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Estimate the vacation accrual with a per-employee hours cap

  • For Accountants
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

You're estimating the paid time off (PTO) liability for the month-end review. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting "Ravi:", "Kim:", "Omar:", "Total accrual:" and "Change vs booked:". Each employee line is accruable hours x hourly rate = amount, where accruable hours are unused hours up to the 80-hour cap. The change line compares to the booked accrual with a sign. Don't mention planned leave or cash-outs. Under 80 words. No bullets or numbering.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Missing the cap. The AI accrues all 100 of Omar's hours, $2,500. Try: Say: "Cap accruable hours at 80."
  • Mentioning the vacation. The AI adds a note about Omar's December vacation. Try: Add: "Do not mention planned leave or cash-outs."
  • Wrong change. The AI compares to zero or reverses the sign. Try: Add: "Change vs booked: total minus $3,900 with a sign."
  • Markdown extras. The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note. Try: Say: "Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits. Try: Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the five lines
  • Gives the cap
  • Gives the formula
  • Bans leave and cash-outs
  • Caps length

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