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Route four purchase requests to the right approvers using a matrix

  • For Finance and accounting
  • You practice Keeping the AI to your sources
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Write a prompt for plain text with four lines starting "PO 1:", "PO 2:", "PO 3:" and "PO 4:", each showing the amount and every approver required, then a last line starting "Flag:" for anything that needs compliance to look at. Apply the matrix and the split-purchase rule exactly. Under 100 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Missing the IT Director. The AI approves the laptops at the manager level only. Try: Say: "IT purchases also need the IT Director."
  • Treating split POs separately. The AI routes each $6,000 to a department manager. Try: Say: "Add same-day POs to the same vendor for the same item and route by the total."
  • Wrong lines. The AI writes a table or prose. Try: Quote the labels and the Flag line.
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold, headings and bullets by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Quotes the labels
  • Mentions the IT rule
  • Applies the split rule
  • Gives the line format
  • Asks for plain text

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