Atlassian Rovo · Practical walkthrough

Answer a Confluence question with Rovo and check the source

You know the answer is on a Confluence page. Unfortunately, there are three plausible pages and one is out of date.

Task by Task12 min read + practice

What you'll make

a checked answer to one workplace question, linked to the page that governs it, with any open point kept beside it.

What you'll need

Rovo turned on for your Atlassian site and access to the relevant Confluence pages; Rovo only uses content you can already open. Allow about ten minutes.

Example result.

Question: Who approves a £30,000 UK software purchase?
Answer: The budget holder and a Finance business partner.
Governing source: Finance › Delegated Authority Matrix, UK software (above £25,000 to £50,000)
Status/effective date: Approved by Finance; effective 1 September 2026
Still to confirm: None for this amount. The matrix excerpt doesn't cover £25,000 or below.
Checked by: [name and date]

Rovo can find and explain information spread across pages. It can’t make an old policy current, or turn an answer about approval into the approval itself.

1. Ask one question with the details that change the answer

Open Rovo Chat: the Rovo button at the bottom right, Ask Rovo in the top bar beside your avatar, or type /ai or /rovo where you’re working. Name the space and the details that could change the answer: region, type of work, date or amount. Leave out details the question doesn’t need; “a £30,000 UK software purchase” is enough, the supplier’s bank details are not.

In the [space name] Confluence space, what approval route applies to [situation]?

Use the current approved policy where you can establish it. For each part of the answer, link the source page and section. Include the page's status and update date only if available; do not invent metadata. Keep conflicting, draft or superseded guidance separate. If you can't establish which source governs, say what needs confirming and by which team. Do not infer approval.

[space name] is the Confluence space; [situation] is the specific case, with its amount and region.

If you know a likely page, select the plus sign at the bottom left of the chat and choose Add a link, or Use what you’re viewing as context if you have the page open. A link narrows the search; it doesn’t prove the page is complete.

Why this works: the specific situation narrows the search, and asking for conflicts separately makes disagreement visible instead of blending it.

What you should see: an answer split into parts, each with a page link and section, and any conflicting pages listed apart.

2. Open each source before repeating the answer

Follow every cited link and read the exact paragraph, not just the page title. Check:

Scope: does it cover this region, purchase type and amount?
Authority: is it approved, and who owns it?
Status: is there a superseded notice or a later effective policy?
Conditions: did the answer keep the thresholds, exceptions and sign-offs?
Currency: is there evidence the rule still applies?

A page untouched for two years may still govern. A page edited yesterday may be a draft. Use status, effective date and the owner’s confirmation together, rather than sorting by freshness.

Why this works: a citation shows where a sentence came from, not whether that page is the one that decides.

What you should see: one governing page per part of the answer, with its status and the exact band or condition that applies.

3. Save a short, checkable answer

Record the answer where the people who need it can see it, using the template in the example result above. Check they can open the pages you link. Keep open points next to the answer: a caveat at the bottom of a long message is easily lost when the first paragraph gets forwarded.

Rovo keeps your chat history for 30 days, visible only to you, so save the checked answer where the work belongs rather than relying on the chat.

Why this works: the template carries the source, status and open questions with the answer, so the next reader can check it.

What you should see: a six-line record with a working link to the governing page.

Check the result

Each part of the answer links to a page you opened and read.
The governing page is current by status or effective date, not just by edit date.
Thresholds are exact: “above £25,000 and up to £50,000” hasn’t become “over £25k”.
The answer describes a route, not an approval.

The usual failure: the answer blends a superseded page with the current one, keeping the old threshold and the new approver, or the other way round. Spot it when the figure in the answer doesn’t appear on the page that names the approver.

These sources appear to conflict: [page links]. Compare only what each source states about [question]. Give the relevant wording, section and any visible status or effective date. Do not reconcile the conflict by assumption. List the specific points I should ask the policy owner to resolve.

If Rovo can’t find the rule, try ordinary Confluence search and ask the owning team. Rovo only sees what you can see, so “not found” doesn’t mean no policy exists.

Worked example: the older threshold is no longer current

Fictional example. A colleague asks who approves a new £30,000 UK software supplier. Two pages contain:

Procurement: Supplier approval policy
Updated 14 February 2024
Status: Superseded by the Delegated Authority Matrix
"Purchases above £10,000 require the budget holder and Finance."

Finance: Delegated Authority Matrix
Effective 1 September 2026; approved by Finance
"UK software purchases above £25,000 and up to £50,000 require the budget holder and a Finance business partner."
"Above £50,000, additional CFO approval is required."

Rovo’s first answer: “All spend above £10,000 needs budget holder and Finance approval.”

The failure. It took the threshold from the superseded page and a loose version of the approver from both. It happens to name the right people for £30,000, but it would miss the CFO at £60,000 and claims a rule for £12,000 that the current matrix doesn’t state.
The repair. The conflict prompt quoted both pages with their status. The checked answer, in the example result, uses the matrix band for £30,000 only.
What it doesn’t establish. The route for £25,000 or below: these excerpts don’t give it. And this is an approval route, not evidence that anyone has approved this purchase.

Task kit for this job: Download (ZIP) · Reusable instructions

Go deeper

Optional training: Mark what is dead

A superseded page with no marking is actively harmful: Rovo will find it, and so will people. When you find one, ask its owner to add “Superseded — see Delegated Authority Matrix” to the title, put a banner at the top linking the current page, or archive it. It’s the single highest-value fix most teams could make to their answers, and it needs no AI at all. Keep the history; just make its status impossible to miss.

Optional training: Make a small source inventory

When the same question keeps getting conflicting answers, ask for the candidate pages and check the list yourself.

Find pages about [policy topic] in [space]. List page title, link and any available status, owner and effective date. Mark missing metadata as unavailable. Do not claim the list is complete, and do not treat the most recently edited page as authoritative.

Give the list to the content owner, who can say which page governs and label the rest.

Optional training: Choose a reliable input route

Rovo reads many text and document file types, but Atlassian lists limits for some image, audio, video and archive formats. If a file isn’t being read, check the supported route before asking a more elaborate question. Rovo’s Think deeper and Deep research modes give longer answers; every citation in them needs the same checks.