Welcome to the Takanock AI Learning Hub

Claude, a large language model (LLM), is Anthropic's AI assistant. An LLM is an AI system trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human-like language.

Heads up: Claude can be wrong. It's worth double-checking important facts, numbers, and sources before you rely on them.

Takanock Resources

Ask Takanock

Your internal AI knowledge base

Company Skills

Takanock-specific Claude skills

AI 101: Automation Intake

Submit an automation request

Questions & Support

Reach out to the AI team

Claude Tools

Claude Chat

Prompting basics and tips

Cowork

Collaborate with AI on your desktop

Claude Code

AI-powered coding assistant

Claude Design

AI-powered designs, presentation & documents

Claude Models

Which model to use, and when

Projects

Organize and share your AI work

Customize

Skills, connectors & preferences

AI Agents

Autonomous multi-step AI tasks

Workflows

Automate with AI tools

Visual Learner? Click here for a Claude dashboard walkthrough
Claude

Introduction to Claude Chat

Claude Chat is your AI assistant for writing, research, analysis, brainstorming, and more.

What is Claude?

Claude is an AI assistant made by Anthropic. You can have natural conversations with it, ask questions, get feedback on documents, draft emails, summarize content, and much more. Access Claude through the desktop app.

How to write a good prompt

Be specific. Instead of "write an email," try "write a short follow-up email to a client after a sales demo."
Give context — who is the audience, what's the goal, what format do you need?
Include examples if you have them — "write it in the style of this example: ..."
Iterate. If the first response isn't right, ask Claude to adjust it.
Pro tip: Claude remembers everything within a conversation. You can follow up with "make it shorter" or "make it more formal" without repeating your original request.

Example use cases

Summarize
"Summarize this 10-page report into 5 bullet points for an executive audience."
Draft
"Draft a project status update email for the Monday standup."
Analyze
"What are the main themes in this customer feedback survey?"
Brainstorm
"Give me 10 ideas for our Q3 team offsite."

Things to keep in mind

Claude can make mistakes. Always review important outputs before sending or publishing. Never share sensitive passwords, personal data, or confidential information beyond what your company policy allows.

Claude

Cowork

Cowork is a desktop app from Anthropic that lets Claude help you with files, tasks, and workflows directly on your computer.

What Cowork does

Cowork brings Claude to your desktop so it can see what you're working on and help you get things done — all from a persistent side panel.

Key difference from Claude Chat: Cowork works alongside your desktop applications, making it ideal for file-heavy or multi-app tasks.

Common use cases

Document work

Summarize, rewrite, or extract info from local files

Task management

Organize to-do lists and manage project files

Email drafting

Draft responses based on open emails or attachments

Repetitive tasks

Automate file renaming, formatting, and data cleanup

Getting started

Download and install Cowork from claude.ai/download.
Sign in with your Anthropic account or company SSO.
Open the side panel and describe what you need. Drag and drop files into the chat to have Claude work with them.
Claude

Claude Code

Claude Code is a command-line tool that brings AI-assisted coding directly into your terminal.

What it does

Claude Code runs in your terminal and has direct access to your codebase. It can read files, make edits, run commands, and help you work through complex engineering tasks step by step.

Best for: Developers who prefer a terminal workflow and want Claude to work directly in their project.

Example tasks

Write code
"Add a function to this file that validates email addresses."
Debug
"I'm getting a TypeError on line 42. What's wrong and how do I fix it?"
Review
"Review this pull request and flag any security concerns."

Getting started

Install via npm: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Navigate to your project directory in the terminal.
Run claude to start a session.
Claude

Claude Design

Claude Design is an AI-powered tool for creating and refining presentations, documents, and visual content — without starting from a blank slide.

What is Claude Design?

Claude Design is a beta product from Anthropic that lets you generate polished slides, one-pagers, websites, and visual documents using plain language. You describe what you need and Claude builds a first draft — then you refine it through conversation or manual design.

Key differences from Claude Chat: Claude Design produces visual output — slides, layouts, formatted documents — not just text. Think of it as a design collaborator, not just a writing assistant. Within Claude Design, there is also the option to manually edit artifacts that it creates before uploading the final copy.

What you can build

Presentations

Generate full slide decks from an outline or a document upload

One-pagers

Structured summaries, overviews, and briefs in a single-page layout

Reports

Formatted documents with sections, headers, and visual hierarchy

Websites

Multiple page interactive websites and webapps with headings, contact pages, case studies, etc.

How to use it

Open Claude Design from claude.ai — look for the Design option at the bottom when starting a new conversation or document.
Describe what you want: the topic, audience, length, and any content to include. You can also upload an existing document for Claude to work from.
Review the draft Claude produces. Use plain language to request changes — "make the intro shorter," "add a slide on timeline," "use a more formal tone."
Use the edit mode to manually apply changes to the style choices. This can be as simple as changing the colors and layout, or for more advanced coders, you can change all of the CSS elements.
Export or copy the final output into your tool of choice (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Word, etc.).

Example prompts

From scratch
"Create a 6-slide overview of our data center development process for a new client intro meeting."
From a document
"Turn this project update document into a slide deck with one key point per slide."
Refine existing
"This slide is too text-heavy. Rewrite it as three concise bullet points."

Company example: PowerPoint standardization

At Takanock, Claude Design is being used by the Commercial office to standardize the company's PowerPoint template library — ensuring consistent branding, layout, and messaging across all external-facing decks.

What this looks like in practice

The effort involves using Claude to audit existing decks for inconsistencies, regenerate slides on-brand, and apply the official Takanock template across department presentations. Claude Design helps speed up this process by drafting slide content in bulk — then the team reviews and fine-tunes.

Standardization prompt example
"Rewrite these three slides to match our brand voice — concise, professional, data-forward. Use the template structure: headline, 3 supporting points, one call-out stat."

Claude Design vs. other tools

Use Claude Design when...Use Claude Chat when...
You need a visual layout or slide deckYou need text, analysis, or a draft document
You're starting from scratch or a raw outlineYou're editing something that already exists
Presentation structure and hierarchy matterContent quality and accuracy are the main goal
You want to iterate visually through conversationYou want a quick answer or a polished paragraph

Things to keep in mind

Claude Design is a beta product — outputs may need polishing before they're client-ready. Always review slide content for accuracy, especially if Claude is working from a document you uploaded. For official Takanock presentations, use the Takanock slides skill in Claude Chat to ensure the correct template and branding are applied.

Claude

Choosing a Claude Model

Claude comes in a few different models. Here's a quick guide to which one to use and when.

What are Claude models?

Claude isn't one single AI — it's a family of models, each built for a different balance of speed, depth, and cost. Anthropic names them Haiku, Sonnet, Opus, and Fable, roughly in order of how much "thinking" each one does.

The good news: you don't need to think about this most of the time. Claude picks a smart default, and switching models costs you nothing extra on your Takanock seat — it just uses your usage allowance a little faster on the bigger models.

The lineup

Haiku

Fast and lightweight. Best for quick answers, simple summaries, or instant replies.

Sonnet (the default model)

For daily use. Handles writing, analysis, coding, research, and most day-to-day work well.

Opus

A reasoning specialist for genuinely hard, multi-step, or high-stakes work.

Fable

Anthropic's most capable model, for your biggest or most complex projects. The most tokens, so only use if necessary

When to switch

SituationTry
Quick Slack reply, fast summaryHaiku
Everyday writing, coding, analysisSonnet (default, no action needed)
Complex analysis, high-stakes review, cross-department synthesisOpus
A large, open-ended project spanning many sourcesFable

Things to keep in mind

You can change models anytime from the model picker in Claude Chat — there's no penalty for experimenting. If you're not sure, leave it on Sonnet. It's the default for a reason, and it's rare that a task at Takanock will outgrow it.

Claude

Projects

Projects in Claude let you organize conversations, share context across chats, and collaborate with teammates — all in one place.

What is a Project?

A Project is a dedicated workspace in Claude that keeps related conversations, uploaded files, and custom instructions together.

Think of it like: A shared folder + a briefed assistant. Upload your docs once, set your instructions, and every conversation in that Project benefits from that context.

Key features

Upload files

Add PDFs, docs, spreadsheets for Claude to reference

Custom instructions

Tell Claude your role, tone preferences, and rules

Share with team

Invite colleagues to collaborate in the same Project

Persistent context

Claude remembers project details across sessions

Creating a Project

In Claude Chat, click "New Project" in the left sidebar.
Give your project a name and write a brief description.
Upload relevant files and add custom instructions.
Invite teammates via their email address and start chatting!

Company example: AI & Automation Intake Assistant

AI & Automation Intake Assistant is a Takanock Claude Project built so employees can submit automation requests, get setup and procedural guidance, and ask questions — all in one place.

Submit requests

Employees fill out automation requests directly through the project interface

Answer questions

Ask procedural and setup questions and get instant answers

Triage guidance

Explains how the automation triage process works

Connector help

Walks you through enabling connectors like Airtable

Claude

Customize: Skills & Connectors

Claude can be connected to your apps and extended with skills to make it more powerful for your specific needs.

Customize how Claude behaves by setting preferences in your profile — your job title, preferred writing style, or how detailed you want responses to be.

User preferences let you set standing instructions like: "I'm a project manager. Always be concise. Use bullet points for lists."

Key terms

API

Application Programming Interface — rules that let software talk to other software. When Claude connects to Slack, Airtable, or any service, it uses that service's API.

MCP

Model Context Protocol — an open standard by Anthropic giving AI a universal "plug" to connect to tools like Notion, GitHub, and Airtable without custom code.

SDK

Software Development Kit — a pre-built library that makes calling an API easier. Anthropic has SDKs for Python and JavaScript.

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation — a lightweight, structured format for exchanging data between systems. Most APIs send and receive data as JSON.

Webhook

A URL that "lights up" when triggered by an event. AI agents are often started by a webhook — when it's hit, the workflow begins.

Never paste API keys (or passwords, tokens, or other secrets) directly into a Claude conversation. Store them in a secrets manager or credential vault and reference them from there instead.

Connectors

Connectors let Claude access and act in your other tools — like reading Slack messages, searching Google Drive, or creating Notion pages.

Example
"Find all emails from last week about the product launch and summarize the key decisions."
Slack
Google Drive
Notion
Google Calendar
Gmail
Airtable
Asana
And more...

How to add a connector

Open Claude Chat and go to Settings → Connectors.
Browse available connectors and click "Connect."
Authorize access in the popup.
Start using it — just mention the app in your prompt.

Company example: Takanock-Project Connector

Takanock-project is a custom MCP connector that gives Claude direct access to your Microsoft Project / P6 schedule data. It powers skills like /schedule-slide and /deck-unify. For additional information on takanock-project's capabiltities, visit: https://takanock-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/p/imcconarty/IQCSahjKXEuxSqwVbkFZH3TbAWLndkkfIWAcSdzouVoMUY0?e=909cVS
Example
"Show me the current schedule for Project Tallmadge." → Claude connects via the takanock-project MCP connector and pulls live data directly from the project file.

Skills & preferences

Looking for Takanock skills? Head to the Company Skills tab under Takanock Resources in the sidebar to see all available skills including /automation-intake, /it-help-desk, /schedule-slide, and /deck-unify.
Looking for more skills? Browse skills.sh/mattpocock/skills to see a wider directory of Claude skills and what each one does.
AI concepts

Building AI Agents

AI agents go beyond answering questions — they can take actions, use tools, and complete multi-step tasks on your behalf.

What is an AI agent?

Receive a high-level goal (e.g., "research competitors and summarize findings")
Break it into subtasks and decide what order to do them in
Use tools like web search, file access, or APIs to gather information
Synthesize results and deliver a final output

When to use an agent

Use a chatbot when...Use an agent when...
You need a single answer or piece of contentThe task has multiple steps or decisions
You'll review and act on the output yourselfYou want the AI to take actions automatically
The task is well-definedThe task requires gathering info from multiple sources

Key concepts

Tools

Functions the agent can call: search, read files, send messages

Planning

How the agent decides what steps to take next

Loops

The agent can retry or self-correct when something fails

Human review

For critical steps, agents can pause and ask for approval

Claude's agents: Try asking Claude to "research X and write a report" and watch it plan and execute multiple steps automatically.

Building your own agents

You can build custom agents using the Anthropic API, Claude Projects with connectors, or workflow automation platforms like n8n or Zapier. See the Automating Workflows module for more.

AI concepts

Automating Workflows with AI

AI can be wired into your existing tools and processes to reduce manual work and respond faster to events.

What is workflow automation?

Workflow automation connects apps and triggers actions automatically. Adding AI means you can handle tasks that previously required human judgment — like drafting a response, categorizing a ticket, or summarizing a document.

Example: When a new support ticket arrives → AI classifies it → assigns it to the right team → drafts a suggested reply → sends it for human review.

Popular AI automation tools

n8n

Visual node-based workflow automation — the "plumbing" that moves data between systems.

Zapier

No-code automation connecting 6,000+ apps. Great starting point for non-developers.

Airtable

A spreadsheet-database hybrid. AI workflows use it as a source of truth — pulling records in and writing results back out.

GitHub

Stores workflow code and agent logic, tracks changes, and enables team collaboration.

Notion

AI agents can read from and write to Notion — great as a "second brain" for knowledge storage.

Anthropic API

Direct integration for developers building custom AI workflows using the Claude SDK.

Common workflow patterns

Trigger → AI → Action
New form submission → Claude summarizes and categorizes it → Creates a Notion page
Scheduled batch
Every morning → AI reads overnight emails → Produces a priority summary in Slack
Human in the loop
AI drafts a contract clause → Sends to a human for review → Human approves → Auto-sends to client
Daily weather alert
Every day at 8:00 AM → n8n triggers automatically → Calls the OpenWeatherMap API to fetch current weather in Austin, TX → Posts a Slack notification with the day's forecast.

Getting started tips

Start with a single repetitive task you do manually every week.
Map out the steps: what triggers it, what data is involved, what the output should be.
Build a simple version in n8n or Zapier with an AI step in the middle.
Test thoroughly, add error handling, and gradually hand off more to the automation.
Takanock

Ask Takanock

Your company's internal AI knowledge base, powered by Claude.

What is Ask Takanock?

Ask Takanock is trained on Takanock's documents, policies, and processes so you can get fast, accurate answers without hunting through SharePoint.

What to ask it

Policy questions
"What is Takanock's process for securing utility agreements during site entitlement?"
Process questions
"What are the steps in TKN's load interconnection process for a new site?"
Project info
"What is the current interim power timeline and utility status for Project Tallmadge?"

Ask Takanock vs. Claude Chat

Use Ask Takanock for...Use Claude Chat for...
Company policies & proceduresGeneral writing & brainstorming
Internal project historyResearch & analysis of external info
HR & benefits questionsCode help & technical tasks
Finding internal documentsCreative work & drafting

Tips for getting good answers

Be specific — mention the department, policy name, or project if you know it.
If the answer doesn't look right, try rephrasing or adding more context.
For official decisions, always verify with the source document or your manager.
Takanock

AI 101: Automation Intake

How to submit an automation request using the /automation-intake skill in Claude.

Follow these steps to submit an automation request using the /automation-intake skill in Claude.

1
Open the skills menu
In Claude Chat, click the "plus" icon inside the text box to open the skills menu.
2
Select the automation-intake skill
Hover over Skills and select /automation-intake from the dropdown.
First time? Click "Add skill" → go to the "Shared" tab → find and add /automation-intake. Once installed, you can also invoke it anytime by typing / in Claude Chat.
3
Follow the intake process
Claude will guide you through the process step by step. Describe your automation request in detail — what triggers it, what systems are involved, and what the output should look like.
4
Request submitted to Airtable
Claude automatically sends your request to the AI Workstream Tracker in Airtable. Ivan and the AI Interns will have access and will begin building the automation.
The more detail the better. The clearer your request — triggers, systems involved, desired output — the faster the team can build it for you.

Use Cases

1
Weekly project update emails
Automatically send a weekly email with updates pulled from a project document — no manual writing or copy-pasting required.
2
Streamlining document flow between sectors
Automate the handoff of documents between teams or departments — reducing manual steps, bottlenecks, and the risk of things falling through the cracks.
3
Automatically updating CRM with client information
Automatically capture and log client information into the CRM — keeping records up to date without manual data entry.

Company examples

Here's what it looks like when you invoke the /automation-intake skill in Claude Chat:

Claude Chat — /automation-intake skill in action
/automation-intake
Reading the automation-intake skill ›

Great, I've got everything I need. Let's get your idea into the intake repo.

Frame this as a user story to get us started:

"As a [role], I want [capability] so that [outcome]."

If it's easier to just describe the idea first, go for it — we'll shape it into that format together.

Once you complete the intake process, your request is automatically sent to the AI Workstream Tracker in Airtable.

Takanock

Company Skills

Takanock-specific Claude skills available to all employees. Invoke them directly in Claude Chat by typing the skill name.

/automation-intake

/automation-intake walks you through submitting an automation request to the AI team step by step. Once complete, your request is automatically sent to the AI Workstream Tracker in Airtable where Ivan and the AI Interns will begin building it.

How to invoke it

Click the "plus" icon in the Claude Chat text box → hover over Skills → select /automation-intake.
First time? Click "Add skill" → go to the "Shared" tab → find and add /automation-intake.
Claude will guide you through the intake process step by step. The more detail you provide, the faster the team can build it.
Full walkthrough
See the AI 101: Automation Intake tab under Takanock Resources for the complete step-by-step guide.

/it-help-desk

/it-help-desk guides you through submitting an IT or data request in plain language — it infers the structured fields, previews the record, and writes it directly to the IT Requests Airtable table. Essentially anything you'd normally Slack Jacob for.

How to invoke it

Click the "plus" icon in the Claude Chat text box → hover over Skills → select /it-help-desk.
First time? Click "Add skill" → go to the "Shared" tab → find and add /it-help-desk.
Describe your IT or data request in plain language — Claude walks you through submitting it.
Who it's for
Every employee.
Other ways to reach it
An n8n workflow also watches a Slack channel for IT requests and logs them into the same Airtable table, and the same flow has been built into the Intake Hub app.

/schedule-slide

/schedule-slide pulls live schedule data from your project file and builds or refreshes a schedule slide in PowerPoint — no copy-pasting or manual re-keying. Your deck stays in sync with the actual project file.

Two modes

BUILD

Generate a brand new schedule table from your project file. Use this when no schedule slide exists yet.

REFRESH

Update an existing schedule slide's cells from the live project file. Only stale cells change — all formatting and hand-tweaked layout survives.

When to use it

Use it when
You want a PowerPoint slide to reflect the current Microsoft Project / P6 schedule — either building a new one or refreshing an existing one.
Don't use it for
Redesigning a deck, writing narrative slides, or applying a brand template. Copying values from a master deck (use /deck-unify instead).

/deck-unify

/deck-unify copies specific values — dates, figures, status, table cells — from a master deck into a branch deck, and changes nothing else. One-way only: master → branch.

What it prevents

Stops the model from "getting creative" — rewriting boilerplate, restyling, or pulling in slides the branch deliberately dropped. Only explicitly designated fields are ever touched.

When to use it

Use it when
You want to refresh specific stale values in a branch or derived deck from a master deck — without touching layout, formatting, or which slides exist.
Don't use it for
Authoring new slides, restructuring a deck, or freely rewriting content.

What you need

The branch deck (.pptx) to update — usually the open file.
The master deck (.pptx) with the authoritative values. If not provided, the skill will ask for it.
The skill will show you a full plan of every change before writing anything — nothing is applied until you approve.
Takanock

Questions & Support

Need help with Claude, AI tools, or submitting an automation request? Reach out to the team.

Contact us

Ivan Benavides

Ibenavides@takanock.com

Ivy McConarty

AI Intern
Imcconarty@takanock.com

Mia Tursman

AI Intern
Mtursman@takanock.com

Takanock

Help

Ask a question about Claude, AI tools, or anything covered in this hub. I'll answer briefly and point you to the right place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Hi! Ask me anything about Claude, AI tools, or Takanock's AI resources and I'll point you in the right direction. If you would like to contact the AI team directly with your questions, say "Contact AI team".
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