> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# OpEx Review FAQ

> Frequently asked OpEx Review questions

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These answers cover common questions about how OpEx Review works, what data it uses, and how that data is stored and secured.

## Getting started

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What do I need to get started?">
    To get started, Cortex recommends configuring at least 1-2 metrics in Delivery, 1-2 metrics in Reliability, and 1-2 Scorecards in Initiatives or Vigilance. This requires deployment, version control (for pull requests), and incident data flowing into Cortex from the following supported tools:

    | Pillar | Metric | Supported tools | Fallbacks |
    | - | - | - | - |
    | Delivery | Deployments | A CI/CD pipeline that calls the [Cortex deploys API](/api/rest/deploys) | Merged pull requests (version control), story points completed (Jira) |
    | Delivery | Cycle time | GitHub or GitLab | Time to first review (Bitbucket and Azure DevOps), work item lead time (Jira) |
    | Reliability | Incidents | PagerDuty or incident.io | Work items created, filtered by `type = incident` (Jira) |
    | Reliability | Time to resolution | PagerDuty or incident.io | Change failure rate (from deployments), though it's a less reliable signal |
    | Initiatives or Vigilance | 1-2 Scorecards | Scorecards configured in Cortex | None |

    For setup steps, see [Configuring OpEx Review](/improve/opex-review/configuring-opex).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Data sources

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What data feeds the report?">
    The report uses all datasets available in [Eng Intelligence](/improve/eng-intelligence):

    * Version control
    * Deployments
    * Incidents
    * Work items
    * AI tooling
    * Custom metrics
    * Scorecard scores

    Additional Cortex data may become available to OpEx Review over time.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How are production and non-production deployments distinguished?">
    Deployments can include optional environment information, which is used to separate production metrics from non-production metrics. To send environment information with your deployments, use the [Cortex deploys API](/api/rest/deploys).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does generating a report query my source systems or affect rate limits?">
    No. Cortex ingests and stores data from your integrations, and the report queries that stored data rather than your source systems. Generating a report adds no load or rate-limit pressure on your tools.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will reliability, observability, and security metrics be added?">
    Additional Cortex data may become available to OpEx Review over time.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Data storage and security

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What data does Cortex store, and how is it secured?">
    Cortex stores the engineering metadata it ingests using the credentials you provide. That data is tenant-isolated and encrypted. Cortex maintains SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does Cortex store my source code?">
    No. Cortex stores engineering metadata and event data, such as pull request, deployment, and work item metadata, Scorecard scores, and trace events. It doesn't store your source code or codebases.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How long is data retained?">
    Cortex retains out-of-the-box Eng Intelligence metrics for at least 6 months and custom metrics for at least 24 months. If you need a longer retention period, contact your Customer Success Manager.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## How insights are generated

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How are highlights and concerns identified?">
    The agent works through a multi-step process across your engineering metadata and org structure:

    * It retrieves your data through structured calls, so every figure traces back to a real query result.
    * It evaluates that data within the DRIVE framework (Delivery, Reliability, Initiatives, Vigilance, and Efficiency).
    * It ties each signal to the teams, services, and domains responsible, using your catalog and ownership data, and rolls results up the way your organization is structured.
    * It compares trends against historical baselines, so the report surfaces meaningful changes rather than normal week-to-week noise.

    The result is a prioritized, leadership-ready readout of what mattered most in the period, why it matters, and where to focus.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How are AI-generated insights validated to prevent hallucinations?">
    Every metric in the report comes from Cortex's query engine through structured calls. Before each report is created, a grounding step checks each AI-generated insight against the underlying data.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which AI provider powers OpEx Review?">
    OpEx Review is powered by Anthropic's Claude, using different models for different tasks.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Using Cortex AI in OpEx Review

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What can I ask Cortex AI in OpEx Review?">
    Cortex AI is built for follow-up questions on whatever metric or insight you're looking at, such as which teams are driving a change, how a metric compares to last quarter, or what a threshold means. Suggested prompts in the chat give you a place to start.

    For more examples, see [What you can ask](/improve/opex-review/using-opex-ai-chat#what-you-can-ask).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What should I expect from a Cortex AI response?">
    Responses are short (typically two to four sentences or a brief bulleted list) and are meant to be discussed in your OpEx meeting. They call out specific teams or services, suggest a next step when there is one, and link to a relevant data source so you can dig in further.

    Cortex checks any metric it surfaces against the query engine, but as with any AI-generated summary, it's worth double-checking a number before it drives a decision. For more information, see [What to expect from a response](/improve/opex-review/using-opex-ai-chat#what-to-expect-from-a-response).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>


## Related topics

- [Configuring OpEx Review](/improve/opex-review/configuring-opex.md)
- [Using the OpEx Review report](/improve/opex-review/using-opex.md)
- [Using Cortex AI in OpEx Review](/improve/opex-review/using-opex-ai-chat.md)