Summary
"Signals" surface the moments that matter - e.g. a churn risk, an escalation, or an expansion opportunity - without you needing to read every email, call, ticket, chat and meeting
Planhat's AI reads eligible Conversations and, where it finds something significant, creates a Signal with a headline and a category. Field changes on records also appear as Signals, so you can see what was updated and by whom
You can view Signals in two places: (1) a Signals widget on a record's Profile, showing that record's Signals, and (2) the main Signals Tool, a display showing your own personalized feed across all records
Signals are ranked by importance and by how relevant it is to you -Companies you own rank higher
Signals are kept for 30 days - they show you the current key information, rather than being a historical record
Who is this article for?
Anyone who would like to learn about Signals in Planhat OS
It's particularly relevant for Planhat Users who own Companies (accounts) or delivery work: Customer Success, Sales, Support and Professional Services
It's also relevant to Planhat Admins who configure their Planhat tenant for their organization (e.g. Ops)
Article contents
Introduction
The information that tells you an account (Company) is in trouble is usually already in Planhat - it's just spread across forty email threads, a dozen call notes and a handful of tickets, and nobody has time to read all of it.
For example, let's say Judi Murphy is the Customer Success Manager for Northwind Logistics, an Enterprise Company midway through a 120-day rollout. Over the past fortnight, three key things have happened, in three different threads: the main contact (End User) mentioned that the budget for next year is under review, a support ticket about a recurring sync failure was reopened for the third time, and on a call someone asked about adding two more teams of users to the contract.
Signals automatically surface all three on the Northwind Logistics Company Profile as separate items: a "Budget concern", a "Product issue", and an "Expansion". Judi reads three headlines instead of forty threads, and can more easily prioritize what most needs her attention.
📌 Definitions
"Data model" - how data is organized in Planhat, similar to the "objects" you may be familiar with in other software. We list some examples of data models in this definitions box. You may sometimes hear data models referred to as simply "models"
"Record" - an individual piece of data within a data model - e.g. for the End User model (described below), a record could be "Bob Smith"
"Company" - the Planhat data model for organizations that are your customers or prospects. You may sometimes hear Companies referred to as "accounts"
"End User" - the Planhat data model for people who work at/for those Companies, such as users of your product. You may sometimes hear End Users referred to as "contacts"
"Conversation" - the Planhat data model for communication with End Users (e.g. emails, chats and tickets etc.), as well as meetings (both external meetings with customers/prospects, and internal meetings such as handovers from Sales to CS). You may sometimes hear Conversations referred to as "logged activities". In Planhat there are standard (built-in) Conversation types (e.g. "email"), and you can create your own (e.g. "Training Session")
"Profile" - a display of data for one individual record. You can customize the layout of Profiles via Profile Templates. Learn more about Profiles in Planhat OS in our series of articles starting here
What are Signals?
Definition
"Signals" are events (pieces of information) that Planhat's AI identifies as significant on a record (e.g. a Company), drawn from:
the Conversations (e.g. emails)
and field changes in your Planhat tenant.
Each Conversation Signal is written as a short headline with a category, such as "Churn risk" or "Expansion".
📌 Important to note
Each Signal is kept for 30 days. Signals are designed to surface "what needs attention now"; they are not a historical record. For history of Conversation Signals, you can refer to the underlying Conversation records.
Where you can view Signals
You can see Signals in two different places within Planhat OS:
The Signals widget on a Profile (e.g. a Company Profile) shows the Signals for that record (e.g. that Company)
Note that "Signals" is a default widget that you can select in a Profile Template - so you won't see it on a Profile if it's not included in the Profile Template that's applied to the Profile you're viewing
Although the screenshot below shows a Company Profile, Signals aren't a Company-only feature. You can view them on Profiles/records of other models - e.g. Projects, Opportunities, Workflows, or your own custom models
Conversation-related Signals that show on a record's Profile can come from two places:
Conversations logged directly against that record (e.g. a meeting with that Company)
Conversations linked to that record through an association field. For example, Conversations associated with End Users or Workflows that are associated with that Company
Related to the previous point, note that the same Signal can appear in more than one place. E.g. a call that raises a delivery risk can show on the Company Profile and on the Project it relates to, because it's connected to both
The Signals Tool shows your own feed - this includes all data (e.g. all Companies) that you have access to
Like other Tools, you can access the Signals Tool via the main Tools menu (which you can get to by clicking "More" in your sidebar), and pin it to your sidebar if desired
Click the image to view it enlarged
Signal types
There are two main types of Signals.
(1) "Conversation" Signals
"Conversation" Signals come from a Conversation that Planhat's AI has analyzed and judged to be significant. Each one shows:
An icon indicating the Conversation Type: email, chat, ticket, call or meeting (including custom Conversation Types)
A headline written by the AI describing what happened. If no headline was generated, the Conversation's subject is shown instead
A category - one of ten (listed below)
The people involved, shown as the first person's name plus a count, e.g.
Mike Smith +3- this includes both End Users (contacts) and Users (you and your colleagues)The time/date as appropriate
(2) "Field update" Signals
"Field update" Signals come from a change to a record's field. Each one shows the field that changed, the label "Field update", and the User (you or your colleague) who made the change. For example: "Renewal date updated · Field update · Judi Murphy".
Signal categories
Each Conversation Signal is automatically assigned a category from the list below.
This list is fixed. Where the AI identifies a significant Conversation but no category fits, the Signal is labelled simply "Conversation".
Category | What it means |
Budget concern | Pricing pushback, cost reduction requests, or budget constraints |
Champion change | Key contact leaving, re-organization, new decision-maker, or sponsor change |
Churn risk | Customer expressing intent to leave, cancel, or not continue |
Competitor mention | Customer referencing, evaluating, or comparing competitors |
Escalation | Customer escalating an issue, expressing frustration, or threatening action |
Expansion | Interest in upgrading, adding users/seats, or adopting new features |
Onboarding struggle | Difficulty with setup, adoption, training, or getting value |
Positive feedback | Strong satisfaction, advocacy, praise, or willingness to recommend |
Product issue | Recurring bugs, outages, missing functionality, or quality complaints |
Renewal hesitation | Uncertainty, delays, or concerns around an upcoming renewal |
Signal priorities
Every Conversation Signal is graded for significance. The most significant Signals carry a red "Priority" badge. Priority also affects order: a Priority Signal rises to the top of your Signals.
Why use Signals?
Signals allow you to focus on what truly matters. Rather than needing to read everything to evaluate what's important, you can focus your time where it makes the most impact.
The personalized ranking matters here too. Because Signals on Companies you own are ranked above Signals on Companies you don't, the Signals Tool is a queue you can work down.
Particularly in scaled CS use cases, where one person is managing hundreds or even thousands of customers, upleveling from wading through Conversations to monitoring Signals is a huge time-saver.
How to use Signals
🚀 Tip
We go straight to "how to use Signals" here - rather than "how to set up Signals" - because you don't need to set up Signals! Signals are automatically created for you, using built-in Planhat intelligence. You can read more about this process here.
📌 Important to note
Signals respect your permissions. You only see Signals for records you have view access to. Two Users in the same tenant can see different Signals on the same day, both because of permissions and because ranking is personal.
Signals on a Profile/record
📌 Important to note
"Signals" is a Profile widget (section) that can be included in Profile Templates, so depending on which Profile Template is applied when you view a Profile, "Signals" may or may not be present. See our Profile widgets article here to learn more about this topic.
Open the Profile of the record you're interested in
Scroll down to the "Signals" part of the Profile (shown ringed in green above). For "Conversation" Signals, each row shows the Conversation Type icon, the AI headline, the category, and the people involved. For "Field update" Signals, you can see which field was updated and by whom
For Conversation Signals, you can click a Signal to open the Conversation record behind it, to see the full details
Signals Tool
Open the "Signals" Tool - either from "More" in your sidebar to open the main Tools menu, or "Signals" directly from your sidebar if you have pinned it
Click the image to view it enlarged
Signals are grouped into "Today", "Yesterday" and "Earlier", ranked so that the ones at the top are those most important and most relevant to you
Use the search box in the top right of the screen (click on the magnifying glass icon to expand) to narrow down the list, if you are looking for something specific
🚀 Tip - how ranking works
Signals are ordered by an importance score, adjusted for how relevant the information is to you: Signals on Companies you own rank highest, followed by ones where you're co-owner or collaborator, then Conversations you took part in. Field changes you made rank lower.
Technical details - what generates Signals and when
Conversation Signals
Not every Conversation produces a Signal. There are two aspects to consider here: (1) which Conversations are analyzed, and (2) which analyzed Conversations give rise to Signals.
A Conversation is eligible for analysis when both of these are true:
It was created or updated in the last 30 days, and
It has actual content - an email, chat or ticket with more than one part; or a call or meeting (of any type)
A one-line email with no reply won't produce a Signal. Neither will a Conversation from two months ago.
Eligible Conversations are analyzed, and only those that Planhat AI judges to be significant become Signals. The analysis also evaluates how important each Signal is, and this feeds into the prioritization/ranking of Signals.
How soon a Signal appears
Planhat checks for new Conversations to analyze every five minutes, so a Signal typically appears within minutes of the Conversation being saved in Planhat.
Field update Signals
Only applicable fields can produce a "Field update" Signal. Read-only and calculated fields are not included.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Q: How long does each Signal stay visible/accessible?
A: 30 days - Signals are designed to give you current information, not be a historical record
Q: Why can't I see a Signal my colleague can see?
A: Your visibility depends on permissions and personal ranking
Q: Why didn't a particular email produce a Signal?
A: See eligibility rules above
Q: Why can't I see "Signals" on a Profile?
A: This is likely because the "Signals" widget is not included in the relevant Profile Template
Q: Can I dismiss a Signal or tell Planhat it's wrong?
A: Not at this time
Q: Can I be notified when a high-severity Signal appears?
A: Not at this time
Q: Can I report on Signals, or use them in a filter or Dashboard?
A: Not at this time
Q: Can I turn Signals off for certain accounts (Companies) or Conversations?
A: Not at this time
Q: Can I apply a filter to the Signals Tool, so I only see a certain group of Signals?
A: Not at this time