Account Instructions

Account Instructions let you give Billy a persistent set of instructions that shape how it answers — written once, applied to every question across your account.

By default, Billy interprets each question on its own. When two people ask the same thing in different ways, or when a term like "team" maps to more than one dimension in your data, Billy can resolve it differently from one answer to the next.

Account Instructions remove that ambiguity: you tell Billy how your account works once, and every user gets answers built on the same assumptions.

Use Account Instructions to:

• Set a default cost type — for example, have Billy answer in net amortized cost unless a question says otherwise.

• Map terms to specific dimensions — tell Billy that "team" means a specific Virtual Tag, native tag key, or Cost Center label, so it stops guessing.

• Standardize how answers look — set preferences for the format or framing you want in Billy's responses.

• Encode account context — describe the conventions, naming, and structures specific to your account so Billy's answers reflect them.

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Prerequisites

• AI Services must be enabled for your account. This is a one-time action performed by an account Admin.

• You must have the permission to edit Account Instructions: Edit Account Instructions. Admins have this permission by default.

Only users with the Edit Account Instructions permission can view, edit, or toggle the instructions. Everyone else receives Billy's answers with the instructions already applied, without seeing or managing them.

Open Account Instructions

1. Navigate to Settings in the Finout sidebar.

2. Open the AI Governance tab.

Write your instructions

1. In the Account Instructions field, write your instructions in plain language. No need to follow any required structure — write the instructions the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

2. Keep your instructions within the 5,000-character limit.

Test your instructions

Before you save, you can test how Billy answers with your instructions applied — including unsaved edits — without affecting anyone else in your account. This lets you confirm your instructions produce the answers you expect before they go live for every user.

1. Write or edit your instructions in the Account Instructions field.

2. Click Test instructions in the top-right corner of the field.

3. Billy opens in a side panel. Ask any question to see how Billy answers with the instructions currently in the field applied.

Refine your wording in the field and re-test until Billy's answers match what you intend. Nothing is saved or applied account-wide until you click Save — the instructions you're testing stay in the field.

Testing uses the instructions currently in the field, including changes you haven't saved yet. Other users keep getting Billy's answers based on the last saved version (or no instructions, if none are saved) until you save.

Save your instructions

Click Save. Your instructions take effect for every account user the next time they ask Billy a question.

Turn instructions on or off in Billy

You can control whether Billy applies your Account Instructions without deleting them.

1. Open Billy from the left navigation.

2. Toggle Account Instructions on or off. When on, Billy applies your instructions to every answer. When off, Billy answers without them.

The toggle controls whether Billy applies your instructions — it doesn't edit them. It's on by default; if no instructions are set yet, Billy simply answers as it normally would until you add them.

Writing effective instructions

Account Instructions work best when they remove a specific ambiguity or set a specific default. A few patterns:

Set a default cost type

When a question doesn't specify a cost type, always answer in net amortized cost.

This keeps every user's numbers consistent, regardless of how they phrase the question.

Map an ambiguous term to one dimension

When someone refers to a "team," resolve it to the Engineering Teams Virtual Tag — not the native aws:team tag.

This stops Billy from picking a different dimension across sessions when several could match.

Encode an account convention

Our production environment is identified by the env:prod tag. Treat "production" and "prod" as the same thing.

This teaches Billy the naming your account actually uses.

Be specific and name the exact dimension, tag key, Cost Center, or Virtual Tag you want Billy to use. Vague instructions ("be accurate," "use the right tag") give Billy nothing concrete to act on.

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How Billy uses your instructions

• Account-wide. Instructions apply to every user in the account who queries Billy, so everyone shares the same baseline interpretation.

• Permissions still apply. Account Instructions do not change what data a user can see. Billy continues to respect each user's existing Finout permissions and data access. An instruction cannot grant a user visibility into data outside their access scope.

• Per-question override. A specific question that names its own cost type, dimension, or time period takes precedence over a default set in your instructions.

Limitations

• Account Instructions currently apply to Billy only. Support for the Finout MCP Server is coming soon.

• Instructions are limited to 5,000 characters.

FAQs

Do Account Instructions change what data Billy can access? No. Billy always respects your existing Finout permissions and data access. Instructions shape how Billy interprets and answers questions, not what it is allowed to see.