Analyst Quickstart
If Welcome is the why, this is the do. It's the loop a working analyst runs most days, compressed to a page. Skim it, then start; reach for the linked articles when you want the detail.
The loop in one line
Glance → triage → dig → scope → connect. Read the picture, decide what's real, understand it, file it where it belongs, and link it into the story.
1. Glance
Open the map and the intel feed (📡). Let the graded picture orient you: where is activity concentrated, what's high-severity, what's new since you last looked. Don't act yet — just take the temperature. If it's overwhelming, focus a battlespace to narrow to one situation.
2. Triage the queue
Open the 🎯 Analyst Review Queue. These are the well-corroborated items waiting on a human call. Work down them: Confirm what's real, Reject what isn't, Escalate what needs a closer look. This is the single highest-value habit — it's where your judgement enters the record. See The Analyst Review Queue & Triage.
3. Dig into an item
When something matters, open it. Read its credibility — is this a single report or a heavy cluster? Check the actor behind it, follow the source, look at what's nearby in space and time. Be wary of anything carrying a deception flag.
4. Work inside a battlespace
Confirmed, significant items belong in a battlespace — the scoped container for one situation. Make sure its actors are defined so attribution and territory work, and let the operating picture assemble.
5. Connect the story
Single incidents are data; linked incidents are intelligence. Build event links and walk them in the causal graph. When you need to test a theory rather than just record one, take it to the Investigation Workbench.
Where things live
| You want to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| See incoming intel | 📡 feed dock / ⚡ Intel panel |
| Decide borderline items | 🎯 Queue |
| Watch a place / entity | AOI tab / Watchlist |
| Understand relationships | ⇢ Graph |
| Test a hypothesis | Analytics → Workbench |
| Find any other panel | ⊞ Tools |
Tips that make you faster
- Focus a battlespace early — most clutter problems are really scope problems.
- Lead with filters (severity, category, credibility) before scrolling.
- Trust the tier, not the headline — "reported" and "confirmed" are different states.
- Set AOIs and watchlists so the platform interrupts you instead of you hunting.
Where to next
- A Tour of the Workstation — every region of the screen named.
- How Intelligence Flows — what's happening under the loop.