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Getting Started with GrndCtrl

Carlos Camacho
Updated

Welcome to GrndCtrl! This guide will walk you through signing in for the first time, navigating the interface, personalizing your settings, and installing the app on your device so you can stay connected wherever you are.

Signing In

Sign-in is email first. You type your address, GrndCtrl works out how your organization signs in, and only then does it show you the right next step. There is no row of provider buttons on arrival — the page opens with a single Email field.

  1. Go to app.grndctrl.ai.
  2. Type your work address in the Email field and click Continue. The button reads Looking up... while GrndCtrl checks your email's domain.
  3. What happens next depends on your organization — see the two paths below.
The GrndCtrl sign-in page on its first step, showing a single Email field and a Continue button

If Your Organization Uses Single Sign-On

You land on a short confirmation screen showing Signing in as and your address, with three choices:

Choice When to use it
Continue with your provider The normal path. The button names your organization's provider — for example, Continue with Microsoft (BECI). Click it and you will see Redirecting to ... sign-in before your provider takes over.
Sign in with a password instead For an account that lives in GrndCtrl directly rather than in your company directory. Uncommon, but this is the door for it.
Use a different email Takes you back to the first step.

Both doors can be correct for the same person. Single sign-on is the primary path, but if your account was created in GrndCtrl rather than in your company directory, the password door is the one that works. If single sign-on rejects you, try the password door before assuming something is broken.

If Your Organization Does Not Use Single Sign-On

You go straight to a password form. It shows Signing in as with your address and a Change link if you mistyped it. Enter your Password — the eye icon reveals it if you want to check what you typed — and click Sign In.

Your First Sign-In with a Temporary Password

If an administrator created your account, your first sign-in asks you to replace the temporary password before you can continue. You will see "Welcome! Set a permanent password for {your email} to finish signing in."

Enter a New password and Confirm password, then click Set password & sign in. The password needs at least 8 characters, with upper & lower case, a number, and a symbol.

If you see "Your session expired. Please sign in again with the temporary password." — you took too long on this screen. Start over from the email step using the temporary password you were given; it is still valid.

Using GrndCtrl in Microsoft Teams

GrndCtrl also runs inside Microsoft Teams. The sign-in steps are the same, with one difference: authentication opens in a popup window rather than redirecting the whole tab, and your Teams identity is used automatically.

The Continue button stays greyed out for a moment in Teams. GrndCtrl waits for Teams to hand over its context before it will let you continue. Give it a second rather than reloading.

If You Cannot Get In

  • "Access Denied" after signing in — you are signed in but not authorized for the page you landed on. See Why Can't I See This Page?
  • Your email domain is not recognized — the domain has to be mapped to your organization. Contact your administrator, or support@nxtconstruction.ai.
  • "Passwords do not match" or "Password must be at least 8 characters." — the form is checking your new password before it submits it.

Once you are in, there are two ways to get anywhere — and knowing both saves a lot of hunting.

  1. Your Home screen — a dashboard your organization arranges, holding the things they decided most people need.
  2. The App Drawer — the Apps button, a grid icon in the header of every page. It lists everything you have access to, whether or not it is on your Home screen.

If you cannot find something, use the App Drawer. The Home screen is curated; the drawer is complete. Full details in Finding and Opening Your Apps.

The Home Screen

Your Home screen is built from widgets — self-contained cards, each doing one job. A tenant administrator chooses which widgets appear, how large they are, and how they are grouped, using the Dashboard Layout editor in Tenant Administration.

There is no standard Home screen. Two colleagues in the same organization can see different ones. Cards can be restricted to specific groups, and a card belonging to an app your organization has not enabled does not appear at all. So if a screenshot or a colleague's screen does not match yours, nothing is wrong.

The Home screen widget dashboard, with the What's Happening carousel and the Helpful Links rail

Widgets Your Administrator Can Place

This is the catalogue of what is available, not a description of your screen:

Widget What it shows
Hero Greeting Personal greeting with a built-in Quick Ask input.
Quick Ask Ask Brix a quick question; continue in chat.
Recent Conversations Your latest chats, one click to resume.
Quick Access Your most recently visited pages.
Notifications Job updates and feedback activity at a glance.
What's Happening Company updates, announcements, and news feed.
Calendar The company calendar as a compact widget.
Good News Recent wins from the team.
Helpful Links Important resources at a glance.
Feedback Highlights Top product feedback requests.
Recent Documents Newest documents in My Docs or the tenant library.
My Support Tickets Your support ticket statuses.
Quote Generator Where your quotes stand — open, awaiting customer, won, and pipeline — with links into Quote Generator.
Usage Metrics This week's tenant activity. Usually placed admin-only.
Service Hub Queue and Service Hub Chat A filtered ticket queue and a request intake, for organizations running Service Hub.

Widgets tied to an app disappear with it. Calendar, What's Happening, Good News, Helpful Links, Feedback Highlights, Quote Generator, and the Service Hub widgets each depend on an app being enabled for your organization. If it is off, the widget is not just empty — it is not offered at all.

The Header

Above your dashboard, the same header follows you across the product:

  • Notification bell — job updates and activity.
  • Apps (grid icon) — the App Drawer.
  • ? — Knowledge Base, Feedback, and Submit a Ticket. Knowledge Base is how you get from the app to this Help Center.
  • Your profile — your account and sign-out.
  • Gear icon — a shortcut straight to Tenant Administration. Administrators only, on the Home screen.

If You Are an Administrator

Administrators can reach these from the Apps button:

  • Tenant Administration — users, groups, extension access, dashboard layout, permissions, and GrndCtrl Access
  • App Store — turn apps on and off for your organization
  • Document Library — everything your assistant can read
  • Integrations Hub — connected systems and composite tables
  • Conversation Analytics — how the assistant is being used
  • Message Analysis and Admin Chat — decision tracking and diagnostics
  • Prompt Management — the AI system prompt and tenant policies
  • Tenant Branding — logos, colors, and theme

Chat Page Navigation

The chat pages put their own controls into the platform header rather than carrying a separate toolbar of their own. The one you will use most is the gear icon, which opens Customize Responses — covered next.

Using the AI Chat

One of the first things you'll notice is the AI Chat interface. This is your AI-powered assistant that can answer questions using your company's documents as a knowledge base.

Asking a Question

  1. Navigate to the Chat Interface from the Home screen.
  2. Type your question in the chat input field (e.g., "What is our PTO policy?" or "Where do I find the expense report form?").
  3. Press Enter or click the send button.
  4. The AI will search your company's documents and provide a relevant answer.

The AI uses semantic search, which means it understands the meaning behind your question — you don't need to use exact keywords. Ask questions naturally, the same way you would ask a colleague.

AI Chat showing a user question and the AI's response with document references

Personalizing Your Settings

You can change how the AI assistant writes, how hard it thinks, and what it knows about you.

AI Chat Preferences

  1. Open a chat page.
  2. Click the gear icon in the header to open Customize Responses.
  3. Adjust what you want, then click Apply to save. Cancel discards your edits.

There are eleven settings, covering the model, how long and how formal answers are, what the assistant calls you, and your timezone. Each one is described in full in Customizing AI Responses.

If you are unsure, leave everything on Default. The defaults suit most people, and nothing here is permanent — you can adjust as you get a feel for the assistant.

Exploring Key Features

Here's a quick walkthrough of the features you'll use most often:

Check What's Happening

  1. Open What's Happening — from the Apps button in the header, or from its widget on your Home screen.
  2. Browse the latest company news and announcements.
  3. Posts include rich text, images, and links from your administrators.
  4. For company events, holidays, and pay dates, open Company Calendar — it is its own page, not a tab of What's Happening.
What's Happening page showing a news feed with announcement cards

Share Good News

  1. Open Good News — from the Apps button in the header, or from its widget on your Home screen.
  2. You'll see your assigned group (named after the group owner) with approximately 10 members.
  3. Click Create Post to share a positive update.
  4. Add text and optionally attach photos.
  5. Your post will be visible to everyone in your group.

Tip: Good News is a great way to connect with colleagues you don't normally work with day-to-day.

Good News page showing the group member list and a post creation form
  1. Open Helpful Links — from the Apps button in the header, or from its widget on your Home screen.
  2. Browse links organized by category (e.g., Human Resources, Finance, Production, Sales).
  3. Click any link to open the resource in a new tab.

Common resources include BambooHR, NetSuite, Salesforce, employee store, benefits portals, and more — all in one place instead of bookmarking dozens of URLs.

Helpful Links page showing category sections with their link cards

Submit Feedback

  1. Open Feedback — from the Apps button in the header, or from its widget on your Home screen.
  2. Select a product: NSPEC, NSPEC-X, SuperClear AI, or GrndCtrl.
  3. Browse existing suggestions and vote on ones you support.
  4. Click Share feedback to add a new idea.
  5. Choose a category — New feature, Bug, or Performance — and describe your idea.
Feature Feedback showing product selector tabs and a list of feature requests with vote buttons

Installing on Your Device

GrndCtrl is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which means you can install it on your phone, tablet, or desktop for quick access — the same as a native app.

iPhone / iPad (Safari)

  1. Open app.grndctrl.ai in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button (square with upward arrow).
  3. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Add to confirm.

Android (Chrome)

  1. Open app.grndctrl.ai in Chrome.
  2. Tap the menu (three dots in the top-right corner).
  3. Tap Install App or Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Install to confirm.

You may also see an Install App banner at the bottom of the screen when you first visit. Tap it for a quick install.

Desktop (Chrome / Edge)

  1. Open app.grndctrl.ai in Chrome or Edge.
  2. Look for the Install icon in the address bar (a monitor with a download arrow).
  3. Click Install.
  4. GrndCtrl will open as a standalone window and appear in your taskbar or dock.
Desktop browser showing the install prompt icon in the address bar

Dark Mode

GrndCtrl supports dark mode. The app automatically follows your device's system theme setting:

  • Light mode — When your device is set to light theme
  • Dark mode — When your device is set to dark theme

To switch themes, change your operating system's display settings (e.g., Settings > Display > Dark mode on Android, or Settings > Display & Brightness on iOS).

Quick Start Checklist

  • Signed in (Microsoft SSO, Google, or email/password)
  • Explored the widgets on your Home screen
  • Read the latest What's Happening announcements
  • Viewed your Good News group
  • Browsed Helpful Links
  • Asked the AI Chat a question
  • Reviewed your AI preferences in Customize Responses
  • Installed GrndCtrl on your device (optional)

Troubleshooting First Login

I see a "No Access" page after signing in

Problem: You signed in successfully but cannot access the portal.

Solutions:

  • Your email domain may not be mapped to your organization's tenant — contact your administrator
  • Verify you are signing in with your company email, not a personal Microsoft or Google account
  • If you signed in with Google, your account may be pending administrator approval — ask your admin to approve your account in User Management
  • Try clearing your browser cache and signing in again

Microsoft SSO login fails

Problem: Error during the Microsoft sign-in process.

Solutions:

  • Ensure you are using a supported browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge)
  • Check that pop-ups are not blocked for the sign-in page
  • Try signing in from an incognito/private window to rule out extension conflicts
  • Contact your IT department if the issue persists — they may need to authorize the application in your organization's Azure AD

Page loads but shows a blank screen

Problem: The app loads but nothing appears.

Solutions:

  • Hard-refresh the page (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac)
  • Clear your browser cache and cookies for app.grndctrl.ai
  • Try a different browser
  • If using the installed PWA, uninstall and reinstall it

Getting Help

If you continue to experience issues:

Next Steps

Now that you're set up, explore these features in more detail:

Need more help? Contact our support team at support@nxtconstruction.ai or check out our FAQ section.

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