Predictika · firewall appliances, security bundles, support and co-term renewals

An AI sales agent's firewall quote, checked before it goes to the customer

An AI sales agent prepares a quote for a firewall appliance with a security subscription bundle and support: model, units, deployment, bundle, support level, term, partner tier, deal registration, any co-term date and discount, and says it is ready to send. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika's validator, which checks it against a declarative model of the sizing, bundle and commercial rules, prices it, and reports every problem it finds in one pass.

Scope: Quotes for FortiGate style firewalls (40F to 1800F) with security bundles, FortiCare support, high availability pairs, co-term renewals, partner tier discounts and deal registration, checked against illustrative sizing, bundle and commercial rules. Prices, throughput and limits are estimates in US dollars, not a manufacturer quote. See everything this validator covers

This validator checks any quote built from these firewall models, bundles and terms, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Models and sizing — firewall and threat protection throughput against what the configuration delivers, a headroom review near the limit, and the model class that gates the larger bundle and support levels.
  • Bundles and support — hardware with FortiCare only, Advanced Threat Protection, Unified Threat Protection and Enterprise Protection, with FortiCare Premium or Elite.
  • Deployment and term — standalone or a high availability pair of exactly two units, terms of 1, 3 or 5 years, and co-term to an existing contract with a review for very short stub periods.
  • Partner and region — partner tier discount caps, deal registration, rep authority with an approval path, and lead time by region against the weeks the customer needs.
  • Commercial terms and the stated total — a large-order review above USD 250,000, an illustrative price build-up, and a check that the net total the agent states matches the total the validator computes.

Any quote for these firewall models that touches sizing, bundles, support, term, co-term, high availability, partner tier, deal registration, lead time or discounting is in scope, not only the scenarios pictured here. Not checked: switching, wireless, SASE and cloud products, management and analytics licenses, real list prices and renewal uplift, or per-feature throughput under every inspection mode.

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

4 scenarios in 2 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 a rules-based CPQ gets this wrong
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Our assessment of what a typical rules-based CPQ (product rules, price rules and validation rules, as in Salesforce Revenue Cloud) does with the same cases. It is a judgment about effort and reliability, not a claim that nothing can be built.

    
What the validator caughtA rules-based CPQPredictika
Throughput requirement against an appliance or an HA pairOnly with care
A comparison of a requirement field with a model attribute, with a different formula for a high availability pair; it works, but needs every requirement field filled in.		Capacity is derived from the model, the unit count and the deployment, and the check follows.
Bundle and support levels that depend on the model classEasy
A product rule on model class.		The same, from the catalog.
Co-term proration and a short-stub approvalOnly with workarounds
Prorated subscription pricing from a co-term date, a limit against the term, and an approval band; date-driven pricing is awkward in rules.		Months drive the price and the checks in one model.
Partner tier caps with a deal registration bonusOnly with workarounds
Overlapping tier and deal rules with a bonus that applies only above Select; thresholds are easy to misorder.		Cap, bonus and approval band are one calculation.
A stated total that must match the computed priceOnly with care
The total is a separate field typed or generated elsewhere, so a mismatch is caught only if someone writes a rule that recomputes the price.		The price is computed in the same model, and the stated total is compared with it.
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.

    
1Required firewall throughput exceeds what the quoted configuration delivers.
2Required threat protection throughput exceeds what the quoted configuration delivers.
3The requirement uses more than 85 percent of the quoted firewall throughput; sales engineering must confirm the headroom.
4Threat protection is required but the hardware-only bundle has no security services.
5The Enterprise Protection bundle is not available on a smaller model class.
6FortiCare Elite is not available on a smaller model class.
7A term other than 1, 3 or 5 years is not offered.
8A high availability pair needs exactly two units of a model that supports it.
9A co-term longer than the term quoted is not allowed.
10A co-term of 2 months is a very short stub period; renewals operations must approve it.
11A Select tier partner cannot register deals.
12A discount above the limit for the partner tier is blocked.
13A discount above what a rep can give needs approval, up to the limit for the partner tier.
14Expected lead time to the region must fit the weeks the customer needs.
15A net order value above USD 250,000 needs a sales director review.
16The net total the agent states must match the total the validator computes.

  

  

    
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. Threat protection sized too small: One FortiGate 200F for a 5 Gbps threat protection requirement

    
The agent's request. Please check this quote for Alder Creek Logistics: one FortiGate 200F with Unified Threat Protection and FortiCare Premium for three years, from an Expert partner in North America, sized for 10 Gbps of firewall and 5 Gbps of threat protection, needed within 12 weeks, at a net total of USD 13,130. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Threat protection over the rating. Required threat protection throughput of 5 Gbps exceeds the 3 Gbps the quoted configuration delivers.
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  • Price build-up. Estimated list price: USD 13,130 net, USD 13,130 list (hardware USD 6,500, subscriptions and support USD 6,630 for 36 months). The configuration delivers 27 Gbps of firewall and 3 Gbps of threat protection throughput, with a lead time of 5 weeks.
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2. Threat protection sized too small: Two FortiGate 200F units for the same requirement

    
The agent's request. Alder Creek Logistics needs more threat protection than one unit gives, so I changed the quote to two FortiGate 200F units with Unified Threat Protection and FortiCare Premium for three years, still sized for 10 Gbps of firewall and 5 Gbps of threat protection, at a net total of USD 26,260. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
    
      
  • Price build-up. Estimated list price: USD 26,260 net, USD 26,260 list (hardware USD 13,000, subscriptions and support USD 13,260 for 36 months). The configuration delivers 54 Gbps of firewall and 6 Gbps of threat protection throughput, with a lead time of 5 weeks.
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3. A stated total that does not match: A high availability pair with a net total that is too low

    
The agent's request. Please check this quote for Northwind Pediatrics Group: a high availability pair of two FortiGate 600F with Enterprise Protection and FortiCare Elite for five years, from an Elite partner in North America with a registered deal and a 5 percent discount, sized for 30 Gbps of firewall and 6 Gbps of threat protection, needed within 12 weeks, at a net total of USD 124,807.20. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Stated total does not match. The quoted net total of USD 124,807.20 does not match the USD 135,660 the validator computed.
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  • Price build-up. Estimated list price: USD 135,660 net, USD 142,800 list (hardware USD 42,000, subscriptions and support USD 100,800 for 60 months). The configuration delivers 36 Gbps of firewall and 7 Gbps of threat protection throughput, with a lead time of 8 weeks.
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4. A stated total that does not match: The same pair with the net total corrected

    
The agent's request. I recomputed the Northwind Pediatrics Group quote: the same high availability pair of two FortiGate 600F with Enterprise Protection and FortiCare Elite for five years, with the registered deal and 5 percent discount, now at a net total of USD 135,660. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
    
      
  • Price build-up. Estimated list price: USD 135,660 net, USD 142,800 list (hardware USD 42,000, subscriptions and support USD 100,800 for 60 months). The configuration delivers 36 Gbps of firewall and 7 Gbps of threat protection throughput, with a lead time of 8 weeks.
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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 quote for a firewall appliance with a security subscription bundle and support: model, units, deployment, and more. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika's validator, which checks it against a declarative model of the sizing, bundle and commercial rules, prices it, and reports every problem it finds in one pass.
    2. 
      
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
    3. 
      
  3. The agent says. Please check this quote for Northwind Pediatrics Group: a high availability pair of two FortiGate 600F. It is ready to send. The rest of the request is on screen.
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  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
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  5. Blocked, with one finding, all in one answer. The quoted net total of USD 124,807.20 does not match the USD 135,660 the validator computed.
    6. 
      
  6. The validator returned one blocking finding 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 quote are checked against each other and against the stated total.
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  7. What this shows: for a stated total that must match the computed price, a rules-based CPQ is error-prone for this.
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  8. Now the agent resubmits.
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  9. The corrected request. It changes the net total stated by the agent to USD 135,660.
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  10. It calls the validator again.
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  11. This time the validator clears it.
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  12. The earlier finding is cleared, and the validator's total, USD 135,660, matches the quote.
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  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.
    14.