Customer orders checked before the ERP, without retyping
Purchase orders arrive as PDFs or emails, sales admin keys them into the ERP, checks prices and stock by hand, then sends the confirmation. A prepared, pre-checked order that sales admin only has to approve would keep the existing ERP.
Illustrative use case. It describes a problem we come across often and what we could build to solve it. It is not a client project: no results are claimed.
The starting point
The largest customers order through EDI, but most still send a purchase order as a PDF, a spreadsheet or a plain email. The sales admin team keys every line into the ERP, finds the item from the customer’s own reference, compares the price with the agreed price list, checks stock and the customer’s credit, then sends an order confirmation. The delivery note and the invoice follow in the ERP.
The actual problem
Every order takes time to key in, and a wrong reference or quantity is often only discovered at delivery. Price differences between the customer’s PO and the price list are only caught if someone thinks to compare. The customer’s PO number, which many customers need on the invoice, sometimes gets lost along the way. And when the sales admin person is off, orders pile up.
What could be built
- Collecting orders from a dedicated inbox and separating real orders from other messages.
- Reading the PO: customer, PO number, lines, quantities, delivery date and address.
- A cross-reference table between customers’ item references and the ERP’s item codes, completed as orders come in.
- Checks before anything is created: price against the customer’s price list, pack size, available stock, credit limit, order already received.
- Creating the order in the ERP as a draft, through the API or import it already offers, with any discrepancies flagged at the top.
- Once approved, the order confirmation sent from the ERP, and the customer’s PO number carried through to the invoice.
What would change for the team
- Sales admin reviews a prepared order instead of typing it line by line.
- Price, reference or quantity discrepancies are flagged before the order goes to the warehouse.
- The customer’s PO number and delivery address follow the order all the way to the invoice.
- The ERP stays the same: orders come in through the door it already provides.
- Time saved on keying can go to customer calls and difficult orders.
What stays under human control
- Approving each order before confirmation, and always approving flagged ones.
- New customers, unknown references and adding a new mapping to the table.
- Price discrepancies: accept, correct or call the customer.
- Credit limit overruns, order changes and cancellations.
Going further
The article Automate sales order entry without replacing your ERP explains what can be automated around an existing ERP, what should stay with your team and when it isn’t worth it.