How to automate order processing
An agent that reads orders arriving by email, PDF, portal or online store, checks them against your prices and stock, enters the clean ones in your system and sends the odd ones to your order desk. Below: real examples, the steps to set it up, how it connects to the tools you use, and the pitfalls.
Public examples
Built by other companies and vendors, with figures exactly as their sources publish them. They are not our clients; follow each source for the full story.
- Millcraft Paper · paper distributor, US
- An AI model reads PDF orders emailed by customers, finds the PO number, quantity and item number, and creates the order with no manual entry.
- Result: about 30% of all transactions run through the AI order-entry model.
- Source: Distribution Strategy, 2024
- Deppeler · dental instrument maker, Switzerland
- Orders arriving by email as PDF and Excel are read and entered into Odoo automatically.
- Result: 70% faster order processing; 95% fewer errors (vendor-reported).
- Source: automaited, year not stated
How it is set up
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Intake: collect orders from email attachments, PDF forms, EDI files and the web portal into one queue, keeping the original file.
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Extraction: an LLM step returns customer reference, ship-to, requested date, and each line's item code, description, quantity and unit.
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Master-data match: match the customer and each item to the ERP records, resolving customer aliases and old product codes against a mapping table.
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Checks: credit limit, stock availability, contract or list price, minimum order quantity, and duplicate detection (same customer, same lines, within a window).
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Routing: clean orders become sales orders automatically; any failed check goes to an order desk queue with the source document beside the proposed order.
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Confirmation and logging: send an order acknowledgement to the customer, record the source channel and outcome for each order, and track touchless rate and error rate.
Rather not build and maintain it yourself?
We build this agent around your own process, connect it to your tools, and keep it working as things change. You approve what matters; every action is logged.
Connecting your tools
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- REST API v2.0 (sales orders, customers, items). Docs
- SAP S/4HANA
- OData APIs for sales orders and business partners. Docs
- Odoo
- external API for sales orders, customers and products. Docs
- NetSuite
- SuiteTalk REST web services for sales orders. Docs
- Shopify
- Admin GraphQL API for orders and customers. Docs
- Salesforce
- REST API for orders and accounts. Docs
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Graph mail API for intake. Docs
Questions people search for
How to automate order processing
Pull orders from email, the portal and marketplaces into one queue, extract the lines, match them to the ERP and create sales orders, with exceptions routed to a person. Start with the highest-volume channel. Docs
How to automate order fulfillment
After an order is accepted, the ERP or WMS creates pick tasks, and carrier APIs produce shipping labels and tracking numbers. Automate one carrier and one warehouse first. Docs and developer.fedex.com
How to automate order routing
Route each order to a warehouse, supplier or drop-ship location by rules on stock location, distance, cost and service level. Keep the rules in the order system and log the reason for every routing decision. Docs
How to automate order entry
Read the order from a PDF, email or EDI file and write it to the ERP with the same checks used in order processing. A person should only handle the orders that fail a check. Docs
How to automate order tracking
Pull carrier tracking events through their API or webhooks and push the status to the ERP and to the customer, one message per milestone. Docs and developer.fedex.com
Pitfalls
- Customers send the same order twice when they do not get a reply. Teams check customer, lines and date before creating an order and send the acknowledgement at once.
- Product codes in emails do not match the ERP. Teams keep an alias table that a person maintains and log every new alias the agent cannot resolve.
- Prices and discounts in the order can differ from contract. Teams never accept a price override without a check against the price list.
- Partial stock turns one order into several shipments. Teams define the split rule in the ERP and tell the customer about the split in the acknowledgement.
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