The WhatsApp Assistant helps anyone on site who wants to quickly send information to the office. Workers send a WhatsApp message, even a voice note, and the assistant fills in the work report for them: hours worked, work activities done, vehicles and machinery used, photo of the DDT. In Pillar you receive everything ready: you only need to approve the work reports.
What the WhatsApp Assistant can do
Fill in a work report from a written or voice message ("Rome site, Marco and I 8 hours, clear").
Recognize several workers in the same message and assign the hours to each.
Record vehicles and the kilometers driven ("I used the van for 50 km").
Record machinery and the hours of use ("Excavator 3 hours").
Understand relative dates like "yesterday", "last Monday", "December 15".
Save photos, PDFs and videos (for example paper DDTs) in the Files section of the right construction site.
Reply in the worker's language: Italian, Romanian, Albanian, Arabic, English, French and other languages. It works for everyone, with no setup.
What the worker can do via WhatsApp
Once enabled, the worker can write to the assistant freely. The assistant understands and fills things in for them. You can send text messages, voice messages and photos.
Writing a work report
The worker can say everything in a single message, or answer the assistant's questions. Examples:
"Rome site, Marco and I 8 hours, clear"
"Today 8 hours at the Ravenna site"
"Mario 4 hours demolition, 4 hours excavation"
If something is missing, the assistant asks the worker directly (which site, how many hours, which vehicles or machinery). Once it has everything, it shows a summary and asks for confirmation: only after the OK is the work report saved in Pillar as a draft to be approved by whoever receives it in the office.
How work activities are recognized
When the worker mentions a work activity (for example "Mario 4 hours demolition"), the assistant tries to link it to one of the activities in the construction site's program and, if it finds it, assigns the hours.
The assistant only recognizes activities that are in progress: those not yet started or already completed are not linked. If you want an activity to be recognized, make sure it is marked as in progress in the site's program.
Recognition is more accurate if the worker is already assigned to that activity in the program: in that case the assistant links it with more confidence.
If the name is clear, the assistant links the activity on its own. If it is uncertain, it asks with buttons, at most once per work report so it does not bother the worker.
If the assistant cannot link an activity (for example because it is not among those in progress), the text dictated by the worker is not lost: it is added to the work report notes, marked with ⚠️. This way whoever checks in the office reads exactly what the worker indicated and can make the correct association by hand.
Recording kilometers driven with a vehicle
If the worker used a company vehicle, they can state it by voice or in writing to add it to the work report. The assistant looks up the vehicle in the records by license plate, name or make/model. Examples:
"I used the Audi for 50 km"
"Today the Fiat Ducato van did 120 km"
"EX117YA, 30 km"
If there are several matching vehicles (for example two Fiat Ducatos), the assistant offers the available license plates and the worker picks with one click.
Recording machinery working hours
Site machinery (excavator, crane, roller, etc.) is recorded differently from vehicles: you count the hours of use, not the kilometers. The worker can state it by voice or in writing and the assistant recognizes it by name. Examples:
"I used the excavator for 3 hours"
"The crane 5 hours"
If the worker does not state the hours, the assistant asks for them. If there are several similar machines, it shows buttons to pick the right one.
Sending DDTs, paper work reports, photos
The worker can take photos of the paper work report, a DDT, a site note, the state of the works, etc., and send them straight into the chat.
If the worker works on a single construction site, the files are saved there automatically.
If they are linked to several sites, the assistant asks which one to save them on.
Accepted formats: photos (JPG, PNG), PDF, video. Maximum 100 MB per file.
On DDTs, Pillar's AI also extracts the data, and you only need to check the extracted data in Pillar.
Correcting or cancelling
If at the summary the worker notices a mistake, they can reply with a correction ("no, Mario did 6 hours"): the assistant updates the data and redoes the summary.
At any time they can type "cancel" to cancel the work report in progress. Nothing is saved.
What the assistant does not do
It does not edit work reports that are already saved. It only creates new drafts. Corrections are made in the Pillar app.
It does not delete approved work reports. Only the one in progress, if the worker types "cancel" before confirming.
It does not recognize workers or vehicles not registered in Pillar. If the name or license plate is not in the records, the assistant flags it in the summary and whoever checks the work report in the office can add them.
It does not send notifications on its own. It only replies when the worker writes. The only exceptions are the welcome message on first activation and the automatic reminder at 6:30 PM (see below).
It does not handle invoices, payments or payroll matters. It only deals with work reports, DDTs and files.
It does not work via SMS. You need a number with WhatsApp active.
It does not accept stickers, contacts or location. Only text, voice, photos, PDF and video.
It does not replace the Pillar app. Approving work reports, managing the site and viewing data stay in the app.
Sending a reminder to workers
Pillar automatically sends a WhatsApp reminder every day at 6:30 PM to the workers you have enabled the reminder for, so you do not have to remember to do it by hand. The worker receives a notification reminding them to record the day's hours.
How to enable reminders for a worker
Open the construction site and go to the Workers section.
Select the workers you want to enable the reminder for by ticking the box next to their name. You can select more than one.
At the bottom of the page the Set reminder button appears with the number of selected workers. Click it.
A confirmation window opens: click Confirm.
From then on, the selected workers will receive the reminder on WhatsApp every day at 6:30 PM.
Who can enable reminders
Enabling reminders is available to users with permission to manage workers on the site, i.e. with the Owner or Administrator role.
‼️ Prerequisite: to receive the reminder, the worker must already be enabled for the WhatsApp Assistant (phone number registered and linked to the site). You cannot set reminders on a worker who is not enabled.
How to enable workers for the WhatsApp Assistant
To use the assistant, each worker must be enabled from the construction site (with a phone number in +39 format and linked to the site). You will find the full procedure, with all the steps and screenshots, in the dedicated guide: Enabling a worker to use the WhatsApp Assistant.
💡 Useful tips
Enter the workers' phone numbers right when you create the construction site: it saves you a step.
For vehicles, register the license plate and model in the records: the assistant recognizes them by either.
Work reports created by the bot arrive in Pillar as drafts: remember to approve them, otherwise they are not counted.
If a worker has trouble using the assistant, check that their number in Pillar is written correctly (+39 prefix, no spaces) and that it is linked to the right site.
The automatic reminder goes out at 6:30 PM: if you want a worker to receive it, remember to enable it from the site's Workers section.
The worker can write to the assistant in their own language: the assistant understands and replies in Italian, Romanian, Albanian, Arabic and other languages.