The current state of AI in software

Seemingly AI (Artificial Intelligence) services have been jammed into every corner of every app, forced down users throats by the beckoning whim of shareholders and investors. Most of these services don’t actually feel like they help you, they feel like another layer of complexity and bloat on systems that are already horrendously overloaded (looking at you Gemini).

Of course there is value in these AI models and systems, over the last few years there have been huge leaps in many industries due to the recent AI boom. Like any tool, the key to its effectiveness is knowing when and where to use it to save the maximum amount of time and effort, rather than having it plastered everywhere in the UX.

How AI Reporting supports homelessness services

That’s why, in Harker, our new Natural Language Reporting (NLR) feature is only there when you need it - to do the heavy lifting for you. Charities often need to justify funding to donors and local authorities using data to demonstrate the impact of their services, which presents a huge challenge for charities who are using outdated software. Pulling data into reports currently takes a significant amount of time for these charities, which means their staff spend more time behind a computer and less time doing their best work to support vulnerable people.

Harker’s NLR reporting feature empowers services to build complex data visualisations that demonstrate their impact in seconds by asking questions in plain English. Our new NLR system uses AI to allow frontline workers to simply describe the report they’re looking for.

For example: “What percentage of rough sleepers aged 16 to 25 were first found rough sleeping in the L3 postcode and returned to rough sleeping after taking the drug and alcohol course, compared with those who didn’t?”

Manually, this visualisation would involve diving deep into the data across many Entities in Harker, but with NLR, the process takes seconds not hours, allowing homelessness services to spend less time on reporting admin and more time making an impact.

Creating Harker’s AI reporting feature

Under the shiny frontend, NLR doesn’t replace Harker’s reporting or give an AI full control over a charity’s data. Instead, the model translates the user’s request into a tightly formatted report configuration using only the types and fields averrable to that specific user. For example, the AI knows that a service user Entity has fields such as Name, Date of Birth, Last Known Location etc, but it doesn’t actually have access to view or manipulate the data itself. This helps keep sensitive customer data out of where it shouldn’t be.

Before anything reaches our report builder, the generated report config is checked against a strict schema. If fields, filters or relations don’t exist, or the requested fields aren’t represented reliably, the system returns an explanation rather than just guessing what the user wants. Then once finished, the report remains fully editable, so users can tweak and inspect the specific choices the NLR system has made, and fine tune them using the same reporting tools they’re already used to.

The impact of AI for homelessness services

Aside from helping homelessness services demonstrate their impact to funders, NLR allows them to gain insight into their own data more quickly and effectively. A better understanding of that data leads to more powerful, evidence-based solutions to tackling homelessness. In turn, services can reduce the time and money required to help each service user, ultimately empowering services to support more people.

Leveraging AI to save time can be hugely beneficial, but only when it complements human ability rather than replacing it. That’s the principle behind NLR: removing the friction from reporting while keeping control in the hands of the people who understand their communities best.

For us, AI isn’t the end goal, better outcomes are. By giving charities faster access to meaningful insights, NLR allows them to spend more time directly helping those that need it.

See the CRM built for homelessness charities

To see our NLR system in action and see first-hand how it could benefit your charity's admin processes, book a demo today.