Predictika · panelboards and switchboards, main breakers, feeders, ground-fault protection, fault current, tier pricing and discount authority

An AI sales agent's electrical project bid, checked before it goes out

An AI sales agent prepares an electrical project bid for a fictional contractor. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against the equipment and engineering rules, compares the net bid the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason.

Scope: bids for the Eaton Pow-R-Line panelboard, main breaker and feeder product line. See everything this validator covers

This validator models electrical project bids in the style of WESCO: panelboards and switchboards with a main breaker and feeder conductors. It handles any bid made of these products, not just the scenarios shown below.

Panelboards and switchboards — Eaton Pow-R-Line 1a, 2a, 3a and 4 panelboards and the C switchboard, with their voltage, bus, fault-current and lead-time ratings.
Main breaker and feeders — A main breaker sized against the bus and the continuous load, and copper or aluminum feeders in one or several parallel sets, checked for ampacity and three-phase voltage drop.
Code-style checks — Ground-fault protection on 480Y/277 V mains of 1,000 A or more, and available fault current against the panelboard rating.
Pricing and approvals — Contractor tier pricing, copper-indexed wire cost, special pricing agreement discounts with a rep limit and a hard limit, a branch manager review above USD 250,000, and a check that the net bid the agent states matches the computed bid.

It does not cover other electrical product lines, real list prices, a full electrical code review, stamped engineering, or tax and multi-currency quoting.

The AI sales agentBuilds the quote from the conversation and says it is ready.

Predictika validatorChecks the quote against the product and contract rules and returns every finding it has.

8 scenarios in workflow pairs · click one to switch

What the agent says

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

Before sending, the agent must call

Predictika validator Recorded run

Waiting for the call.

What this means

Run the validator to see the outcome

The explanation appears here once the validator returns.

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 or 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 catches	Typical rules-based CPQ	Predictika
Panelboard bus and main breaker rating	Only with care Each panelboard carries its own voltage, bus and fault ratings, so every combination with a main size becomes a rule row.	Ratings are properties of the catalog item, checked against the main on every call.
Parallel conductor sets, ampacity and voltage drop	Only with workarounds Ampacity times the number of sets, plus a length- and size-dependent voltage drop, is a calculation, not a lookup, and rarely fits a price or validation rule.	Ampacity, sets and the three-phase voltage drop are computed together and compared with their limits.
Ground-fault protection by service and size	Only with care The requirement depends on service voltage and main size together, so it becomes separate rules per combination.	Service voltage and main size are evaluated together on every call.
Fault current and lead time against the need date	Only with care A fault rating and a lead time each come from the panelboard and are compared with job inputs in separate rules.	Both are read from the catalog and compared with the job in one pass.
Copper-indexed wire pricing and contractor tier	Easy Tier multipliers are a price rule most CPQ tools handle; the copper index adds a second moving input on copper conductors only.	Tier pricing and the copper-indexed wire cost feed one net bid.
The bid the agent states	Only with workarounds Comparing a stated bid with a computed one means a rule per quote layout, and price rules rarely run on stated figures.	The stated net bid is a field in the request and is checked against the computed bid.

What this validator catches

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

Rule	Effect	What it checks
Panel voltage rating	block	The panelboard is rated for the service voltage (208 V or 480 V).
Main breaker vs bus	block	The main does not exceed the panelboard bus rating.
Main sizing	block	The main is at least 125 percent of the continuous load.
Conductor ampacity	block	Conductor ampacity times the number of parallel sets protects the main.
Feeder voltage drop	block	Three-phase feeder voltage drop stays within 3 percent (copper and aluminum constants).
Ground-fault protection	block	A 480Y/277 V main of 1,000 A or more has ground-fault protection.
Fault current rating	block	Available fault current does not exceed the panelboard rating.
Lead time	block	The gear lead time fits the date the job needs it.
SPA discount limit	block	No more than 5 percent special pricing agreement discount beyond tier pricing.
Net bid the agent states	block	The net bid in the agent's request matches the computed bid within USD 1.
SPA discount approval	needs approval	A discount above 2 percent needs sales sign-off.
Large bid	needs approval	A net bid above USD 250,000 needs branch manager approval.

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. An underbuilt 400 A main: 400 A main, one set of 4/0, 8 percent discount

The agent's request. 400 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard for a 480 V service. One set of 4/0 AWG copper feeders, 400 feet, 380 A calculated load, 50 kA available fault current, needed in 3 weeks. Tier B contractor pricing with an 8 percent special pricing agreement discount. Net bid USD 14,260.15. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

Main breaker vs panel bus. 400 A main exceeds the 225 A bus of Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard.
Main sizing. 400 A main is less than 125 percent of the 380 A continuous load.
Conductor ampacity. 1 sets of 4/0 AWG Cu THHN (230 A each at 75C) are not protected by a 400 A main.
Feeder voltage drop. Feeder voltage drop 3.34 percent over 400 ft exceeds 3 percent; upsize or add sets.
Fault current rating. Available fault current 50 kA exceeds the 35 kA rating of Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard.
Lead time. Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard lead time is 5 weeks; the job needs it in 3.
SPA discount limit. 8 percent SPA discount exceeds the 5 percent maximum beyond tier pricing.
Net bid the agent states. The stated net bid of USD 14260.15 does not match the USD 15844.61 the validator computed.

2. An underbuilt 400 A main: 3a panelboard, two sets of 500 kcmil, 2 percent

The agent's request. 400 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 3a panelboard for a 480 V service. Two sets of 500 kcmil copper feeders, 400 feet, 380 A calculated load, 50 kA available fault current, needed in 8 weeks. Tier B contractor pricing with a 2 percent special pricing agreement discount. Net bid USD 53,936.06. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

3. Ground-fault protection: 1200 A main, no GFP

The agent's request. 1200 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 4 distribution panel for a 480 V service. Four sets of 500 kcmil copper feeders, 80 feet, 900 A calculated load, 50 kA available fault current, needed in 12 weeks. Tier A contractor pricing. Net bid USD 47,681.28. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

Ground-fault protection. A 480Y/277 V main of 1000 A or more requires ground-fault protection.

4. Ground-fault protection: 1200 A main with GFP

The agent's request. 1200 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 4 distribution panel for a 480 V service, with ground-fault protection on the main. Four sets of 500 kcmil copper feeders, 80 feet, 900 A calculated load, 50 kA available fault current, needed in 12 weeks. Tier A contractor pricing. Net bid USD 47,681.28. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

5. Panel bus rating: 400 A main on a 225 A bus

The agent's request. 400 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard for a 480 V service. Two sets of 500 kcmil copper feeders, 60 feet, 300 A calculated load, 20 kA available fault current, needed in 6 weeks. Tier B contractor pricing. Net bid USD 14,651.52. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

Main breaker vs panel bus. 400 A main exceeds the 225 A bus of Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard.

6. Panel bus rating: Same main on a 3a panelboard

The agent's request. 400 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 3a panelboard for a 480 V service. Two sets of 500 kcmil copper feeders, 60 feet, 300 A calculated load, 20 kA available fault current, needed in 6 weeks. Tier B contractor pricing. Net bid USD 20,345.52. Ready to send.

Verdict: Allowed.

7. SPA discount: 8 percent SPA discount

The agent's request. 200 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard for a 480 V service. One set of 4/0 AWG copper feeders, 80 feet, 150 A calculated load, 20 kA available fault current, needed in 6 weeks. Tier C contractor pricing with an 8 percent special pricing agreement discount. Net bid USD 8,114.03. Ready to send.

Verdict: Blocked.

SPA discount limit. 8 percent SPA discount exceeds the 5 percent maximum beyond tier pricing.

8. SPA discount: 4 percent SPA discount

The agent's request. 200 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard for a 480 V service. One set of 4/0 AWG copper feeders, 80 feet, 150 A calculated load, 20 kA available fault current, needed in 6 weeks. Tier C contractor pricing with a 4 percent special pricing agreement discount. Net bid USD 8,466.82. Ready to send.

Verdict: Needs approval.

SPA discount approval. 4 percent SPA discount is above the 2 percent rep authority.

Narration transcript

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The text of the narrated walkthrough, step by step.

Welcome to a demo of Predictika's Validator. An AI sales agent prepares an electrical project bid for a fictional contractor. Before it goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against the equipment and engineering rules, compares the net bid the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason.
I will start with the first request by the agent.
The agent says. 400 A main distribution on an Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard for a 480 V service. One set of 4/0 AWG copper feeders, 400 feet, 380 A calculated load, 50 kA available fault current, needed in 3 weeks. The rest of the request is on screen. Net bid USD 14,260.15.
Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
Blocked, with eight findings, all in one answer. 400 A main exceeds the 225 A bus of Eaton Pow-R-Line 2a panelboard. 400 A main is less than 125 percent of the 380 A continuous load. 1 sets of 4/0 AWG Cu THHN (230 A each at 75C) are not protected by a 400 A main. The other five are on screen.
The validator returned eight 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 quote are checked against each other.
What this shows: for panelboard bus and main breaker rating, a rules-based CPQ is error-prone for this.
Now the agent resubmits.
The corrected request. It changes the panel to Pow-R-Line 3a panelboard, the feeder conductor to 500 kcmil copper, the main breaker to 500 A and the stated net bid to $53,936.06. It sets the feeder sets to 2. Two more changes are on screen.
It calls the validator again.
This time the validator clears it.
All eight earlier findings are cleared.
Eight problems 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.