Predictika · managed multicloud service quotes
An AI sales agent prepares a managed cloud services quote for a customer: an engineering tier, support add-ons priced on the customer's cloud spend, a term and an optional prepayment. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of the tier, term and prepayment rules, returns a verdict and every reason, and builds an estimated line-item quote. This model has no price list of its own: it uses the rates in a public 2022 UK government framework pricing document, labeled as estimates throughout.
This validator models managed cloud service quotes built from these parts — not just the scenarios shown below. Any quote made of them is in scope.
Not covered: the Aspire service levels and other tiers with no public structure, Advanced Monitoring and Resolution, hours-based Elastic Engineering outside the Plus tiers, resale of cloud commitments, private cloud and VMware hosting, managed security, professional consultancy day rates, the optional 12-month extension, and any custom statement of work. Assumptions: the rates are from a May 2022 UK G-Cloud 13 pricing document and are not current; the percentage steps are applied to each slice of spend, which is our reading of the table; the 4 to 5 percent prepayment range is described there as typical and subject to review.
7 scenarios in 4 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch
Proposing agent: AI sales agent (scripted)
Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run
What this means
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 caught | Typical rules-based CPQ | Predictika |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering hours that do not fit the tier quoted | Only with care The tier ceiling is a price-table value, while the hours the customer needs usually sit in the statement of work, not on the quote, so a validation rule has to be added and kept in step with the table. | The hours travel with the quote and are compared with the ceiling of the chosen tier on every call. |
| A support fee that is a percentage of spend in steps, with a minimum fee | Only with care Each step is its own price rule or lookup row, and the minimum is another rule that must agree with them. | The steps are applied slice by slice in one calculation and the minimum is taken in the same pass. |
| A flat infrastructure charge that becomes a percentage above a spend threshold | Only with care Two price rules with a threshold between them; it is easy to double charge or skip the boundary. | The charge is computed from the spend as one expression. |
| A prepayment discount described as typical and reviewed case by case | Only with workarounds Approval chains route a request upward, but refusing a discount nobody should grant needs a separate validation rule that repeats the range. | Above the range the validator blocks; inside it the quote needs approval, with the reason stated. |
| An agent that states totals which leave out a charge | Only with workarounds The total the agent or rep states is usually not a field on the quote, so nothing compares it with the calculated total. | The stated monthly and term totals travel with the quote and are compared on every call. |
| Every problem returned in one answer | Only with workarounds Rules tend to fire as the quote is saved or a step is completed, so a rep often fixes one error and meets the next. | All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in. |
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.
| 1 | 450 engineering hours a month is above the 400 hours the quoted Elastic Engineering Plus tier allows; quote a higher tier. |
| 2 | An Elastic Engineering Plus tier is quoted but the hours the customer needs each month are not stated. |
| 3 | The customer needs 200 engineering hours a month but no Elastic Engineering Plus tier is quoted. |
| 4 | A 48 month term is outside the 12 to 36 months the pricing document allows (an optional 12 month extension is added after the term). |
| 5 | The monthly infrastructure spend is missing; Optimizer+ and the Elastic Engineering Plus infrastructure charge are priced from it. |
| 6 | A prepayment discount of 8 percent is above the typical 4 to 5 percent range; anything higher needs a custom agreement. |
| 7 | A prepayment discount of 4 percent is requested but prepayment for the full term is not selected. |
| 8 | The quote states a monthly total of £1,500.00; the validator computes £1,700.00. |
| 9 | The quote states a term total of £40,800.00; the validator computes £38,760.00. |
| 10 | The quote contains no service; add an Elastic Engineering Plus tier, Optimizer+ or VM Management. |
| 11 | 350 engineering hours a month fits in a smaller tier (up to 400 hours); the quoted tier costs more than the customer needs. |
| 12 | A prepayment discount of 4 percent is calculated case by case and is subject to review. |