---
title: Explaining the online admin to a salon owner
summary: What to tell an owner who asks what the online admin does with clients, what it never does, where the owner keeps control and what it spends. Each point links to the topic that holds the details.
tools: [talemo_get_agent_grant, talemo_get_channel, talemo_list_channels, talemo_get_conversation_script, talemo_list_conversation_fields, talemo_find_knowledge, talemo_list_knowledge_proposals, talemo_list_conversations, talemo_get_conversation, talemo_set_conversation_mode, talemo_take_conversation, talemo_return_conversation, talemo_get_billing]
related: [../runs/built-in-agents.en.md, ../admin-online/online-admin-follows-script.en.md, ../admin-online/conversation-script.en.md, ../conversations/who-answers.en.md, ../conversations/draft-replies.en.md, ../conversations/handoff-to-people.en.md, ../conversations/ignore-spam-and-stop.en.md, ../knowledge/online-admin-and-knowledge.en.md, ../work/waiting-for-you.en.md, ../runs/run-spend.en.md, ../money/spending-limit-and-bill.en.md]
search: [AI answers clients and books them, reply to clients while working, what is an AI receptionist, what the online admin can and cannot do, AI admin for beauty salon cost]
articles: [missed-messages-ai-receptionist]
---

# Explaining the online admin to a salon owner

The situation: an owner asks what the online admin will do with clients and what it
will never do. The answer is the same for a staff member and for an agent, and it
names the screens where the owner decides.

## 1. What it is and what it cannot reach

The online admin is one of two built-in agents. It answers clients in the
business's WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger chats by itself. The other agent, the
assistant, works for the team and is a different thing (see
[Built-in agents](../runs/built-in-agents.md)). The online admin is a member of
the business with rights of its own, and it answers only after the owner or an
administrator of the whole business gives them in **What the online admin may do**.
`talemo_get_agent_grant` shows what it may do. It never connects channels or keys,
never gives rights to anyone, and does not see money, the team and roles or the
note and category of a client's card.

## 2. How a conversation goes

It reads the script of the place the client wrote to, asks the steps in order,
shows the options as buttons where the channel has them, and writes each answer
into a field under **What we write down**. It writes in the client's language, in
short messages (see [Following the script](../admin-online/online-admin-follows-script.md)).
At the start of a conversation it names the business, says it is the online
administrator and says it is an AI, and if a client asks whether it is a person or
a bot, it says it is an AI. It does this again after a long gap, or after a person
of the business wrote in the chat. It answers while the channel window is open,
which is a day after the client's last message.

## 3. Booking

It finds times with the same finder as the team and books or moves a visit for the
client of that chat only. The confirmation of a visit it booked or moved waits
until it finishes replying: if it wrote to the client after the booking, Talemo
skips the confirmation, because the booking was confirmed in the chat, and if it
finished without writing to the client, Talemo sends the confirmation itself within
a minute. Talemo sends the reminder as for any visit (see
[Visit notices](../booking/visit-notices.md)). It cannot cancel
a visit: it asks the team, a card appears in **Waiting for you**, and the client is
told that the business will confirm.

## 4. What it knows

It answers from the voice and the entries of **Knowledge**, and it takes prices and
times from the price list and the schedules. It does not invent an answer. When it
has none, it tells the client it will find out, hands the chat to the team with the
reason "doesn't know the answer" and goes on with the rest of the conversation. The
question goes to the knowledge suggestions as **Question without an answer**.
After a person approves the answer, the online admin answers the waiting client by
itself while the window is open (see
[How the online admin uses the knowledge](../knowledge/online-admin-and-knowledge.md)).

## 5. When it hands over to people

It tells the client first and then hands over, with a reason (see
[Handoff to people](../conversations/handoff-to-people.md)).

- A client asks for advice, for example about health: it says politely that it does
  not advise, and keeps answering the rest.
- A client asks for a person, complains, or a rule of the script says so: it goes
  quiet until a person gives the chat back.
- It is set up not to promise a refund, compensation or a discount.

The handoff waits in **Waiting for you** and rings the app, and goes away when a
person has answered the client.

## 6. Draft mode

In **Only drafts** the online admin prepares the reply and its actions, and nothing
is sent or done. The owner sees the draft in **Today** or **Waiting for you** and
decides **Send**, **Edit** or **Don't send** (see
[Draft replies](../conversations/draft-replies.md)). A new channel starts in this
mode, and the owner moves it to **Answers by itself** when the drafts are right.
Only a person can do that. `talemo_get_channel` reads the mode of a channel, and a
single conversation can have its own.

## 7. When a person steps in

A reply from Talemo or from the WhatsApp Business app on the business phone, or
**Take over**, pauses the online admin in that chat. **Give back to the
online admin** ends the pause, and when you reply from Talemo you choose at once:
**Reply and give back to the online admin** or **Reply and keep it yourself** (see
[Who answers a conversation](../conversations/who-answers.md)).
It does not answer a message with only an emoji or a sticker, history from before
the channel was connected, or a client's "stop", and it is off for cards in Spam
(see [Ignore, Spam and "stop"](../conversations/ignore-spam-and-stop.md)).

## 8. Limits and spend

AI work is paid from the business's balance as it is done, and **Balance and
spending** shows it by assistant on the **What it went on** tab. The owner can set a **Spending limit** for the month, and
the online admin has a daily ceiling set with its rights. When either is reached,
or the balance comes down to the reserve, it stops, clients' messages wait for
people, and the rest of Talemo works (see
[Spend of a run](../runs/run-spend.md)). **Take the rights back** stops it in
every channel at once, and the rights can be given again.