Sub-function
Cost & Profitability
Owns analysis work end to end inside Finance. Runs 3 lines across 16 stations, drains the repeatable share into the P2P tower, and holds 3 human gates.
Estate rating
A
77 / 100
Allocation and margin modeling are mechanical and run at full granularity. Structural cost decisions carry employment consequences and are ratified.
Agents
8
Lines
3
Units / wk
75
Timetable vs actual
7.3d → 8.0d
Cost / unit
$446
was $1K
Run-rate saving
$3.2M
annualized at this volume
The 8 agents running this sub-function
Grouped by what they are for, not by where they sit. The agent org is process-shaped.
Profitability Orchestrator
Owns the cost & profitability lane end to end. Sequences the other agents, holds the timetable, and decides what surfaces to a human.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Cost Allocation Agent
Runs the repeatable portion of cost & profitability inside the shared transaction spine at spine cost and spine controls.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Cost-to-Serve Agent
Runs the repeatable portion of cost & profitability inside the shared transaction spine at spine cost and spine controls.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Product Margin Agent
Executes the cost & profitability step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Customer Profitability Agent
Executes the cost & profitability step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Driver Analysis Agent
Executes the cost & profitability step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Profitability Analytics when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Cost Structure Agent
Authors positions on cost & profitability. Frames the question, models the options, and writes a recommendation a human can ratify or reject.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates when two options sit inside the confidence band and the evidence cannot separate them.
Cost & Profitability Challenger Agent
Adversarial reviewer for cost & profitability. Argues the opposite case on every position and flags where the evidence does not carry the claim.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates when a ratified position is still running against a break condition it flagged.
Estate rating breakdown
Seven control dimensions. Judgment readiness runs against autonomy on purpose.
People
What the humans stopped doing, and what they do now.
Redeployed into customer-facing escalation ownership.
Lines running in this sub-function
Each line is a workflow. Click a line to walk it station by station.
Strategy positions this sub-function holds
An agent that only executes is a robot. These are the calls it made, the argument against each one, and what would prove it wrong.
Cost Structure Position
Rejectedv1Where should the autonomy ceiling for cost & profitability sit over the next four quarters, and what evidence would justify moving it?
Hold the ceiling at A3 for cost & profitability. Allocation and margin modeling are mechanical and run at full granularity. Structural cost decisions carry employment consequences and are ratified. Raise it only after two consecutive quarters where the override rate stays under five percent and every override has a written cause.
confidence
62%
The challenge — Cost & Profitability Challenger Agent
Cost & Profitability Challenger Agent argues the recommendation leans on 2 quarters of data from a period with no volume shock. The confidence band overlaps the alternative, and the position does not say what it would take to be wrong. Recorded as a dissent, not a block.
Break conditions
- ·Override rate rises above 7 percent for two consecutive months
- ·Cost per analysis stops falling while volume keeps rising
- ·A control failure in this lane reaches a customer or a regulator
Evidence gaps
- ·No external comparator on a like-for-like unit definition
- ·Exception cases under $55k are sampled, not fully measured
| Alternative considered | Cost | Risk | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the current position | $721k run rate | Known and priced. Cedes ground if comparators move faster. | live |
| Raise the ceiling one level now | $1219k to build controls | Override rate is 12 percent; raising the ceiling before that settles imports the error into production. | rejected on evidence |
| Move the exception tail to the spine | $462k transition | Loses local context. Rework risk on the cases that are hardest to recover. | under review |
Cost & Profitability Operating Position
Supersededv1Should analysis work stay in the shared transaction spine, or come back inside the function where the context lives?
Keep the repeatable analysis volume in the spine and pull the exception tail back into the function. The spine is cheaper per unit; the tail is where the context that prevents rework actually sits.
confidence
78%
The challenge — Cost & Profitability Challenger Agent
Cost & Profitability Challenger Agent argues the recommendation leans on 2 quarters of data from a period with no volume shock. The confidence band overlaps the alternative, and the position does not say what it would take to be wrong. Recorded as a dissent, not a block.
Break conditions
- ·Override rate rises above 16 percent for two consecutive months
- ·Cost per analysis stops falling while volume keeps rising
- ·A comparator publishes a materially lower unit cost on a like-for-like basis
Evidence gaps
- ·No independent test of the control evidence behind the touchless rate
| Alternative considered | Cost | Risk | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the current position | $523k run rate | Known and priced. Cedes ground if comparators move faster. | live |
| Raise the ceiling one level now | $1133k to build controls | Override rate is 14 percent; raising the ceiling before that settles imports the error into production. | rejected on evidence |
| Move the exception tail to the spine | $353k transition | Loses local context. Rework risk on the cases that are hardest to recover. | under review |
Policy register
The rules the agents above are bound by. Version, owner, approver, and the agents each rule constrains.
| Ref | Rule | Scope | Owner agent | Approved by | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FI10-POL-200 | Cost & Profitability Decision Envelope Agents in this lane may act without a human when the analysis sits inside the stated value, risk and confidence envelope. Outside it, the unit holds at a gate with a named approver and a running clock. binds 5 agents · Global | envelope | Profitability Orchestrator | Director, Profitability Analytics | v5.9 | Active |
| FI10-POL-201 | Cost & Profitability Evidence Standard Every autonomous decision writes inputs, the rule version applied, the model and prompt version, the output and a reversal path. An action with no evidence record is treated as a control failure, not a fast decision. binds 5 agents · APAC | evidence | Profitability Orchestrator | Director, Profitability Analytics | v3.1 | Active |
| FI10-POL-202 | Cost & Profitability Escalation Rule Escalation is mandatory when confidence falls below the floor, when two options sit inside the confidence band, or when a break condition on a ratified position fires. Director, Profitability Analytics owns the response clock. binds 5 agents · EU · UK | escalation | Profitability Orchestrator | Director, Profitability Analytics | v1.2 | Active |
| FI10-POL-203 | Cost & Profitability Autonomy Ceiling The ceiling for this lane is 84 on the platform scale. Allocation and margin modeling are mechanical and run at full granularity. Structural cost decisions carry employment consequences and are ratified. The ceiling is a governance decision, not a technical limit, and only Director, Profitability Analytics can propose moving it. binds 5 agents · EU · UK · US | ceiling | Profitability Orchestrator | Director, Profitability Analytics | v1.7 | Active |