Predictika · Equity plan administration orders

An AI sales agent's equity plan administration order, checked before it goes out

An AI sales agent prepares an order for employee equity plan administration: the service tier, the plan type, the modules such as EquateMobile, TaxConnect, EquatePyramid, ENGAGE, the Automated Grant Engine, trustee services and China setup, the number of participants, countries and plans, the term, the discount, and the total the order states. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of how these choices fit together, and returns a verdict, every reason and the total it computed.

Scope: One equity plan administration order: tier, plan type, modules, participants, countries, plans, term, discount and the stated total. See everything this validator covers

This validator models orders for three service tiers and nine plan types, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Tiers and plan types — Essential, Standard and Enterprise tiers, and share awards, dividend shares, options, SARs, RSUs, phantom plans, share purchase plans, performance LTI and the Fund Incentive Plan.
  • Modules — EquateMobile, TaxConnect, EquatePyramid, ENGAGE, the Automated Grant Engine, trustee services and China setup, with the tier or plan each one needs.
  • Volume limits — the participants, countries and plans each tier covers, and the term of one to five years.
  • Discount and the stated total — the discount allowed for the number of participants, the approval above it, the limit at 15 percent, and the total stated on the order, which is compared with the computed one.

Any EquatePlus order that touches these rules is in scope — not only the scenarios pictured here. Not covered: other Computershare services. The product names (EquatePlus, EquateMobile, TaxConnect, EquatePyramid, ENGAGE, the Automated Grant Engine, trustee services, the Fund Incentive Plan) and the plan types come from public Computershare pages; the service tiers, rules, prices and discount thresholds are modeled from comparable equity plan services and are not published by Computershare.

The AI sales agentBuilds the order from the conversation with the customer and says it is ready to send.
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
Modules that depend on the tier and the planOnly with workarounds
Trustee services and the Fund Incentive Plan need Enterprise, ENGAGE needs Standard, TaxConnect needs more than one country and the grant engine needs a plan with grants, so a change of tier or plan changes which modules are allowed.
Every module, the tier and the plan are fields of one order, and the dependencies are checked together on every call.
Limits that grow with the tierOnly with care
Participants, countries and plans each have a range per tier, so each limit needs a rule on the tier.
The tier and the counts are fields of one order and are checked together on every call.
Approvals that stack on top of blocksOnly with workarounds
A discount above the volume allowance needs a person while a term over five years or a discount above 15 percent stops the order outright, and a person should see them all at once.
Blocks and approvals are all reported together, so one problem never hides another.
A stated total that must match the computed oneOnly with workarounds
The total adds the tier fee, participants, plans, modules, countries and one-time fees over the term less the discount, so a separate rule must recompute it and compare it with the stated figure.
The stated total is a field of the order and is compared with the computed total on every call.
Every problem returned in one answerOnly with workarounds
Rules tend to fire as a step is completed, so a rep often fixes one error and meets the next.
All findings come back together, so the agent can fix them in a single pass.

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 order; approval findings need a person to sign off; everything else is computed.

1A phantom plan is cash-settled and the order needs EquatePyramid for the cash-deferral accounting.
2A Fund Incentive Plan is offered only on the Enterprise tier.
349 participants is outside the range this service tier covers (50 to 2,000).
46 countries is outside what this service tier covers (1 to 5).
5A plan covering more than 40 countries needs a delivery-readiness review.
63 plans is outside what this service tier covers (1 to 2).
7The ENGAGE launch and communications program needs the Standard or Enterprise tier.
8The Automated Grant Engine delivers awards; a share purchase plan or dividend shares plan has no grants to deliver.
9TaxConnect is for plans with participants in more than one country; the order has 1 country.
10Trustee services are offered only on the Enterprise tier.
11China equity plan setup needs the Standard or Enterprise tier.
12China equity plan setup needs a local legal and exchange-control review before it is sold.
13A term of more than 3 years needs a price-lock review.
14A term of 6 years is outside the 1 to 5 year range.
15A discount of 8 percent is above the 5 percent allowed for this number of participants.
16A discount of 16 percent is outside the 0 to 15 percent range.
17The order states a total of $100,000; the price list gives $411,925.

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. Fund Incentive Plan order: A tier too small for the participants and the modules, and TaxConnect for a single country

The agent's request. Please quote the Essential tier for a Fund Incentive Plan, with 3,000 participants in 1 country and 1 plan over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect, ENGAGE and trustee services. The order states a total of $381,000. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Participants outside tier range. 3,000 participants is outside the range this service tier covers (50 to 2,000).
  • Fund Incentive Plan needs Enterprise. A Fund Incentive Plan is offered only on the Enterprise tier.
  • ENGAGE needs Standard or above. The ENGAGE launch and communications program needs the Standard or Enterprise tier.
  • TaxConnect needs a cross-border plan. TaxConnect is for plans with participants in more than one country; the order has 1 country.
  • Trustee services need Enterprise. Trustee services are offered only on the Enterprise tier.

2. Fund Incentive Plan order: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

The agent's request. Please quote the Standard tier for a Fund Incentive Plan, with 3,000 participants in 1 country and 2 plans over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect, ENGAGE and trustee services. The order states a total of $484,000. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Fund Incentive Plan needs Enterprise. A Fund Incentive Plan is offered only on the Enterprise tier.
  • TaxConnect needs a cross-border plan. TaxConnect is for plans with participants in more than one country; the order has 1 country.
  • Trustee services need Enterprise. Trustee services are offered only on the Enterprise tier.

3. Fund Incentive Plan order: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

The agent's request. Please quote the Enterprise tier for a Fund Incentive Plan, with 3,000 participants in 4 countries and 5 plans over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect, ENGAGE and trustee services. The order states a total of $817,500. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

  • Order summary. 3,000 participants in 4 country(ies), annual fee $242,500, 3 year(s); total $817,500 including one-time fees.

4. Phantom plan order: A phantom plan without EquatePyramid, a term of six years and a discount above 15 percent

The agent's request. Please quote the Standard tier for a phantom plan, with 5,000 participants in 8 countries and 2 plans over 6 years, with EquateMobile and TaxConnect, and a 16 percent discount. The order states a total of $712,840. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Contract term out of range. A term of 6 years is outside the 1 to 5 year range.
  • Discount out of range. A discount of 16 percent is outside the 0 to 15 percent range.
  • Phantom plan needs EquatePyramid. A phantom plan is cash-settled and the order needs EquatePyramid for the cash-deferral accounting.

5. Phantom plan order: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

The agent's request. Please quote the Standard tier for a phantom plan, with 5,000 participants in 8 countries and 2 plans over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect and EquatePyramid, and a 5 percent discount. The order states a total of $477,475. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

  • Order summary. 5,000 participants in 8 country(ies), annual fee $153,500, 3 year(s); total $477,475 including one-time fees.

6. Dividend shares order: The Automated Grant Engine on a plan with no grants and a total left over from an earlier draft

The agent's request. Please quote the Standard tier for dividend shares, with 5,000 participants in 8 countries and 2 plans over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect and the Automated Grant Engine, and a 8 percent discount. The order states a total of $411,925. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

  • Grant engine on a plan with no grants. The Automated Grant Engine delivers awards; a share purchase plan or dividend shares plan has no grants to deliver.
  • Stated total does not match. The order states a total of $411,925; the price list gives $419,500.
  • Discount above the volume tier. A discount of 8 percent is above the 5 percent allowed for this number of participants.

7. Dividend shares order: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

The agent's request. Please quote the Standard tier for RSUs, with 5,000 participants in 8 countries and 2 plans over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect and the Automated Grant Engine, and a 5 percent discount. The order states a total of $440,425. It is ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

  • Order summary. 5,000 participants in 8 country(ies), annual fee $140,500, 3 year(s); total $440,425 including one-time fees.

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 an order for employee equity plan administration: the service tier, the plan type, the modules such as EquateMobile, and more. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of how these choices fit together, and returns a verdict, every reason and the total it computed.
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
  3. The agent says. Please quote the Essential tier for a Fund Incentive Plan, with 3,000 participants in 1 country and 1 plan over 3 years, with EquateMobile, TaxConnect, ENGAGE and trustee services. The order states a total of $381,000. The rest of the request is on screen.
  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
  5. Blocked, with five findings, all in one answer. 3,000 participants is outside the range this service tier covers (50 to 2,000). A Fund Incentive Plan is offered only on the Enterprise tier. The ENGAGE launch and communications program needs the Standard or Enterprise tier. The other two are on screen.
  6. The validator returned five blocking findings in one answer. A check that reads one field at a time would pass most of this; it shows only when the choices in the order are checked against each other.
  7. What this shows: for modules that depend on the tier and the plan, a rules-based CPQ can do this only with workarounds.
  8. Now the agent resubmits.
  9. The corrected request. It changes the service tier to standard, the plans to 2 and the total stated on the order to $484,000.
  10. It calls the validator again.
  11. Still blocked, with three findings, all in one answer. A Fund Incentive Plan is offered only on the Enterprise tier. TaxConnect is for plans with participants in more than one country; the order has 1 country. Trustee services are offered only on the Enterprise tier.
  12. Two findings cleared. Still blocking: Fund Incentive Plan needs Enterprise, TaxConnect needs a cross-border plan and trustee services need Enterprise.
  13. The agent resubmits once more.
  14. The revised request. It changes the service tier to enterprise, the countries to 4, the plans to 5 and the total stated on the order to $817,500.
  15. It calls the validator once more.
  16. This time the validator clears it.
  17. All three earlier findings are cleared.
  18. Five problems caught in one call, fixed in two passes, and a clean $817,500 order. That is the value of Predictika's validator: catching mistakes before they reach the customer. Now you can try the other scenarios yourself.