Why should you care?

Month-end crunch generates hundreds of variance questions — assistant reduces controller interrupt requests to IT.

See it live — copy this example

Paste into an ASP.NET Core 8+ / AgentNest project, then run with dotnet run (set your API keys in user-secrets).

// AgentNest.Api/Controllers/ErpAssistantController.cs
[ApiController]
[Route("api/erp/assistant")]
[Authorize(Policy = "FinanceRead")]
public sealed class ErpAssistantController(ErpToolAgent agent, IJournalDraftService drafts) : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpPost("chat")]
    public Task<string> Chat([FromBody] ErpChatRequest req, CancellationToken ct) =>
        agent.AskAsync(req.Question, ct);

    [HttpPost("journal/draft")]
    [Authorize(Policy = "FinanceDraft")]
    public async Task<JournalDraftId> CreateDraft([FromBody] JournalDraftRequest req, CancellationToken ct) =>
        await drafts.CreateFromAgentAsync(req, User.Identity!.Name!, ct);
}

What happened?

• Chat uses ErpToolAgent with GlPlugin tools; journal draft requires FinanceDraft policy and creates approval queue item — no direct post.
• Follow the steps below — typing the code yourself is the fastest way to learn.

Practice next

1. Connect GlPlugin to ERP read replica.
2. build IJournalDraftService writing PendingApproval rows.
3. Eval finance golden questions with SQL-backed answers.
4. Add Excel export of variance analysis steps.
5. Wire ERP Blazor panel to chat with conversation thread id.

Remember

ERP assistant combines NL chat and draft journal endpoints. Separate read and draft authorization policies. GL tools ground answers; drafts await approval.

Month-end variance chat

Controller asks why travel GL line spiked; agent cites balance tool and top transactions.

Outcome: Draft journal suggested; controller approves in ERP workflow — full audit trail.