Sandra AI is the new AI assistant for project portfolio management in Uffective. You ask questions about projects, milestones and tasks in plain language, typed or spoken, and get an answer with sources within seconds. Sandra AI analyses your data, creates charts and creates tasks on your instruction. It always works with the permissions you have in Uffective.
Sandra AI, formerly Ask Sandra, is the first part of Uffective AI: an AI assistant for project portfolio management that works directly on your project, resource and asset data. In our PULSE 07 video, Markus Lause, Managing Director of Uffective Germany GmbH, shows live in the system what the assistant can do today. This article sums up the key functions and explains why they change the way you work with project data.
Key takeaways
- Talk to your data: plain-language questions instead of filters, tables and exports.
- Answers in seconds: with links straight to the source objects.
- Real-time analytics: analyses with charts, in the chart type you ask for.
- Sandra AI takes action: create tasks, change status and assignee, always after your approval.
- Your permissions apply: Sandra AI can do exactly what you can do, but not more.
- Available now: activated through your Customer Success team, hosted in Germany.
The video at a glance: Sandra AI live in Uffective
Chapters:
- 00:00 Introduction: Uffective AI and Sandra AI
- 01:12 What Sandra AI can do
- 01:56 Finding a task by voice
- 02:49 Explaining processes from the wiki
- 03:49 Data analysis with charts
- 04:25 Permissions and the business layer
- 05:43 Creating a task, with approval
- 07:59 Changing status and assignee
- 08:52 Technology and availability
What is Sandra AI? The AI assistant for project portfolio management
Sandra AI is an AI assistant that works directly inside the Uffective platform for project portfolio, resource and asset management. As part of Uffective’s project portfolio management software, Sandra AI works directly on your project, resource and portfolio data. You open it from the S icon at the bottom of your Smart Start. There you see your previous conversations and start a new one with one click.
Sandra AI understands the data in Uffective, analyses it, visualises it and can even act on your behalf if you give it permission. The assistant is part of Uffective AI and replaces the previous Ask Sandra function.
From filtering to asking: why an AI assistant in portfolio management?
Energy utilities, grid operators and municipal utilities use Uffective to manage their investment and project portfolios and their energy asset management. Until now, anyone with a question about this data had to take a detour: open and filter tables, build a Power BI report, or export the entire data set via the Uffective Connected Multicloud and analyse it in their own BI environment. That works, but it takes time and requires knowing where the data sits and how to connect it. Saved views such as User Defined Menu Items already made recurring filters easier. Sandra AI takes the next step.
Our mission has not changed since Uffective was founded: boost your decision impact. We want to help you make better data-driven decisions. What has changed over the last two years is what technology makes possible. With Sandra AI, you simply ask your question the way you would ask a colleague, and get the answer in real time.
What Sandra AI can do: five functions at a glance
1. Questions in plain language, typed or spoken
You type your question into the input field or simply speak it. The voice input is transcribed, you check the text and send it. Sandra AI understands terms, object names and objectives from your system in context.
2. Answers in seconds, with sources
Ask for the ID of a specific task, for example, and Sandra AI searches all tasks and returns the answer within seconds. Every answer comes with links to the source objects, so one click takes you straight into the object it found.
3. Process knowledge from the wiki
Sandra AI does more than look up single objects. Ask what matters when creating a task, for example, and the assistant searches several places in Uffective, including the wiki, and brings the information together. You do not get a list of links but a full description of the process, so you can continue working right away. The sources are still listed below.
4. Real-time data analysis and visualisation
This is where Sandra AI shows its strength as an analytics tool. Ask “How many tasks were created per month in 2026 so far? Please show it as a chart, too.” and the assistant returns a monthly breakdown, a short interpretation and a chart. You decide which visualisation you get: bar chart, pie chart or box plot. You can ask follow-up questions on the result straight away. The result is an analysis as a conversation, without exporting data or building a dashboard.
5. Creating and changing tasks, with your approval
Sandra AI can also take action. Say, for instance: “Create a task for the press release and LinkedIn communication about this video. I think I will need about two hours. Please link it to the OKR Uffective AI 2026.” The assistant prepares the task, adds a short description, selects the portfolio and sets the link to the objective.
Nothing is created until you approve it. This applies to everything that creates, changes or deletes data. Which data fields Sandra AI asks for when creating an object, such as duration or objective, can be configured for your organisation. Because Sandra AI knows where you are in the system, you can then simply say: “Make me the assignee of this task and set the status to work in progress.” After your approval, you see the change in real time.
Use case: four questions, one finished piece of work
In the video, Markus Lause shows a typical sequence from his own working day:
- Find: “What is the ID of the task for the Sandra AI video?” Answer and link arrive within seconds.
- Understand: “How do I create a task in Uffective? Please check the wiki.” Sandra AI explains the process step by step.
- Analyse: “How many tasks were created per month in 2026?” Sandra AI delivers the figures and a bar chart, with June as the peak month.
- Act: “Create a task for the press release and LinkedIn, make me the assignee and set it to work in progress.” After two approvals, the task is created and updated.
Across all four steps, Markus Lause did not open a list, set a filter or fill in a form.
Time savings: what this means day to day
Creating a task properly, with a description, duration, portfolio and link to an objective, used to take five to ten minutes. With Sandra AI, it is done in seconds. The difference is even bigger for analyses: what used to require an export or a BI report, Sandra AI answers directly in the conversation.
“From my personal experience, Sandra AI has really changed the way I and my team work with Uffective.”
Markus Lause, Managing Director of Uffective Germany GmbH
Sandra AI works with your permissions
Sandra AI is your personal assistant and works with your permissions. Every request passes through Uffective’s business layer, where the security groups and the complete role and rights system set up for you apply. In short: Sandra AI can do exactly what you can do in Uffective, but not more. And not less either.
Users with broad permissions on the data get correspondingly comprehensive answers. Users with restricted rights only see their part. There is no separate permission model for the AI to maintain: your existing permission concept applies to Sandra AI as well.
Boost your decision impact: from question to decision, faster
Good portfolio decisions depend on how quickly you have the right information in hand. An AI assistant for project portfolio management shortens exactly that path: from the question, through the analysis, to the task that puts it into action, all in one conversation. The sooner you have clarity on figures, processes and responsibilities, the better informed your decisions are and the faster you act on them.
Availability and hosting
Sandra AI is available to Uffective customers now. Don’t see the S icon yet? Talk to your Customer Success Manager, who will activate the function for you. Technically, Sandra AI uses OpenAI models, run in Uffective’s own Microsoft Azure environment in Germany. Uffective is certified to ISO/IEC 27001, the international standard for information security management systems.
Frequently asked questions about Sandra AI
What is Sandra AI?
Sandra AI is the AI assistant in Uffective. It answers questions about project and portfolio data in plain language, analyses and visualises data and creates objects such as tasks on instruction.
What is project portfolio management software?
Project portfolio management software brings all of an organisation’s projects, resources and investments into one central view. It helps prioritise, manage capacity and base decisions on shared data. Uffective extends this foundation with the AI assistant Sandra, which makes project data queryable in plain language.
How does AI support project portfolio management?
In project portfolio management, AI removes the manual search and analysis work: instead of filtering reports, you ask questions in natural language and get sourced answers in seconds — leaving more time for decisions rather than data prep.
How is Sandra AI different from Ask Sandra?
Sandra AI replaces Ask Sandra. The new assistant analyses data, creates charts, explains processes from the wiki and can create and change data after your approval.
Can Sandra AI see data I am not allowed to see?
No. Every request passes through Uffective’s business layer with your security groups and permissions. Sandra AI sees and does exactly as much as you do.
Can Sandra AI change data without my consent?
No. Before anything is created, changed or deleted, Sandra AI shows the planned change and waits for your approval.
Where is the data processed?
Sandra AI runs in Uffective’s own Microsoft Azure environment in Germany. Uffective is certified to ISO/IEC 27001. This matters especially for critical infrastructure organisations such as energy utilities and grid operators.
How do I activate Sandra AI?
Talk to your Customer Success Manager. Once the function is active, you will find the S icon on your Smart Start.
Watch the video now
Watch the full live demo in the video above and see how Sandra AI turns questions into decisions. Want to use Sandra AI in your organisation or learn more about Uffective? Get in touch. More from the PULSE series: how FYI Chat keeps project communication right on your projects and tasks.
