Pricing Agent - Example Use Cases

The Pricing Agent helps users start pricing work from a conversation. It is the assistant experience users access from the home prompt, New Agent, or the main conversation workspace. Use the main conversation for broad pricing work and creating a new quote; use the in-quote panel when a quote is already open and the task is to review, explain, or update that quote.

The sections below are example use cases, not a complete list of everything the Pricing Agent can do. They show common ways to ask the agent to gather pricing evidence, digest documents, develop quote inputs, model commercial options, and save the selected approach as an Ayora Quote Builder quote.

Before You Start

The Pricing Agent works best when the request includes enough matter context to guide pricing analysis.

Useful inputs include:

1. Client or prospective client.
2. Practice area, work type, and secondary work types where relevant.
3. Matter value, sector, side, jurisdiction, complexity, timing, or other configured characteristics.
4. Known scope, workstreams, deliverables, exclusions, and optional items.
5. Preferred pricing approach or commercial constraints.
6. Known staffing assumptions, fee earner mix, client rates, or other rate requirements.
7. Any PDF or Word documents that describe the new matter.

You do not need every detail before starting. Use the agent to identify missing information, ask follow-up questions, and turn partial matter context into a more complete pricing view.

Work with Documents

Use the Pricing Agent when the pricing work starts from a document, such as a termsheet, RFP, draft instructions, or another PDF or Word file.

The home prompt and conversation workspace support PDF and Word .docx uploads. Upload the document, then ask the agent to digest it and prepare the pricing or proposal output you need.

For a termsheet, ask the agent to identify:

1. The likely matter type and practice area.
2. Key parties and commercial context.
3. Matter value, timing, jurisdiction, sector, side, and complexity where available.
4. Workstreams, deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, and optional work.
5. Questions the team should answer before pricing.

For an RFP, ask the agent to identify:

1. The requested services and response requirements.
2. Pricing instructions or constraints.
3. Required proposal sections.
4. Deadlines, evaluation criteria, and client priorities.
5. Scope gaps, dependencies, or risks that should shape the proposal.

The agent can then use the document summary to prepare a quote outline, suggested assumptions, reference matter search criteria, AFA scenarios, or proposal content. Before sharing or relying on the output, check the source document and confirm that the agent has not missed exclusions, deadlines, pricing instructions, or mandatory response requirements.

Find the Best Reference Matters

Use the Pricing Agent when you want to identify the best reference matters before developing a new quote.

Tell the agent:

1. The type of work being priced.
2. The client or client type.
3. The key characteristics that make the matter comparable.
4. Whether you want won matters only.
5. Any fee range, jurisdiction, sector, workstream, scope item, or lead fee earner criteria.

The agent can search for relevant precedent material and use available quote or matter data to explain why particular references are useful. Good reference matters usually share more than one signal with the new matter, such as work type, scope, characteristics, value, complexity, timing, or staffing profile.

When reviewing reference matters, check:

1. Whether the work type and characteristics are genuinely comparable.
2. Whether the scope and workstreams match the new matter.
3. Whether the quoted fees, billed values, billing realisation, and profit score support the comparison where available.
4. Whether the matter was won, if that matters for the pricing decision.
5. Whether any assumptions should be carried forward, adapted, or excluded.

Use references as evidence, not as automatic answers. If the new matter has unusual complexity, strategic pricing pressure, compressed timing, or different staffing needs, ask the agent to explain how those differences affect the comparison.

Develop Assumptions for a New Quote

Use the Pricing Agent to turn instructions, uploaded documents, or early matter facts into clear assumptions for a new quote.

Ask the agent to help with assumptions when:

1. The team knows the likely scope but needs to express caveats clearly.
2. The quote depends on client responsibilities, third-party actions, timing, document volumes, or jurisdictional limits.
3. The team needs to distinguish included work from optional, excluded, or out-of-scope work.
4. The assumptions need to support client-facing proposal content.

The agent can help draft assumptions, identify missing assumptions, and suggest where assumptions should be tied to particular workstreams, pricing items, or commercial risks.

Before using assumptions in a quote, check that they:

1. Match the scope being priced.
2. Do not promise work that has not been included in the fee.
3. Avoid internal-only language.
4. Are clear enough for client or partner review.
5. Align with the pricing approach, fee range, and any optional items.

Model Different AFA Scenarios

Use the Pricing Agent when you want to compare alternative fee arrangement scenarios before deciding which structure to take forward.

Common AFA scenario requests include:

1. Fixed fee.
2. Fixed fee as a percentage of value.
3. Success and abort fee structures.
4. Capped fee.
5. Collar fee.
6. Discounted fee scenarios.
7. Different staffing or delivery assumptions behind the same commercial structure.

Tell the agent:

1. The baseline matter scope and fee position.
2. The AFA structures you want to compare.
3. Any commercial constraints, such as a target fee, client budget, profitability threshold, or partner preference.
4. The assumptions that should stay fixed across scenarios.
5. The assumptions that can vary, such as overrun risk, grade mix, fee range, or discount level.

The agent can model different scenarios and explain the trade-offs. Review the results against profitability, billing realisation, delivery risk, client expectations, and approval requirements before choosing a preferred approach.

Fetch or Review Available Rate Context

Use the Pricing Agent when you need available rate context before pricing or comparing scenarios.

Ask the agent to fetch or review rate context when you need to understand:

1. Standard rates for a practice area, currency, or fee earner group.
2. Client-specific rates where available.
3. Named fee earner rates.
4. Matter-specific rate requirements or exceptions.
5. Charge-out rates needed for hours, profitability, or scenario analysis.
6. Rate assumptions that could affect the proposed fee or billing realisation.

When the agent returns rate context, check:

1. The currency.
2. The relevant practice area or group.
3. The effective date or rate period if applicable.
4. Whether client-specific or named fee earner rates should override standard rates.
5. Whether the rates align with the matter team and pricing approach.

Rate context can materially change the quote. Review the rate context before relying on a fee model, especially where the matter uses client rates, named fee earners, or cross-currency assumptions.

Create an Excel Export

Use the Pricing Agent when the team needs an Excel export for offline review, partner discussion, approval support, or further modelling.

Tell the agent:

1. Which quote, draft, or pricing output should be exported.
2. Whether the export should focus on the current quote, a scenario comparison, reference matter analysis, or rates-backed model.
3. Any additional context the reviewer will need, such as assumptions, scenario labels, or rate basis.

Before sharing the export, check:

1. Quote name, client, currency, work type, and status.
2. Reference matters and why they were selected.
3. Assumptions and scope notes.
4. Rates and rate basis.
5. AFA scenarios, fee ranges, discounts, profitability, and billing realisation where included.
6. Whether the export is intended for internal review or client-facing use.

If the export is based on generated analysis rather than an open quote, review the underlying assumptions before relying on the workbook.

Create and Save the Quote

Use this when the team has reviewed the pricing exercise and selected the approach it wants to take forward.

Before asking the agent to save the quote, confirm the client and quote details, worktype, currency, scope, workstreams, assumptions, hours, staffing mix, rates, and selected pricing approach.

The agent can complete the analysis leading up to this point in one continuous flow. For example, ask it to digest the source material, identify scope and missing information, find relevant precedents, map the workstreams, review available rate context, develop assumptions, and compare pricing approaches before presenting a recommendation for review.

Advanced workstream naming: Where a client requires different terminology, a standard workstream can be renamed for the quote while retaining its link to the underlying standard workstream and matter data.

To save and open the quote:

1. Confirm the preferred pricing approach.
2. Ask the agent to save it as an Ayora Quote Builder quote.
3. When the saved quote card appears, select OPEN QUOTE.
4. Review the resulting quote in Ayora Quote Builder.

Check that the saved quote reflects the agreed client details, scope, workstream names, hours, staffing, rates, assumptions, fees, and pricing approach before relying on it.

Recommended Workflow

The agent can carry out steps 2–6 as one continuous flow when you provide the matter context and ask it to take the analysis through to a pricing recommendation.

1. Start with the matter context and upload a termsheet, RFP, or other source document where one is available.
   1. Ask the agent to identify the scope, assumptions, and missing information.
2. Ask it to find and assess the best reference matters.
3. Map the matter to the relevant standard workstreams and apply client-facing workstream names where needed.
4. Review the available rate context, hours, resourcing, and other commercial assumptions.
5. Model and compare the pricing approaches under consideration.
6. Review the results and choose the approach that best matches the commercial objective.
7. Ask the agent to save the chosen pricing approach as an Ayora Quote Builder quote.
8. Select OPEN QUOTE and verify the resulting quote.

An Excel export remains available when the team needs an optional offline review or supporting output.

Troubleshooting

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