[B2B sales & account operations]() / [Use cases]() / [PO intake]() [How it works]() [What you get]() [Scope]() [Start a review]() [B2B sales & account operations]()[Orders]() # Turn emailed purchase orders into validated sales orders. Emailed POs read once, checked against your price, stock and credit, and entered right the first time, with your order desk on the exceptions. [Start with an order desk review]() [How it works]() Every correction updates the cross-reference ## Sound familiar? - The order desk retypes PDFs, sheets and scanned faxes into the ERP, about 12 minutes each. - 11% of POs carry a price that doesn’t match the price book, and the mismatch is found after the order is keyed. - A forwarded or revised PO quietly becomes a second order. About 1,500 POs a month at 12 minutes each is 300 hours of the desk’s time, and every miskeyed line costs a credit or a call. Brightline’s order desk, one week of emailed POs 1. ## Three hundred sixty POs, one inbox. PDFs, spreadsheets, scans and forwards all land in the shared inbox. Each one is kept as it arrived. 2. ## Three hundred forty read and matched. Part codes map through the approved cross-reference and units are converted. Twenty couldn’t be: an unknown code or an unreadable fax. They went to the desk. 3. ## Three hundred cleared price, stock and credit. Checked before anything was entered. Forty stopped with a reason: a price that differs from the contract, a credit hold or short stock. 4. ## Two hundred eighty-eight became orders. Each was entered once and read back. Twelve forwards were linked to orders that already existed, and revisions became amendments. 5. ## PO-641 became SO-812. Three cases ship now and one waits for Thursday’s stock. Nothing was rekeyed, and the price came from the contract. PO **360**Received **340**Read and matched **300**Checked (price, stock, credit) **288**Entered in Prophet 21 Where it landed HS PO-641 Reached entered in prophet 21 SO-812, one line pending CB Revision of PO-633 Reached entered in prophet 21 Amended, not duplicated P9 Standing order Reached entered in prophet 21 Entered LD Duplicate forward Reached checked (price, stock, credit) Linked to SO-805 NK Credit hold Reached read and matched With accounts receivable JO Price differs from contract Reached read and matched Held for approval TB Unknown part code Reached received Sent to the desk LB Fax, unreadable Reached received Called the buyer PO-641 beside SO-812 Harbor Street Cafés · AC-204 PO-641 line SO-812 line Checked against State FL-30 · 3 cases Line 1 · LID-16F · 3 cases Q-728-R1, contract price $38 Ships today FL-30 · 1 case Line 2 · LID-16F · 1 case Stock arrives Thursday Due Thursday Total $152 Total $152 Quote and contract price Matches Buyer AC-204 Net 30 · no holds Credit status Clear The original PDF stays attached to the order [Follow PO-641 through the story]() ## What changes. ShowTodayWith the engine Reading Staff read PDFs, sheets and faxes, then retype them Each PO read once into lines, with the original kept beside it Matching Customer part codes from one person’s spreadsheet An approved cross-reference, owned by your team Checking Price, stock and credit checked after the order is keyed Checked before entry, with failures sent to the desk and the reason attached Changes A revision becomes a second order A revision becomes an amendment to the first Review Never measured Minutes of review per order, counted every week ## How it works. 8 steps, 5 stages. - AI**1** - Rules and automation**5** - Your team**2** - Approval 1. 1 Receive 1. Rules and automation ### Catch every PO in the shared inbox PDFs, sheets and scans are pulled from the inbox, and the original is kept with the order. - Outlook 2. 2 Read 1. AI ### Read the lines, and tell a new PO from a change Pulls out part codes, quantities, units and ship-to, and labels each message as a new order, a revision or a question. 2. Rules and automation ### Match parts and units Their part codes map to yours through the approved cross-reference, and cases and each are converted. - Prophet 21 3. 3 Check 1. Rules and automation ### Check price, stock and credit Against the quote or contract price, live stock and the account’s credit status, before anything is entered. - Prophet 21 2. Your team Approval ### Review and resolve The desk spends a minute on each automated order and handles anything that failed a check, with the reason attached. 4. 4 Enter 1. Rules and automation ### Enter the order, then read it back The sales order is created in the ERP once, then compared with the PO to confirm they agree. - Prophet 21 5. 5 Confirm 1. Rules and automation ### Confirm with the buyer An acknowledgment separates what’s accepted from what ships when. - Outlook 2. Your team ### Sample and tune each week The desk reads a sample of finished orders and adjusts the rules. Every correction updates the cross-reference ## What you get. Real work, every week. PO-641 beside SO-812 Harbor Street Cafés · AC-204 PO-641 line SO-812 line Checked against State FL-30 · 3 cases Line 1 · LID-16F · 3 cases Q-728-R1, contract price $38 Ships today FL-30 · 1 case Line 2 · LID-16F · 1 case Stock arrives Thursday Due Thursday Total $152 Total $152 Quote and contract price Matches Buyer AC-204 Net 30 · no holds Credit status Clear The original PDF stays attached to the order The order desk’s view: the PO as sent, the order as entered, and what each line was checked against. Not entered this week 72 of 360 - Price differs from contractThe PO price against the contract price **24**Held for approval - Unknown part codeThe buyer’s code isn’t in the cross-reference yet **14**Desk adds the match - Duplicate forwardsThe same PO, sent again **12**Linked to the first - Credit holdOver limit or past due **9**With accounts receivable Short stock (7) and unreadable faxes (6) make up the rest The orders that weren’t entered this week, grouped by why. The desk works from this list. Order acknowledgment SO-812 · sent day 3 We have your order. Three cases ship today, one on Thursday. Accepted 4 cases of LID-16F at $38 = $152 Ships today 3 cases · $114 Pending 1 case · due Thursday · $38 Your PO PO-641, against quote Q-728-R1 What the buyer gets back: what’s accepted, and what ships when. ## How you’ll know it’s working. 1. Correctly accepted orders Orders entered right the first time, with failed and diverted ones counted in the total. 2. Minutes per eligible order Handling, review and monitoring added together. 3. Price mismatches on invoice Today 11% of POs carry a price that doesn’t match. Baselines agreed before we build. A month at Brightline, if 80% are automated Emailed POs, handled by hand today 1,500 × 12 min = 300 hours Automated, with a minute of review each 1,200 POs = 20 hours Still handled by hand 300 POs = 60 hours Monitoring 25 hours Hours released 195, worth $8,190 at $42 an hour Build over 24 months plus running cost $2,500 + $3,000 = $5,500 Left over each month +$2,690 At five minutes of review per order the same setup releases 115 hours, worth $4,830, and loses $670 a month. Hours are cash only if volume grows without hiring, or the time goes to work that pays. ## Works with what you have. ERP, CRM & inbox - Outlook - Prophet 21 - Business Central Order & quote automation - Proton - Conexiom - Esker We configure first Proton, Conexiom and Esker read orders from email, and some ERPs have an agent of their own. We test them on a month of your POs first. Accounts that already send EDI or PunchOut orders stay on them. We build when The checks that matter, such as cross-references, contract price, credit and amendments, have to work together before anything reaches your ERP. ## What a first build includes. Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start. 1. 1 Design 2. 2 Build 3. 3 Run it, or hand it over [Start with a review]() [Scope this build]() ### We build - PO reading for emails, PDFs, sheets and scans - An approved cross-reference and unit rules - Price, stock and credit checks before entry - A supported write path into your ERP, with read-back and duplicate protection ### We start from - Three months of emailed POs - Customer part-number cross-references - ERP items, contracts, stock and credit status - ERP API access and a test company ### From your team Owner Order desk lead, with the VP of sales and service Involves - Order desk - Inside sales - Finance - ERP administration ## Questions teams ask. Why not use the ERP’s own order agent, or a specialist tool? Sometimes you should. They read orders well, and some are enough on their own. We test them on your POs, and add only what’s missing, usually the cross-reference, the contract price check and amendments. Which orders go through without a person? You decide. We start with a person confirming every order in about a minute, and measure it. Only repeat orders from clean accounts, where every check passes, are candidates to go through without a look. Does it work at scale? A vendor-hosted Conexiom case study describes a distributor, ADI, automating about 1,700 orders a day and saving roughly five minutes of rekeying on each, around 142 hours of capacity a day. It’s undated, so read it as a sign the mechanism is possible, not a result to expect. Who owns it once it’s running? You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your order desk lead, with the VP of sales and service. We can keep running it with you, or step back. How do we start? Usually with an order desk review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly. ## Part of your order engine. One of 14 use cases, in 5 parts. [See the whole order engine]() 1. [New accounts **2**]() 2. [Quotes & pricing **3**]() 3. [Orders **3**]() 4. [Self-service & status **3**]() 5. [Account growth **3**]() In orders - **PO intake**You’re here - [**PO changes**Handle PO changes without creating duplicate orders]() - [**Retailer deductions**Recover retailer deductions that shouldn’t have been taken]() Works with - [**Quote preparation**Turn buyer inquiries into accurate quotes]() - [**Order status**Answer status and lead-time questions before buyers call]() See it at work - [**In Harbor Street’s ninety days**Day 3: PO-641 became SO-812]() ## Enter every order right the first time. Start with an order desk review. [Start with an order desk review]() [**Talk it through first**15 minutes]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/purchase-order-intake/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)