Most customer orders still arrive as a PDF or an Excel file in someone’s inbox. A customer service rep opens the attachment, finds the account, and retypes every line into the ERP. Order entry automation is supposed to end that, but a lot of tools only move the typing somewhere else.

The cost shows up late. A wrong SKU or a quantity typed as 12 instead of 120 looks fine on the screen. It surfaces at the loading dock, or when the customer calls about the wrong pallet. By then the order has been picked, packed and invoiced.

This article covers what order entry automation has to do to actually remove the work, not just the keystrokes. If you want the shorter version of how orders get from PDF and email into the ERP, start there.

Why retyping orders is more expensive than it looks

The order is correct, the entry is not

The customer sent exactly what they wanted. The error is added on the way into the system. Nobody checks a line that already looks like it was checked.

Every customer orders differently

One sends a clean purchase order. One sends a photo of a handwritten list. One sends your catalog numbers, another sends their own. The rep translates all of it in their head.

The fix costs more than the entry

A wrong line means a return, a credit note, a second delivery and an apology. Each of those takes longer than the two minutes the original entry took.

• Returns and re-shipments
• Credit notes and corrected invoices
• A customer who now double checks every confirmation

What order entry automation has to do

Read the order as it arrives

From the mailbox, as PDF, Excel, Word or an image. No portal the customer has to join. No template set up per customer, because new customers show up every month.

Identify the customer

The sender address, the company name on the document and the ship-to address together point to one account in the ERP. The customer’s price list and terms come with it.

Map their item codes to yours

Customers order by their own part numbers, by your catalog numbers or by description. Automation has to resolve each line to one item in your ERP, and remember the mapping for next time.

Check before it creates anything

Price against the agreed price list. Quantity against pack size and minimum order. Availability against stock. Anything that does not fit is stopped with a plain reason, and the rep deals only with that line. The difference between this and plain data entry is laid out in customer order entry vs automation.

Create the sales order in the ERP

Not in a spreadsheet, not in a staging table someone imports later. A real sales order, linked to the customer, ready for the warehouse.

How it works with DOConvert

DOConvert is the AI layer for the ERP. It reads the order, works out who sent it, checks every line against the ERP and only then creates the sales order. Here is one order, start to finish.

The order lands in the orders mailbox

A PDF from a distributor, 30 lines, their part numbers. Nobody touches it.

DOConvert identifies the customer

From the sender and the document. The account, price list and delivery address are pulled from the ERP.

Each line is resolved to your item

Their part number becomes your SKU. A line DOConvert cannot resolve with confidence is flagged, not guessed.

Prices, quantities and stock are checked

Against the ERP record, line by line. Two lines come back with a price that does not match the contract. They stop, with the reason written next to them.

The order is created

28 lines go in as a sales order. The rep reviews the two exceptions and releases them in a minute. For Priority users this runs through the DOConvert Priority connector, which is bi-directional, so the check reads from the ERP and the order writes back to it. The same flow is described for Priority in how to automate client orders into Priority ERP. On Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP the connection is direct as well, no middleware in between.

What to look at before you buy

Does it check, or only read

Ask the vendor to show an order where the price is wrong. If the tool creates the order anyway, it is a scanner with an API.

Does a new customer need setup

Send a sample from a customer the vendor has never seen. Template-based tools need a day of configuration first.

Where does the data go

The order should go straight into your ERP and stay in your environment. No third-party automation platform in the middle, no copy of your customer data on someone else’s server.

How long until it runs

A typical DOConvert implementation takes about 10 business days. Cargal had client orders running in a week, and that is the kind of timeline to expect, not a six-month project.

Who it fits

• Customer service and order desk teams that receive dozens or hundreds of orders a week by email
• VP Operations and supply chain managers who see order errors turn into returns and re-shipments
• IT and IS managers on Priority, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP or Infor M3 who want a direct connection, not another integration platform
• Distributors and manufacturers with 200 to 5,000 employees, and larger groups starting with one subsidiary, the mid-market case made in what customer order processing automation is

Questions and answers

Does order entry automation replace EDI?

No, it covers the orders EDI never reaches. Large retailers send EDI, most other customers send PDF and Excel by email, and those are the ones that get retyped today.

What happens to an order the system is not sure about?

It stops, with the reason next to the line. A rep reviews it in the same screen and releases it. Nothing is created in the ERP without passing the checks you set.

Do customers have to change how they send orders?

No. They keep sending the same PDF or spreadsheet to the same mailbox. There is no portal and no template to agree on.

How is this different from OCR?

OCR reads the characters. Order entry automation also has to identify the customer, resolve item codes and check prices and stock against the ERP. Avi Rafalson wrote about why reading is the easy part in how intelligent document processing reinvents customer experience.

Can it run on our own servers?

Yes. DOConvert runs in the cloud or on premises, and in both cases the connection to the ERP is direct.

Want to see it on your own documents? Book a Demo or Get Started