Nexus Prompt Engineering Guide

Purpose

Nexus lets users ask questions like they would to a data analyst — pulling answers from multiple systems instantly.Prompts should be clear, focused, and context-rich to get the best results.

1. Basic Prompt Structure

Formula:

2. Key Prompt Types

Examples:

[Action Verb] + [Metric or Entity] + [Condition or Filter] + [Timeframe] (optional)

- “List students with 3 or more missing assignments this week.”
- “Show average attendance by school for last semester.”
- “Find students flagged for behavior incidents more than twice this month.”

3. Advanced Prompt Techniques

- “...in 10th grade”
- “...who ride Bus 42”
- “...with IEPs”

Use Cases:

Prompt Examples:

Student Lookup

“Show all info for Jordan Smith at Central High.”

Attendance Trends

“What was the daily attendance at West Middle last week?”

Grade Reporting

“List students in Algebra I with a grade below 70.”

Behavior Tracking

“Who had 3 or more referrals this semester ?”

Lunch Balance

“Which students have lunch balances under $10?”

Intervention Monitoring

“Show students currently receiving Tier 2 interventions.”

Aggregate Views

“How many students are flagged for chronic absenteeism by grade level?”

- “List students with failing grades behavior incidents and this quarter.”

Ask Comparative or Trend-Based Questions:

- “How does attendance this month compare to last month?”
- “Which schools improved test scores year over year?”

Ask for Output Format:

- “Export as CSV”
- “Summarize in a table”

4. What to Avoid

Use Cases:

Do Instead:

Vague: “How is the school doing?”

Specific: “What’s the average daily attendance for North Elementary this year?”

Overloaded: “List grades, absences, behavior, demographics for all students”

Break into parts or ask for a CSV

Ambiguous entities : “Show data for Johnson”

Clarify: “Show data for Principal Johnson at Central High” or use full names

5. System Hints (Optional Power Features)

Consider adding:

- "Source:" to force pulling from specific system (e.g., “Source: Skyward”)
- "Data Point": to explicitly define the primary identifier Nexus should use when interpreting your query (e.g.,“StudentID” or “IsChronicallyAbsent”)
- "Summarize" to get narrative output

6. Prompt Templates (Copy/Paste)

List students in [GRADE] with [CONDITION] during [TIMEFRAME].
Compare [METRIC] between [GROUP A] and [GROUP B].
Summarize [TOPIC] for [SCHOOL/SEGMENT] this [WEEK/MONTH/TERM].
Export [DATASET] where [FILTERS].
Find [ENTITY] with [METRIC] over [THRESHOLD].

7. Checklist Before Prompting

- Is it clear who or what you're asking about?
- Did you specify a time range?
- Did you specify data points and system names?
- Did you include filters like grade, school, or status?
- Do you want raw data or a summary?

Combine Data Sources:

Use Filters: