AI System for Routing Quotation Exceptions for Approval

The problem

When quotations, discounts, delivery terms and the authority matrix are held in separate sources, their fields must be matched by hand before a reasoned approval route can be prepared.

The commercial operations manager must compare every suggestion in the reasoned approval route with its source record; missing or conflicting evidence must not replace the final decision.

If a term requiring approval from two teams is not set aside for review, an unauthorised discount or an unworkable commitment could result; the record must not proceed without a human decision.

What we set out to improve

• Time taken for a draft reasoned approval route and its supporting evidence to reach the commercial operations manager for review
• How records set aside for human review because a term requires approval from two teams are resolved
• Number of suggestions corrected after identifying a risk of an unauthorised discount or an unworkable commitment

How the system works

1. 01 Retrieve the quotation, discounts, delivery terms and authority matrix from permitted sources using the record identifier
2. 02 Link source, date and version information to the shared work record
3. 03 Validate fields and units
4. 04 Prepare the reasoned approval route with its supporting evidence
5. 05 Check for an exception: a term requires approval from two teams
6. 06 Have the commercial operations manager accept, revise or reject the suggestion
7. 07 Record the approved decision and its source in the processing log

Methods we used

• A source-identified common data schema for the quotation, discounts, delivery terms and authority matrix
• A decision structure that separates deterministic rules from AI suggestions
• A review screen showing the reasoned approval route alongside the underlying source evidence
• A mandatory human review queue when a term requires approval from two teams
• An event identifier that prevents duplicate processing

Where people stay involved

Data and security

Only the fields required for this decision should be processed from the quotation, discounts, delivery terms and authority matrix. Access to the source systems must be authorised separately from the commercial operations manager role, and personal data, commercial information and technical secrets must not be passed into the model context unnecessarily. Reading, suggestions and human decisions must be logged separately.

Who this suits

Frequently asked questions