written down, and the people who hold it rarely have time to document it. So instead of asking them to write, you create an interview and assign it to the people who know the subject best. Clara conducts the conversation in the respondent’s own language, by text or on a call: she walks through the topics you set, follows up where an answer is thin, moves on where it’s solid, and lets people pause and come back whenever it suits them. A completed interview is raw input, not finished knowledge. Once answers come in, you consolidate them in Work with Clara.

​

Create an interview

There are two ways to start:

• Yourself: open Interviews in the store’s sidebar and click New interview.
• With Clara: in Work with Clara, use the Draft interviews skill. Clara spots the knowledge gaps worth exploring and drafts interviews with the right people. Her drafts appear on the Interviews page under draft(s) ready to review, and on Home.

Clara only prepares drafts. Nothing is sent until you review a draft and send it. You can also click Save as draft at any point to finish later. An interview is defined by its focus, its topics, optional instructions for Clara, and what Clara has access to.

​

Focus and topics

​

Interview focus

The Interview focus says what the interview is about, for example: How claims get handled end-to-end, especially escalations when coverage is unclear. Clara keeps it in mind through every topic. Respondents see the focus quoted in their invitation email, so keep it about the subject. To show a different teaser in the email without changing the interview, use Edit the focus shown in the email.

​

Topics

Topics are the route the interview follows. Clara walks them in order, about 5 to 10 minutes each. An interview needs at least one topic and can have up to 12. For each topic, give a title and a description of what it should surface. Clara asks questions until the topic is covered, then recaps and moves to the next one. When every topic is closed, she sends a closing summary of what was confirmed, what was inferred and what is still open, and the interview is complete. Each topic also has a type, which tells Clara how to work it: For any type other than Free-form, the description is optional: the type already covers how Clara works the topic.

​

Focus vs. instructions for Clara

Instructions for Clara are optional rules for how Clara runs the interview: what to avoid, how thorough to be, how to close. For example: Be exhaustive: cover every situation they handle rather than going deep on one. Never ask for a single example. Instructions let you change the interview format: strictly following a list of questions, running an open discovery, or brainstorming with the person. When the instructions and the focus conflict, Clara follows the instructions. Instructions can’t override Clara’s guardrails, such as letting respondents say a question isn’t theirs to answer, or never claiming the interview is anonymous.

​

Choose what Clara has access to

During an interview, Clara doesn’t search the whole knowledge store. She works only from what you give her: the focus, the topics, the instructions, and the artifacts and documents below. She also knows your organization context, so she doesn’t ask about what it already covers.

​

Artifacts

Under Artifacts, click Add artifacts to choose which of the store’s artifacts Clara should know, such as a glossary to review or a map to complete. Without any, she only knows the focus, topics and documents. For each artifact, choose whether the respondent sees it:

• Display to the user on: the respondent can open the artifact beside the chat.
• Display to the user off (default): only Clara sees it.

Clara always reads the latest version of each artifact. The more artifacts you add, the more Clara has to carry through every turn, so pick the ones that matter for the interview.

​

Reference documents

Under Reference documents, add the documents the interview is framed around, such as a policy to review, last year’s notes or a deck to challenge. Click Upload files, or Add from Sources to pick documents from the store. Clara reads them before asking questions and cites them in her answers. The respondent can always open reference documents beside the chat. Say in the focus or in a topic how each document should be used. You can’t send or test the interview until the documents are ready.

​

Language

By default, each respondent picks their language when they start, and their preferred language is selected for them. To suggest a language, click Set language in the editor. Respondents can still change it for their own interview, before or during the conversation. Typed interviews support most major languages. Calls support a smaller set. When a call isn’t available in the chosen language, the respondent types their answers instead. After an interview, reviewers can use Translate transcript to read it in another language.

​

Assign and send

​

Who should complete it

Under Who should complete this interview?, search for members or type an email address and press Enter. Each person gets their own interview.

• Only members with the Technical user or Contributor profile can be interviewed. Members with the User profile can’t be assigned interviews.
• New email addresses are invited as interview participants: they can take their interview, but don’t get access to the store’s data. See User management.

​

How to reach them

• When to send: Send now, or Schedule the invitation email for later. The interview is created right away; only the email waits.
• Send reminders: nudge people who haven’t started or finished. Choose when reminders start, how often, and how many. Reminders stop when the interview is completed.
• Add a message: open the email with your own note.

Click Preview email to see the invitation, then Send interview. If you assign only yourself, the interview opens straight away.

​

Campaigns

Under Assign to a campaign, group related interviews on the Interviews page, for example one campaign per workshop wave or interview round. From a campaign you can Remind all the people who haven’t finished.

​

Test before sending

Click Test to run through the interview yourself, exactly as a respondent would see it. Choose a language, and run the Full interview or start from a specific topic. A test opens in a new tab and sends nothing to anyone. In a test, you can Jump to topic and Give feedback to Clara to improve the draft. Test runs aren’t counted in lists and are removed once the draft is sent.

​

What the respondent sees

Respondents open the interview from the link in their email. They answer in their own words, and Clara follows up.

• Typing or talking: when calls are available, respondents choose between Type my answers and Talk it through on a call, and can switch at any point.
• Context: the artifacts set to be displayed and the reference documents, available beside the chat. Respondents can also attach their own files.
• Progress: the topics, with the current one and those completed.
• Taking a break: progress saves automatically. Respondents can leave and come back to the same link to pick up where they left off.

​

Follow up on interviews

The Interviews page lists every interview with its status: Not started, In progress, Completed, or Scheduled. Filter by interviewee, creator, date or status, and search by name or transcript content. From an interview’s menu you can:

• View the full transcript, and translate it.
• See Details: how the interview was set up, its focus, topics and reminders.
• Remind or Nudge the respondent, or Stop reminders.
• Duplicate as draft to reuse its content and settings with other people.
• Move to campaign, Rename, or Archive.

To turn completed interviews into knowledge, use the Analyze interviews skill in Work with Clara. Clara surfaces the themes, agreements and contradictions worth acting on, and proposes updates to your artifacts.

​

Import an existing transcript

If an interview happened outside Clarifeye, for example in a Teams or Zoom call, click Import transcript on the Interviews page. Upload .txt, .md, .vtt, .srt or .json files, up to 20 at once, or paste the text. Each file becomes its own interview, which Clara can analyze like any other. Transcripts are imported as-is, so remove anything sensitive or off-topic before importing.