Iris is the assistant built into Mentorly. You ask her a question in your own words and she answers in plain language, whether that is a question about how Mentorly works or a question about your own program.
She is designed to save you the round trip: no report to export, no filter to build, no support ticket to file for something you could simply ask out loud.
What Iris is:
Iris is part of Mentorly, not a separate tool or a separate login. She reads the Mentorly Help Center, the mentorship guides we publish, the resources your program has uploaded, and your program’s own live data.
Two things are worth knowing from the start, and both are covered in detail in What Iris can and cannot see:
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She only sees what you already see. Iris looks things up as you, with your own permissions. She cannot show you anything you could not already open yourself.
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She cannot change anything. Iris reads. She cannot book a session, edit a profile, send an invitation, or alter your program in any way.
Where to find her:
There are two ways in, and they are the same Iris with the same history.
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Iris in the menu. Click Iris in the menu on the left-hand side. This opens Iris on her own full page, which is the comfortable place for a longer back and forth.
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The Iris tab on the right edge. On any dashboard page, click the tab on the right-hand edge of the screen. Iris opens in a panel beside the page rather than on top of it, so you keep the page, the menu, and your program switcher in view while you ask. Drag the left edge of the panel to make it wider or narrower, and Mentorly remembers the width you chose.
Your conversations are saved, so you can close Iris and pick a conversation back up later. Use the clock icon in the panel header to switch between them.
The three things she can help with:
When you open Iris on a fresh conversation she offers three categories. Click one and it opens a short list of example questions you can send with a single tap.
Ask how Mentorly works. Questions about the product itself, answered from the Help Center, with a link to the article she used.
- "How do I add participants?"
- "Can I use Zoom for my mentoring sessions?"
- "How do I connect my calendar to Mentorly?"
Ask about your program data. Questions about your own program, answered from live data rather than a stale export.
- "How many mentees are not yet matched?"
- "Which mentors have not yet connected their calendar?"
- "How many sessions are coming up?"
Ask how to take your program further. Questions about running a mentorship program well, answered from the guides and the resources your program has uploaded.
- "How should first-time mentees prepare?"
- "What are the top skills mentees are looking to acquire?"
The questions you see depend on who you are: a program manager, a mentor and a mentee are each offered a different set. For a program manager the program data questions also follow the screen, so the matching page suggests matching questions and the sessions page suggests session questions. You are never limited to the suggestions, they are only there so you are not facing an empty box.
Asking about what is on your screen:
Iris knows which page you have open and which program you are in, so you can point at things instead of spelling them out. "How many of these have no availability?" works while you are looking at your members list.
What she does not do is read the answer off your screen. Whatever a page happened to load is a partial, moment-old copy, so Iris looks the real answer up every time, even when a number is sitting right there. That is deliberate, and it is why her counts are right on a program of any size.
English and French:
Iris answers in the language you are using Mentorly in. Ask in French and she replies in French, including when the article or guide she is drawing on was written in English.
When Iris cannot help:
Iris tells you when she does not know something rather than guessing. If the Help Center does not cover a question, she says so.
When you want a person, click Message the Mentorly team in the panel. A short message box opens, already filled in with what you last asked, so you can send it as it is or edit it first. It goes to the Mentorly team and they reply by email, so you do not have to start again somewhere else.
Iris is new and she can be wrong. Treat an answer you are about to act on the way you would treat a number from any report: worth a glance at the source. Every product answer carries a link to the article behind it, so checking takes one click.
If you do not see Iris:
Iris is rolling out program by program, so she is not switched on everywhere yet. If there is no Iris item in your menu and no tab on the right edge, your program does not have her turned on.
Program managers can ask the Mentorly team to switch Iris on for a program. Members should ask their program manager.