Predictika · commercial water heater quotes: venting kit, wholesale program, peak hot water demand, options and plan years

An AI sales agent's commercial water heater quote, checked before it goes out

An AI sales agent prepares a commercial water heater quote for a fictional customer. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against the product, venting kit and wholesale program rules, compares the net total the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason.

Scope: A. O. Smith style commercial water heater quotes: water heaters, venting kits and wholesale programs, with illustrative values in US dollars. See everything this validator covers

This validator models A. O. Smith style commercial water heater quotes: four water heaters, three venting kits and three wholesale programs, the number of water heaters, the peak hot water demand in tens of gallons per hour, the recirculation pump kit and extended service plan options, the plan term in years and discounts. It handles any quote made of these water heaters, venting kits and programs, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Water heaters and venting kits — A 100 gallon gas tank, a 199 kBTU condensing gas unit, a 120 gallon heat pump and an 80 gallon electric tank water heater, with an atmospheric, power vent or stainless sealed-combustion vent kit. The atmospheric kit cannot vent the condensing unit.
  • Hot water demand — The peak hot water demand in tens of gallons per hour must be within the limit of the water heater and the limit of the venting kit, and above 50 it needs a mechanical engineer review.
  • Options and wholesale programs — The recirculation pump kit and extended service plan are only available on the water heaters that offer them. Standard, contractor and multifamily project wholesale programs each have their own unit minimum and discount.
  • Term and order size — A plan of 1 to 5 years, with a finance review above 3 years. An order is limited to 120 water heaters and above 40 water heaters it needs a project desk review.
  • Discounts and order value — Program, volume and extra discounts add up: a rep can give up to 12 percent in total, a sales director must approve above that, and 20 percent is the limit. An order above USD 250,000 needs a deal desk review.
  • The stated net total — A check that the net total the agent states matches the contract value the validator computes.

Not checked: other A. O. Smith products such as residential water heaters, boilers or water treatment, real list prices, local plumbing and venting code decisions, or tax and multi-currency quoting. Built by Predictika from general public knowledge; prices, limits and percentages are illustrative estimates, not A. O. Smith figures.

The AI sales agentBuilds the commercial water heater quote from the conversation and says it is ready.
Predictika validatorChecks every rule at once and returns the verdict, each finding, and the computed figures.

7 scenarios in 3 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch

What the agent proposes

The AI sales agent says

Illustrative agent statement. The validator receives the structured request below.

Proposing agent: AI sales agent (scripted)

Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run

Predictika validator


      
Waiting for the call.

Where rules-based CPQ gets it wrong

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Our assessment of what a typical rules-based CPQ (product rules, price rules and validation rules, as in Salesforce CPQ) does with the same cases. It is a judgment about effort and reliability, not a claim that nothing can be built.

What the validator caughtTypical rules-based CPQPredictika
Water heater and venting kit compatibilityOnly with workarounds
A pairwise compatibility between two catalogs usually becomes one rule per combination.
Compatibility is a property of the water heater and the venting kit, checked on every call.
Hot water demand against two limitsOnly with care
A number that must fit both a water heater limit and a venting kit limit spans several validation rules.
Both limits and the review band are evaluated together.
Options by water heater typeOnly with care
Option rules per water heater type, extended for every new type or option.
The water heater type lists which options it offers; the check follows from the choices.
Discount stacking and approval bandsOnly with workarounds
Program, volume and extra discounts add up across rules and approval levels, and the total is rarely checked in one place.
The discounts are added once and compared with both the rep authority and the limit.
The total the agent statesOnly with workarounds
Comparing a stated total with a computed one means a separate rule per quote layout, and price rules rarely run on stated figures.
The stated net total is a field in the request and is checked against the computed total.
Every problem returned in one answerOnly with workarounds
Rules tend to fire as the quote is saved, so a rep often fixes one error and meets the next.
All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in.

What this validator catches: findings from its test cases

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Every rule is checked on every call, in any order the choices arrive; one problem never hides another. Blocking findings stop the quote; approval findings need a person to sign off; everything else is computed.

1The quoted net total must match the contract value the validator computes.
2The number of water heaters must meet the minimum of the wholesale program.
3The peak hot water demand must be within the limit of the water heater and of the venting kit.
4A peak hot water demand above 50 needs a mechanical engineer review.

Scenarios and results

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The recorded result of the validator for each scenario on this page: the request the AI agent sent, the verdict, and every finding, in the order they appear above.

1. The total the agent states: Stated total below computed

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 6 water heaters on the standard wholesale program, peak demand 20, 2 year plan. Net total USD 33,307.20. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Quoted Net Total. The quoted net total of USD 33307.2 does not match the USD 37008.0 the validator computed.

2. The total the agent states: Stated total corrected

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 6 water heaters on the standard wholesale program, peak demand 20, 2 year plan. Net total USD 37,008. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

3. Wholesale program: 19 units on multifamily terms

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 19 water heaters on the multifamily project program, peak demand 20, 2 year plan. Net total USD 103,128.96. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Wholesale Program Minimum. 19 water heaters are below the 20 water heaters minimum of the Multifamily project program.

4. Wholesale program: 20 units on multifamily terms

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 20 water heaters on the multifamily project program, peak demand 20, 2 year plan. Net total USD 108,556.80. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

5. Hot water demand: Demand 35 on a 30 limit

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the stainless sealed-combustion vent kit for 6 water heaters on the standard wholesale program, peak demand 35, 2 year plan. Net total USD 45,912. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Water Heater Demand Limit. A peak hot water demand in tens of gallons per hour of 35 is outside the 1 to 30 range of the 100 gallon commercial gas tank water heater.

6. Hot water demand: Demand 25, contractor terms

The agent's request. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 8 water heaters on the contractor program, peak demand 25, 2 year plan. Net total USD 46,876.80. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

7. Review by a person: Demand of 55

The agent's request. The 199 kBTU condensing gas water heater with the stainless sealed-combustion vent kit for 6 water heaters on the standard wholesale program, peak demand 55, 2 year plan. Net total USD 53,712. Ready to send.

Verdict: Needs approval.

  • Mechanical Engineer Review. A peak hot water demand in tens of gallons per hour of 55 is above 50; a mechanical engineer review is required.

Narration transcript

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The text of the narrated walkthrough, step by step.

  1. Welcome to a demo of Predictika's Validator. An AI sales agent prepares a commercial water heater quote for a fictional customer. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against the product, venting kit and wholesale program rules, compares the net total the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason.
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
  3. The agent says. The 100 gallon gas tank water heater with the power vent kit for 6 water heaters on the standard wholesale program, peak demand 20, 2 year plan. Net total USD 33,307.20. The rest of the request is on screen.
  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
  5. Blocked, with one finding, all in one answer. The quoted net total of USD 33307.2 does not match the USD 37008.0 the validator computed.
  6. The agent states a net total of USD 33,307.20. From the same choices the validator computes USD 37,008 and returns one blocking finding for the difference of USD 3,700.80. The water heater, venting kit, wholesale program, demand and plan term raised nothing; only the stated figure is wrong. Because the agent's figure travels in the request as the Claim_Net field, the validator can compare it with its own calculation instead of relying on the agent's account of its own quote.
  7. What this shows: for the total the agent states, a rules-based CPQ can do this only with workarounds.
  8. Now the agent resubmits.
  9. The corrected request. It changes the stated net as to 37,008.
  10. It calls the validator again.
  11. This time the validator clears it.
  12. The quote is unchanged. The agent now states USD 37,008, equal to the total the validator computes, so the quote is allowed. The line items reconcile to the total. The release call that follows was accepted: the validator answered "EXECUTED: quote released to the customer." (it is in the raw response).
  13. One problem caught in one call, fixed in one pass, and a clean quote. That is the value of Predictika's validator: catching mistakes before they reach the customer. Now you can try the other scenarios yourself.