Glossary

Plain-language definitions for the terms that appear throughout the platform and these docs.

Action node — a node in a Workflow that performs a side effect (book calendar, call webhook, transfer call). See Workflows.

Active call — a call currently in progress. Visible in real time on Live Deployments.

Ask node — a Workflow node that asks the caller a question and stores the answer in a variable. See Workflows.

Attestation — a cryptographic signature attached to outbound calls in some regions (notably US/Canada STIR/SHAKEN) that lets receiving carriers verify the caller-ID isn't spoofed.

Audience — a list of contacts a Finn can call (or be expected to handle on inbound). Comes from CSV upload or CRM sync. See Audience.

Audience mapping — the mapping between CRM fields and FinnAI audience fields, configured per CRM connection.

BAA — Business Associate Agreement. Required for HIPAA compliance; available on Enterprise.

Buffer — the queue of contacts the dispatcher has staged for an active deployment. A "buffer drained" warning means the deployment is about to run out of work.

BYO number — Bring Your Own number. Use a phone number you already own with another provider via port-in or SIP-trunking.

Call duration — wall-clock time the call was connected. Billed to the second.

Call history — searchable log of every call across all deployments.

Calling-hour window — a per-contact local-time range (e.g. 9 AM – 6 PM) during which the platform will attempt calls. Respects each contact's timezone.

Call type — outbound (Finn dials out), inbound (Finn answers ring-ins), or both.

CNAM — Caller Name. The text label that shows on the recipient's caller-ID display in the US. Requires registration to avoid spam labeling.

Completion rate — percentage of attempted calls that reached a live human and finished the conversation. Distinct from success rate.

Custom field — an extra column in an audience beyond name/phone/country code. Available as {{contact.field_name}} inside Finn instructions.

Custom vocabulary — list of words/phrases the speech recognizer should expect. Improves transcription accuracy for brand names, drug names, jargon. See Creating a Finn.

Data Extractor Sidebar — the per-call drill-in view, opened by clicking any call row. Shows transcript, audio, AI analysis, post-call fields.

Decision node — a Workflow node that branches based on a variable or LLM-evaluated condition.

Defined begin message — a verbatim opening script the Finn reads when a call connects. Alternative: dynamic (LLM-generated).

Deployment — the act of putting a Finn on real calls. Binds Finn + Audience + Phone Number + Schedule. See Campaigns & Deployments.

Dispatcher — internal component that pulls contacts from a deployment's buffer and triggers outbound calls.

DID — Direct Inward Dial. Synonym for "phone number" in telecom contexts.

Dynamic deployment — a deployment launched on-demand (vs. scheduled).

E.164 — international phone number format (e.g. +15551234567). The platform normalizes to E.164 internally.

Finn — the AI voice agent. Configured with identity, voice, instructions, knowledge base, optional workflow.

Finn icon — optional avatar shown next to a Finn in the dashboard. Cosmetic.

Finn tasks — structured side-effects a Finn can trigger (book calendar, webhook, CRM update). Defined per Finn.

Free-form mode — a Finn that operates without a workflow, driven by identity + guardrails + knowledge base. Default mode.

From number — the phone number that appears on caller ID for outbound calls.

Guardrails — rules in a Finn's "Style & Guardrails" field that constrain what it can say or do. See Creating a Finn.

Handoff number — phone number the Finn transfers to when escalation triggers (e.g. caller asks for a human).

Idle reminder — the line the Finn says after a period of silence to nudge the caller. Default: "Are you still there?".

Identity text — the "who you are" field on a Finn. Drives tone and behavior.

Inbound — a call where the customer dials your number and the Finn answers.

IVR — Interactive Voice Response. Traditional menu-based phone trees (press 1 for sales). FinnAI Finns replace IVRs for most use cases.

Knowledge base — searchable corpus of reference material attached to a Finn. Files, pasted text, website imports. See Knowledge Base.

Latency — time between end of caller speech and start of Finn response. Target: <800ms.

LLM — Large Language Model. The brain that decides what the Finn says next. Selectable in advanced settings.

Live deployment — a deployment currently dialing. Visible on the Live Deployments page.

Number pool — a group of phone numbers used by parallel deployments to spread outbound dialing across many DIDs. See Phone Numbers → Pools.

Outbound — a call where the Finn dials the contact.

Parallel deployment — a deployment that dials thousands of contacts simultaneously. Enterprise feature.

Pasted text — a knowledge base source where you paste content directly. Alternative to file upload.

Phone number — a DID owned by your account, used as caller ID (outbound) or ring destination (inbound). See Phone Numbers.

Pool — see Number pool.

Port — transfer phone-number ownership from another carrier into FinnAI.

Post-call analysis — structured fields extracted from the transcript after a call completes (e.g. appointment_booked: true). Defined per Finn.

Recording — the audio file of a completed call. Default retention 90 days.

Response guidelines — rules on how the Finn should format and structure responses. See Creating a Finn.

Retrieval — the act of pulling relevant snippets from the knowledge base during a call.

Retry — re-attempt of a failed call (no answer, busy, voicemail). Configured per deployment.

Scheduled deployment — a deployment with a future start time. Sits in queue until it transitions to Live.

SCIM — protocol for automated user provisioning. Enterprise SSO feature.

Segment — a filtered subset of an audience based on custom-field criteria.

SIP trunk — a network connection that routes calls to/from FinnAI via your existing telephony provider.

Standard deployment — a deployment that dials contacts sequentially or in small batches. The default.

STIR/SHAKEN — US/Canada caller-ID attestation framework. Mandatory for outbound calls; the platform handles it automatically.

STT — Speech-To-Text. Converts caller audio to text for the LLM.

Style guardrails — see Guardrails.

Success rate — percentage of completed calls that achieved the goal defined by the Finn's primary success field.

Suppression list — global do-not-call list. Numbers on it are silently dropped from all deployments.

Tasks — see Finn tasks.

Telephony account — the underlying carrier connection, either FinnAI-managed or BYO via SIP trunk.

Test on Call — feature that calls your phone with the Finn for pre-launch testing.

Test on Chat — text-based browser simulation of the Finn for fast iteration.

Time zone — used for scheduling and calling-hour windows. Per-contact (derived from country code, overridable via custom field).

TTS — Text-To-Speech. Converts the LLM's text output to audio the caller hears.

Use case — high-level category tag for a Finn (sales, support, scheduling, surveys, etc).

Voicemail detection — heuristic that recognizes a voicemail greeting and decides whether to end, leave a message, or proceed.

Voice library — the catalog of voices a Finn can be assigned. Mix of provider voices and FinnAI-tuned voices.

Webhook — HTTP POST FinnAI sends to your URL on events (outbound), or HTTP POST your endpoint receives from FinnAI mid-call (inbound). See Integrations → Webhooks.

Welcome message — what the Finn says when a call first connects. Defined or dynamic.

Workflow — visual node-based editor for structured conversation flows. Alternative to free-form mode. See Workflows.