Skip to content

Data analysis (Data360)

On Data360 Chat, the assistant can use Data360 MCP tools to search indicators, read metadata, pull time series, work with codelists and disaggregations, and build chart specifications (often rendered as Vega / Vega-Lite). This page describes what to expect and how to read Proof-Carrying Numbers (PCN).

What the assistant can do (typical tools)

Depending on your server configuration, tool names and coverage may vary. Common capabilities include:

Capability Example user intent
Search indicators “Find indicators about rural water in East Africa.”
Metadata “What does this indicator code mean? Who publishes it?”
Time series “GDP per capita for Colombia, annual, last 20 years.”
Disaggregation / codelists “Break this down by gender” or “map this country code.”
Chart specs “Line chart comparing three countries for one indicator.”

The model chooses whether to call tools. Clear, data-oriented questions get better tool use than purely general knowledge prompts.

Suggested question patterns

  • Discovery — “List indicators related to [topic] for [region or country].”
  • Definition — “Define indicator [code or name] and name the source.”
  • Comparison — “Compare [indicator] for [country A] and [country B] from [year] to [year].”
  • Visualization — “Show a bar chart of …” or “Plot … over time.”
  • Follow-up — “Narrow that to urban only” or “Use constant US dollars if available.”

How a data turn usually flows

  1. You ask in natural language.
  2. The assistant may emit short reasoning or tool segments (search → fetch → chart).
  3. Numbers and tables from tools appear in the reply.
  4. Charts may appear inline in the chat and/or in the artifact panel for larger specs.
  5. You can ask follow-ups to refine geography, years, or chart type.

Charts (Vega / Vega-Lite)

  • Charts are interactive in many browsers (hover, zoom—depends on spec).
  • If a chart fails to render, try refreshing the page once; persistent failures may mean a spec error or blocked resource—report to your admin with the chat link if allowed.

Proof-Carrying Numbers (PCN)

PCN adds verification badges next to numeric values in the assistant’s message when the UI supports it.

Badge / state Meaning (typical)
Verified (or similar) The value is grounded in a tool result you can trace (e.g. same number came back from a data call).
Unverified The model stated the number without a matching tool trace for that value—treat with extra care.

PCN is not legal or audit sign-off

PCN helps you see provenance at a glance. It does not replace your judgment, methodology review, or official statistics workflows.

Tips when reading numbers

  • Prefer verified figures when making decisions or slides.
  • Ask: “Which tool result is this number from?” if something looks surprising.
  • For rates of change or derived metrics, confirm definitions with metadata questions.

When the assistant does not use data tools

Possible reasons:

  • The question read as general knowledge (no data need).
  • MCP or Data360 is unavailable (timeout, maintenance).
  • The deployment restricts tools for certain users or routes.

Try: Rephrase with explicit data intent: “Search Data360 for …”, “Plot from official series …”, or name a country and indicator family.

See also