AI for pricing analysts
The invoice lines, rebate statements, transaction exports and contract PDFs already in the folder are the raw material. From those files come the pocket price waterfall, the elasticity estimates, the deal reviews and the increase plans.
Pocket-price-waterfall-FY25.xlsxExample| Step | FY25 per $100 list | FY24 per $100 list | Change | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-invoice discount | −14.20 | −13.10 | −1.10 | Discounts rose most at the three largest distributors. |
| Invoice price | 85.80 | 86.90 | −1.10 | Invoice price ties to the FY25 sales ledger. |
| Freight absorbed | −3.10 | −1.90 | −1.20 | We prepaid freight on orders under the $500 minimum. |
| Volume rebates | −4.60 | −4.50 | −0.10 | Rebate accruals tie to the distributor statements. |
| Payment terms | −1.20 | −1.20 | 0.00 | Early-pay discount uptake was flat. |
| Pocket price | 76.90 | 79.30 | −2.40 | Pocket price fell 2.4 points, and half of it was freight. |
NoteAbsorbed freight cost 1.2 of the 2.4-point pocket decline, so enforce the $500 prepaid minimum before any list increase.
Ask it for
“Build the FY25 pocket price waterfall for the fastener line from the invoice lines, credit notes and rebate statements, and flag the biggest gaps.”
Pocket-price-waterfall-FY25.xlsx“List every Q3 invoice where a 400-series SKU netted over 10% below its pocket-price band, and split discounts from freight we absorbed per distributor.”
Leakage-exceptions-Q3.xlsx“Estimate elasticity for our top 40 SKUs from the weekly transaction data with promo and holiday controls, plus the volume hurdle for a 5% increase.”
Elasticity-and-hurdles.xlsx“Design the Van Westendorp study for the new Analyzer plan, analyze the 412 responses in the survey export, and draft the tier memo for the pricing council.”
Tier-pricing-memo.docx“Price the Torvale renewal: 2,400 seats, $18 list, 36 months, 20% off year one, two months free, net-60. Check the approval matrix and note the ASC 606 effects.”
Torvale-deal-review.xlsx“Read the contract PDFs for notice periods and CPI caps, then draft the 5% increase letter and cost bridge for Corrigan Supply, effective January 1.”
Corrigan-increase-letter.docx
Inside the Pricing mode
Product and customer profitability
The list-to-pocket waterfall starts at the invoice line, picks up credit notes and rebate statements, and shows which customers, SKUs and channels leak margin.
Price elasticity and benchmarking
Price response comes out of your own transactions, with promotions and seasonality separated from the price effect, and the competitor index is volume-weighted.
Pricing and packaging
Van Westendorp, Gabor-Granger and conjoint studies are set up the way each method requires, and the price points and tier breaks come from your respondents.
Price increase rollout
Each contract is checked for its notice period and CPI cap. The cost bridge is weighted by cost share, and differentials near Robinson-Patman limits are marked.
Deal desk review
It computes the effective price over the term, ramps and free months included, then tests it against the approval matrix. The ASC 606 effects are noted.
- Office skills
- Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF
- Tools
- Read, edit and write files, Search files, Run code, Search and read the web, View images
- Connectors
- SharePoint, Google Drive, Gmail, and additional custom connectors
- House style
- Your fonts, layouts and rules, on every file
How it works
- 1
Open the pricing folder
You bring the invoice line exports, credit notes, rebate statements, freight bills, price lists and costs, contract PDFs, the approval matrix, competitor quotes and survey responses, exported from your ERP, CPQ or whatever finance can pull.
- 2
Ask in your own words
Ask for the waterfall, the effective price per seat over the full term or the tiers read from the survey. Workbooks come back with live formulas and a source on every figure. It notes rebate accruals that do not match the statements.
- 3
Check it before the pricing council
Every number traces to a file in the folder, so the review is checking the join, not rebuilding the analysis. You decide what the increase letter says and where the deal desk counters. It posts, sends and approves nothing.
Who it’s for
Pricing analysts and managers, deal pricing analysts, pricing excellence teams and directors of pricing.
Questions
Will it invent an elasticity or a willingness-to-pay number?
No, none of those numbers are invented. Elasticity is estimated from the transaction files you put in the folder, and the willingness-to-pay studies follow each survey method’s rules, so price points are read from your respondents rather than from general knowledge. Where the data is too thin to support an estimate, it says what it could not find instead of filling the gap. You review every file before it is used anywhere.
Where does the pricing data we load go?
Ultramarine Work changes files only in the project’s folder. When a request needs it, it can read files elsewhere on your computer, never passwords, keys or app data, and you can turn that off in settings. The model runs on Paper Instruments’ servers, so the content it works on is sent there to be processed. Paper Instruments is SOC 2 Type II, and our security and compliance details are on our compliance page. Whether your contracts allow a vendor to process this content is your legal or compliance team’s call.
Can it make sure our increases comply with Robinson-Patman?
No, no software can make that call. It tests customer-by-customer differentials against the Robinson-Patman and antitrust limits and documents cost justifications weighted by cost share. Structures that could draw a claim get called out, but the legal judgment belongs to antitrust counsel and the decision to you.
Can we safely load competitor quotes or our net prices into it?
That call belongs to your antitrust counsel, and no software makes it for you. The data answer above covers where the content is processed. The litigation over algorithmic pricing has focused on competitors’ non-public data reaching a common vendor, not on rivals using the same software. A competitor’s published list price is one thing, a confidential quote a customer hands you is another, so look at what is in the folder and ask counsel before the second kind goes in.
What data does a credible elasticity model need?
You need more history than most reports give you. A defensible estimate takes two or more years of transactions, enough volume per SKU and real price variation, ideally from moves that were not run everywhere at once. Put what you have in the folder and it will use that, then tell you where the estimate rests on too little data.