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Recommend a seat count at renewal that covers planned hires

  • For FP&A and financial analysts
  • You practice Giving the right context
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

You're advising the COO on a software renewal. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting "Seats needed:", "Cost today:", "Cost at proposed seats:", "Saving:" and "Recommendation:". Seats needed counts active users plus approved hires. Propose the lowest seat count the contract allows that still covers seats needed. Show the math. The Recommendation line says to reduce to that number, subject to HR confirming the hiring plan. Under 100 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Cutting to the contract minimum. The AI picks 450 because it saves the most. Try: Say: "Choose the lowest count that still covers seats needed."
  • Ignoring planned hires. The AI counts only the 430 active users. Try: Add: "Seats needed = active users plus approved hires."
  • Missing the annual math. The AI shows monthly cost only. Try: Add: "Show seats x price x 12."
  • 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 part short.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the five lines
  • Defines seats needed
  • Asks for the math
  • Adds the HR condition
  • Caps length

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