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Check a PO against remaining budget, including an unposted invoice

  • For Procurement
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

A buyer wants to issue a PO for pallet racking. Write a prompt for plain text with exactly five lines: "Remaining budget:", "PO amount:", "Over or under:", "Approvals needed:" and "Verdict:". Remaining budget = annual budget minus spent minus committed, and spent must include invoices received but not yet posted. Show the math. The verdict only says whether the PO fits the budget and who must look at it; it never approves the PO. Under 100 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Missing the unposted invoice. The AI uses the posted spend only and overstates the budget left. Try: Say: "Spent includes invoices received but not yet posted."
  • Missing one approval. The AI lists the signature but not the budget transfer. Try: Say: "List every approval the policy requires for this PO."
  • Wrong labels. The AI writes a paragraph. Try: Quote the five labels in order.
  • 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 five labels
  • Counts the unposted invoice
  • Shows the math
  • Keeps the verdict from approving
  • Asks for plain text

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