{"id":"dat-fin-dept-variance-labels","audience":"finance","category":"data","technique":"context","title":"Label budget variances favorable or unfavorable after a prepayment","free":false,"task":"You're sending the marketing department head her October budget variances. Label under-budget lines F (favorable) and over-budget lines U (unfavorable), and show variance as a percent of budget. Travel includes a $2,000 prepayment for next year's conference that shouldn't count this year. Write exactly 4 numbered lines, each as Line: actual − budget = $X F or U (Y%). Plain text, under 70 words.","materialLabel":"Department budget report (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"MARKETING DEPT - YTD through October\n\nLine | Budget | Actual\nSalaries | $120,000 | $118,000\nTravel | $10,000 | $13,000\nSoftware | $8,000 | $8,800\nTraining | $5,000 | $2,000\n\nAP detail (Travel):\n- Oct 28: $2,000 deposit, BrandCon 2026 booth (event is next June)\n\nNotes:\n- Software went over because of a mid-year seat increase approved by the CMO.\n- Training: two courses were canceled by the vendor.\n- Department head asked: \"Am I in trouble on travel?\"\n- Year-end close calendar goes out next week.\n- Salaries came in under because one coordinator role sat open for six weeks.\n- Finance policy: prepayments for future-year events are moved to a prepaid account at month end.\n- Shared with the team in the usual folder.","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":4},{"type":"plainText"},{"type":"maxWords","max":70}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Not mentioning the prepayment","why":"The AI leaves next year's deposit in this year's travel, tripling the overage.","fix":"Add: \"Remove the $2,000 BrandCon 2026 deposit from Travel.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Not defining F and U","why":"The AI uses plus and minus signs that readers interpret both ways.","fix":"Add: \"Under budget = F, over = U.\"","checks":["r1","r2"]},{"title":"Not asking to see the work","why":"A department head will question bare labels.","fix":"Add a line to copy: \"1. Salaries: 118,000 − 120,000 = $2,000 F (2%)\"","checks":["numberedItems","r2"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each line: \"each line under 12 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Forgetting where it goes","why":"AI loves markdown tables and bold, which show up as clutter in an email to a department head.","fix":"Add: \"Plain text, no bold, headings or tables.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Removes the prepayment","patterns":["prepa","deposit","2,?000","next year"]},{"label":"Defines F and U","patterns":["favorable","\\bF\\b.{0,20}\\bU\\b"]},{"label":"Asks to show the math","patterns":["show (the |your )?(math|work)","x \\$|\\bx\\b.{0,10}=","calculation","step"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)","under \\d+"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no (headings|tables)"]}],"hint":"One travel charge belongs to next year. Tell the AI to remove it and say how to label variances.","rubricLabels":["Travel uses $11,000 actual after removing the $2,000 prepayment: $1,000 U (10%), not $3,000 (30%)","Salaries is $2,000 F (2%), Software is $800 U (10%) and Training is $3,000 F (60%)","Each line shows the subtraction between actual and budget with the F or U label, and there is nothing before the first numbered line"]}