Overview
The Expanded Item Summarization feature, powered by AVA, delivers a comprehensive roll-up view of any Podio record and all its related items.
Rather than summarizing a single record, AVA compiles, interprets, and integrates every item summary connected to a parent record — creating a single, data-rich scope summary.
This capability is designed for teams managing complex environments where multiple apps (e.g., Projects, Expenses, Dispatch, Tasks) interact around a central item.
The result is a complete narrative and analytical overview that combines qualitative context and quantitative metrics across all linked records.
How It Works
Every expanded summary request begins with a Podio task assigned to AVA containing natural language instructions such as:
“Summarize this project and all related items. Focus on expenses, labor hours, and team performance.”
AVA then performs the following sequence:
Collects Summaries — Generates individual summaries for all related item records, then compiles those newly created and existing summaries from the parent item and its linked records into a unified dataset for analysis.
Interprets Intent — Detects user focus (financial, performance, timeline, personnel, etc.) from task text.
Merges Content — Groups summaries by source app (e.g., Dispatch, Expenses) and merges them into cohesive sections.
Extracts Data — Identifies measurable values (costs, hours, counts, dates, staff names, revisions).
Calculates Roll-Ups — Computes totals, averages, and cross-app correlations for aggregated insight.
Generates HTML Output — Builds a polished, readable HTML scope summary optimized for Podio text-area fields, comments, and downstream AI enrichment.
Key Capabilities
Capability | Description |
Automated Data Fusion | Combines multiple summaries and metrics from all related apps into one report. |
Adaptive Structuring | Automatically adjusts section order (financial, performance, timeline) based on detected intent. |
Quantitative Analysis | Sums monetary values, averages labor hours, and computes cross-app totals and percentages. |
Cross-App Correlation | Identifies overlapping staff, repeated timelines, or duplicate activity across applications. |
Narrative Enrichment | Converts technical summaries into executive-level context written in clear, professional language. |
RAG Compatibility | Prepares data for Retrieval-Augmented Generation and Agentic AI workflows in future analyses. |
Example Use Cases
Project Performance Review — Merge task, time, and expense records into one executive summary.
Client Deliverable Oversight — Combine multiple workstreams to present overall project health.
Audit Preparation — Create unified, auditor-ready documentation showing financial totals and activity trends.
Operational Insight — Highlight resource utilization and performance trends across related departments.
Structure of the Output
Each expanded summary includes:
📊 Comprehensive Scope Summary Header — Includes parent item title and user task description.
Overall Context — Narrative overview of the project or parent item.
Key Statistics Table — Roll-up of all measurable values: totals, averages, counts, and time ranges.
Application Breakdown — Grouped summaries by app (e.g., Dispatch, Expenses, Projects).
Cross-App Correlation — Description of overlapping data between related apps.
Findings & Insights — Key takeaways surfaced through analysis.
Recommended Actions — Actionable guidance generated dynamically from findings.
Data Integrity Notes — Mentions missing or partial data detected.
Metadata Section (optional) — Token usage, latency, and total document counts.
Adaptive Focus Modes
Detected Intent | Primary Emphasis |
Financial | Total and average costs, transaction counts, vendor analysis. |
Timeline | Start and end dates, schedule durations, milestone commentary. |
Personnel | Team composition, overlapping resources, workload summaries. |
Performance | Completion rates, revision counts, and quality indicators. |
Generic | Balanced view including context, statistics, findings, and recommendations. |
Output Destination
The resulting summary is:
Stored directly in the Podio text-area field labeled "Item Summary".
If this field is not found within your application, AVA will add it automatically at the bottom of the application.
Posted as a confirmation comment on the task summarizing what AVA completed.
Indexed for internal retrieval and Agentic AI enrichment, ensuring that future requests leverage historical summaries efficiently.
Benefits
Delivers instant portfolio-level visibility from within any single record.
Eliminates manual cross-app review — AVA consolidates it automatically.
Produces auditor-ready, presentation-grade summaries in seconds.
Prepares structured context for advanced AI learning and automation workflows.
Summary
Expanded Item Summarization through AVA_ScopeSynthesizer is the evolution of how Podio organizations visualize their data.
By uniting every related summary into one cohesive, analytical narrative, AVA provides executive-level clarity at the record level — complete with totals, insights, and recommendations — all within your existing Podio environment.
Tip: To trigger this feature, simply assign AVA a task such as “Create Expanded Summary”, or ask her to “Summarize all related items with totals and insights.”