AI Cheat Sheet, Cedral Advisory

Section 01

The 4 Things AI Does Best

Writing & Communication

AI drafts emails, proposals, reports, and memos in seconds. Most knowledge workers spend 2 to 3 hours daily on writing. AI compresses that to 30 minutes.

Research & Summarisation

Feed AI a 40-page report and get the five things that matter in under a minute. What took a research analyst half a day now takes a prompt and two minutes.

Data Analysis

Upload a spreadsheet, ask in plain English. AI identifies trends, flags anomalies, and proposes next steps. No Excel mastery required.

Planning & Decision Support

Use AI as a thinking partner. Have it play devil's advocate, identify risks, and pressure-test your reasoning before you commit.

Section 02

Tools by Category

There are hundreds of AI tools. These are the ones we see business teams actually use. Grouped by what they are for, so you can pick based on the job, not the marketing.

01 · General-Purpose Chat

Pick one of these as your daily driver for drafting, brainstorming, summarizing, and asking questions. Either one works for most tasks. Free tiers handle a lot.

Tool	Best For	Cost
Claude (claude.ai)	Long documents, analysis, careful reasoning, file uploads	Free / $20 per month
ChatGPT (chatgpt.com)	Brainstorming, drafting, custom GPTs, image generation	Free / $25 per month
Google Gemini	Conversational chat tied to your Google account	Free / included with Workspace
Perplexity	Research questions with cited web sources	Free / $20 per month

02 · For Sensitive or Confidential Data

If your workflow involves client data, financial information, health records, legal matters, or anything you would not put in a public AI tool, this category is non-negotiable.

⚠ Important: Use Vault mode. Cedral AI has multiple modes. Only Vault mode is purpose-built for confidential data. After logging in to cedral.ai, switch to Vault mode before pasting anything sensitive. Do NOT use the default conversation mode for confidential information.

Tool	Best For	Cost
Cedral AI Vault mode (cedral.ai)	Confidential drafting, sensitive analysis, regulated industries (Legal, Healthcare, Financial)	See cedral.ai for pricing
ChatGPT Enterprise / Team	Public-AI workflows with stronger data controls (review retention policies)	Contact OpenAI
Claude Team / Enterprise	Public-AI workflows with stronger data controls (review retention policies)	Contact Anthropic

03 · Office Suite Integration

AI assistants that live inside the tools your team already uses. If you are paying for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, these add AI without making you switch contexts.

Tool	Best For	Cost
Microsoft 365 Copilot	Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint with AI	$18 to $21 per user per month
Google Gemini for Workspace	Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Meet with AI	Included in some Workspace tiers

04 · Meetings & Transcription

Record, transcribe, and summarize calls without taking notes by hand. Most integrate with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams. Caution: anything discussed in client meetings is sensitive, so review your vendor's data policies first.

Tool	Best For	Cost
Otter.ai	Live transcription, searchable meeting archives	Free / $10 per month
Fireflies.ai	Meeting summaries, action items, CRM sync	Free / $10 per month
Granola	Hybrid notes (your notes + AI augmentation)	Free / $14 per month

05 · Writing, Notes & Research

Specialized tools for polished output. Use these alongside a general-purpose chat tool, not instead of one.

Tool	Best For	Cost
Grammarly	Final pass on emails, proposals, documents	Free / $12 per month
Notion AI	Knowledge base, notes, internal wiki with AI search	$10 per month per user
Beautiful.ai	Presentation design and slide generation	$12 per month

Section 03

The Prompt Formula

The Formula

Context

→

Task

→

Format

→

Constraints

Example Prompt

"You are our operations manager at a 40-person logistics company [context]. Draft an email to our freight vendor about three consecutive late shipments [task]. Professional but firm tone, under 200 words [format]. Reference our contract's delivery SLA and propose a structured resolution with timeline [constraints]."

Section 04

Prompt Library

01 · Email Drafting

Draft a [tone] email to [recipient] about [topic]. Keep it under [word count] words. Include: [key points]. End with [specific call to action].

02 · Meeting Prep

I have a meeting with [who] about [topic] in [timeframe]. Draft an agenda with time allocations, 3 key discussion questions, and the decisions we need to make by the end.

03 · Summarise a Report

Summarise this document in 5 bullet points. Focus on: financial impact, key risks, recommended actions, and anything requiring immediate attention. Flag inconsistencies.

04 · Vendor Communication

Draft a professional email to [vendor] regarding [issue]. Firm but collaborative. Reference contract terms, include specific dates, and propose a resolution.

05 · Decision Support

I'm considering [decision]. Key factors: [list]. Play devil's advocate: strongest arguments against, risks I'm not seeing, what would need to be true for this to fail.

06 · Data Analysis

Here is our [data type] for [time period]: [data]. Identify the 3 most significant trends, flag anything unusual, and recommend 2 actions based on what you see.

07 · Policy Drafting

Draft a [policy type] policy for a [size] company in [industry]. Cover: scope, key rules, exceptions process, consequences. Professional but accessible. Include FAQ.

08 · Strategic Thinking

Our company: [stage], revenue [X], team [Y], primary challenge [Z]. We're considering [options]. For each: likely 12-month outcome, resource requirements, biggest risk.

Section 05

Weekly Habit Builder

Week 1 Foundation

Pick one AI tool and sign up
Run 3 simple tasks: summarise a document, draft an email, brainstorm ideas
Keep a log: task, time saved, quality (1 to 5)

Goal: Build comfort with the interface

Week 2 Integration

Use AI for one real work task per day
Try the prompt formula on your actual emails and reports
Experiment with follow-up prompts. Refine outputs instead of starting over

Goal: AI becomes part of your daily workflow

Week 3 Depth

Upload a company document and ask AI to work with it
Try a complex task: competitive analysis, process documentation, or data review
Share one successful use case with a colleague

Goal: Move beyond simple drafting to substantive work

Week 4 Scale

Document your top 3 prompts as reusable templates
Train one colleague on your best use case
Calculate total hours saved over the month

Goal: From personal habit to team capability

Section 06

Common Pitfalls & Fixes

Pitfall	Fix
Vague prompts → vague output	Use the formula: Context → Task → Format → Constraints
Accepting first output as final	Treat AI output as a first draft. Refine with follow-up prompts.
Inputting confidential data	Never paste client-sensitive data without reviewing your platform's data policy
Trying to automate everything at once	Start with one use case. Master it. Then expand.
Expecting AI to replace judgment	AI handles the 80% that's routine. You handle the 20% that requires experience.
Not saving good prompts	Build a prompt library from day one. Future-you will thank present-you.

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