Alwin FAQ

Find answers to common questions about Alwin, from working with documents and reviewing results to data security and plan options.

Getting started

What is Alwin?

Is Alwin available now?

Yes. Alwin is live, and customers are already using it.

Is Alwin an Excel add-in?

No. Alwin runs in your browser and includes a built-in spreadsheet experience with formulas, charts, and pivot tables. You can also download a workpaper and open it in Excel desktop.

How is Alwin different from DataSnipper AI and Excel Agents?

DataSnipper AI helps you extract document data into Excel. Excel Agents automate procedures alongside Excel. Alwin runs end-to-end workflows at a larger scale in the cloud, with a shared workspace for reviewing the work.

What makes Alwin different from general-purpose AI agents?

Alwin combines document intelligence, cross references, your firm’s methodology, and agent governance in a workflow designed for audit work. Agents can keep working while you’re offline. You review the results in traceable workpapers with snips linking back to supporting evidence.

Is there a desktop or mobile app?

There’s no dedicated desktop or mobile app at the moment. You access Alwin through your browser.

Documents, testing, and workpapers

Can Alwin review documents beyond numbers?

Yes. Alwin can run more complex document tests beyond numerical extraction, across different workspaces and tasks. You review the findings and the supporting evidence.

Can Alwin create analytics as well as link results to sources?

Yes. Beyond Snip to Source, Alwin can create analytics and support more complex testing across financial statement line items. The results remain available for your review.

Can Alwin analyze complete datasets instead of samples?

Yes. With a well-crafted prompt, Alwin can analyze complete datasets and run complex tests across large volumes of documents. You define what to test and review the output.

Can Alwin support both financial and performance audits?

Yes. For financial audits, Alwin can help reconcile balances, test transactions, and verify financial information against supporting evidence.

For performance audits, custom agents can apply your methodology to assess economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. Examples include comparing service delivery against agreed targets, extracting requirements from policies and contracts, and validating reported KPIs. These workflows are configured and validated against your specific criteria, with auditors reviewing the findings.

How does Alwin handle missing or contradictory evidence?

Alwin flags exceptions in detail, with clear traceability for your review. If you know documents are missing or contradictory, tell Alwin in Plan mode so it can account for those gaps when outlining its approach.

Can I use my own workpaper templates?

Yes. Attach your Excel workbook or Word document template to the task.

Does the downloaded workpaper retain snips and supporting documents?

Yes. The downloaded Excel workpaper retains snips and embedded supporting documents, matching the web review experience. The Excel agent also stays available in Excel for review and changes.

How does Alwin help when large document workloads slow down Excel?

Alwin processes work in the cloud, outside Excel, rather than relying on your computer’s RAM for that processing. You review the results and can download an Excel workpaper with snips.

Does Alwin access the web?

No. Alwin doesn’t currently have web access. It works from the documents and data you provide.

Can I move a task to another space?

Moving tasks between spaces isn’t available at the moment.

Review and governance

How can my team see what the agent and auditor did?

Alwin stores the task chat, the agent’s questions, your answers, and your review notes in a shared workspace. Review checkpoints and a full log of agent and human actions help your team follow the work and review the results.

What safeguards address AI reasoning risk?

Beyond SOC 2, Alwin has been assessed against the OWASP Top 10 for Generative AI and Agentic AI applications, with mitigations in place. Auditors stay in control through review checkpoints and a full log of agent and human actions. More detail is available in our trust center.

Can access to Excel Agents be restricted to specific users or groups?

Today, you can control who builds and publishes agents. More granular control over who can access each Excel agent is planned. There’s no confirmed release date yet.

AI models and data security

What AI models does Alwin use?

Across Alwin on the web and Excel Agents, we use frontier models from Anthropic and Google, hosted on Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. We select models based on the task and evaluate our system and models on hundreds of audit tasks for performance and speed.

Is customer data used to train AI models?

No. We never train on customer data and don’t allow our hosting providers to use it for training. We adhere to strict data confidentiality standards.

Where is my data stored?

Alwin is deployed in three regions: the US, Australia, and Europe. Your data stays in your region.

How is my data protected?

Alwin’s security measures include SOC 2, encryption, and penetration testing. You can find details about the platform’s security controls in our trust center.

How does Alwin handle personally identifiable information (PII)?

Alwin doesn’t mask or de-identify personal data, and it doesn’t block users from entering it. You decide what data to upload. Our Data Processing Agreement asks customers to ensure the data they provide doesn’t include special categories of personal data under Article 9 GDPR or other sensitive personal data.

The data you upload is protected by the platform’s security controls, described in our trust center.

How does data retention differ from the DataSnipper AI add-in?

The DataSnipper AI add-in retains documents for 24 hours. Alwin retains customer documents persistently so teams can continue working on them. This changes the risk profile; see Alwin’s security notes in our trust center for details.

Pricing and access

How much does Alwin cost, and is it included in my DataSnipper plan?

Please reach out to our sales team for details on pricing and plan options. If you are a current DataSnipper customer, reach out to your designated CSM for details on pricing and adding Alwin to your plan.

Who can help me understand whether Alwin fits my workload?

Reach out to our sales team to discuss your workflow and document-upload requirements. If you’re a current DataSnipper customer, your designated Customer Success Manager (CSM) can help you explore the options.

Still have questions?