Compute supplier shares without pass-through freight and flag the top

About this exercise

Write a prompt for plain text with exactly four lines: "Apex:", "Birch:", "Cobalt:" and "Flag:". Each supplier line shows spend excluding pass-through freight divided by the total excluding freight, as a percent with one decimal. The Flag line says whether any supplier is over the policy limit and that the sourcing manager decides. Under 100 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Including freight. The AI follows the buyer's 65% (312 of 480). Try: Say: "Remove the pass-through freight first; the total is 432,000."
• Recommending moving volume. The AI says to switch suppliers. Try: Say: "Do not tell anyone to move volume; the sourcing manager decides."
• Wrong lines. The AI writes a table. Try: Quote the four labels.
• 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 four labels
• Excludes freight
• Gives the line format
• Leaves the decision
• Asks for plain text

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