LearnGrokUse one structured intake format for every tenant report, then ask the assistant to produce the same repair-log fields each time. This gives property managers a usable triage queue rather than a pile of messages.
This workflow is for rented homes. It helps you identify reports that need immediate human escalation, request missing evidence, and record the action taken. Your organisation's safety process, contractor arrangements and local obligations still control the final decision.
Key point
Separate urgency from certainty
Treat a report as potentially urgent when the described risk is serious, even if the tenant has not yet supplied complete evidence.
1. Put each report into a fixed intake record
Before asking the assistant to classify anything, copy the tenant's message into a standard record. Do not mix reports from different homes in one request. Remove personal details that are not needed to arrange or assess the repair.
Use these fields in your property system, spreadsheet or case-management form:
- Property reference: your internal address or tenancy reference
- Date and time received
- Reported by: tenant, neighbour, contractor or staff member
- Issue description: the tenant's words, kept intact
- Location: for example,
first-floor bathroom ceiling - When it started: exact date if known, otherwise the tenant's estimate
- Current condition: worsening, stable, intermittent or unknown
- Immediate effects: no heating, water entering the home, power loss, blocked access and so on
- Evidence supplied: photo, video, meter reading, contractor note or none
- Access information: available times and any stated access constraint
- Previous related case: reference number, if known
Write unknown facts as unknown. Do not fill gaps with assumptions such as “probably a minor leak”. That is the point where a tidy log can become misleading.
Watch out
Do not turn absence of evidence into absence of risk
A tenant may be unable to take a photograph safely, or the issue may only appear at night. Record what is missing and ask for it, but route a potentially serious report for human review first.
2. Use a repeatable classification prompt
Paste one intake record and use the following prompt. Keep the wording stable so that entries remain comparable from week to week.
Classify this rented-home maintenance report for an internal repair log.
Use only the facts supplied. Do not diagnose the cause or state that a home is legally compliant or non-compliant. If information is missing, say "unknown".
Return a markdown table with these columns:
1. Property reference
2. Issue category
3. Proposed priority: immediate escalation, urgent attendance, routine repair, or review needed
4. Safety or habitability flag: yes, no, or uncertain
5. Reason for the flag, based only on reported facts
6. Evidence or information still needed
7. Next action for the property team
8. Suggested tenant acknowledgement
9. Questions for a contractor or manager
For "immediate escalation", state that a trained staff member must review the report under the organisation's emergency procedure. Do not give the tenant technical repair instructions.
Intake record:
[paste one completed intake record]
The four priority labels are intentionally broad. They help you sort the queue, not replace the judgement of the person who receives the report.
| Proposed priority | Use it when the report says | Your next move |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate escalation | There may be immediate danger, serious water ingress, loss of an essential service, fire-related concern, electrical concern, insecure access, or another severe risk | Send it to the duty manager or emergency route under your internal procedure |
| Urgent attendance | The home may be difficult to occupy safely or normally, but the report does not clearly show an immediate emergency | Arrange prompt review or attendance and keep the tenant updated |
| Routine repair | The report describes a contained defect with no stated safety or serious habitability effect | Log it, obtain any needed evidence and schedule work |
| Review needed | The facts conflict, the location is unclear or the description is too thin to rank responsibly | Ask focused questions and have a staff member assess the case |
Note
Keep your priority terms local
If your repair policy uses different labels, replace the four labels in the prompt. The assistant should match the queue staff actually use.
3. Check the log before you create work
Read the output against the original tenant message. This takes less time than correcting a wrongly routed job later. The assistant is useful for consistency, but it can misread vague language, confuse past damage with current damage, or give too much weight to a supplied photograph.
Look for these signs that the output is wrong:
- It says there is no risk when the tenant mentioned smoke, sparking, flooding, loss of heating, loss of water, insecure doors or windows, or inability to use a key part of the home.
- It selects a cause, such as a boiler fault or roof leak, when the report only describes symptoms.
- It turns “last winter” or “sometimes” into a precise start date.
- It treats a tenant's opinion as a confirmed fact, for example “the wiring is dangerous”.
- It omits a location, time, access constraint or previous repair reference that changes the work required.
- Its tenant acknowledgement promises a visit time, remedy or responsibility that your team has not approved.
Check
A good entry preserves uncertainty
You should be able to point from every priority reason back to a phrase in the intake record. If you cannot, edit the entry or mark it review needed.
4. Create the repair log entry
After checking, copy the approved fields into one row in your repair log. Add fields that show what your team, rather than the assistant, actually did:
- Case ID
- Proposed priority and approved priority
- Assigned owner
- Escalated at and escalated to
- Evidence requested and evidence received
- Contractor instruction sent
- Tenant update sent
- Next review date
- Outcome: attended, repaired, duplicate, tenant resolved, further works or other approved status
Keep the original message attached to the case. The log is a summary, not the evidence itself. If a manager changes the proposed priority, record why in a short note such as manager review: tenant reports water near consumer unit.
Do not paste a whole inbox export into one request. Individual reports need separate case references, evidence trails and decisions. For capabilities and handling that may vary with the service you use, check the xAI documentation overview.
Stop
Do not send the generated tenant message without review
Remove unsupported promises, add the correct contact route, and make sure the wording matches the action your team has actually approved.
5. Build the weekly habit
Set aside a short daily triage block. Process new reports first, then revisit every case marked review needed or awaiting evidence. Once a week, filter the log for repeated reports at the same property, overdue next-review dates and cases where the proposed and approved priority differ. Those differences show where your prompt, intake form or staff guidance needs tightening.
When the workflow does not work
If outputs vary too much, the intake records are probably inconsistent. Make location, current condition and immediate effects mandatory fields. If too many entries become review needed, add the three questions staff most often ask tenants to the intake form. If serious reports are being labelled routine, stop relying on the classification until a manager has reviewed the prompt and recent cases. Treat the log as a controlled work record, not an automatic repair decision.
