Automate customer PO entry and supplier date updates in your ERP
Stepwork keys emailed customer POs into your ERP and updates open purchase orders with suppliers' latest ship dates, in Epicor, Infor, JobBOSS, or an AS/400.
- Industry
- Order entry and purchasing for manufacturers and distributorsManufacturing and distribution
- Best for
- Customer Service Manager, Purchasing Manager, Planner
- Applications used
OutlookEpicor Prophet 21
Supplier portal
Microsoft Teams
- Business outcome
- About 20 hours a week back on order entry and PO updates
The problem
Your ERP has run the business for 20 years. Feeding it is still manual.
Customers email POs as PDFs. Customer service retypes each line into the ERP, checks the price against the customer's price list, and sends a confirmation.
Buyers spend Monday morning on supplier portals and emails, finding updated ship dates for open POs and keying them in, so planning isn't working from last month's dates.
The math
What the manual version costs a distributor
Example volumes for a distributor entering about 120 POs a week. Swap in yours.
| The manual task | Times a week | Minutes each | Hours a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key a customer PO into the ERP | 120 | 7 | 14 |
| Update a PO's promise date | 80 | 4 | 5.3 |
| Fix an order that shipped at the wrong price | 5 | 30 | 2.5 |
- Hours a week
- 22
- Hours a year
- 1,092
- Of one full-time person
- 55%
Systems
Works in the ERP you already run, however old it is
Plenty of plants still run an ERP from the 2000s, or an AS/400 behind it. Stepwork uses those screens with your team's login, so there's no upgrade to plan first.
ERP
Infor VISUAL
JobBOSS
IBM i (AS/400)
Microsoft Dynamics NAVSAP Business One
Sage 100
Suppliers
- Supplier portal
- Outlook
Files and chat
- Excel
- SharePoint
- Microsoft Teams
Example procedures
Two procedures from order desk and purchasing
One branches on whether every price matches. One repeats for every open PO and branches when a date moves. Swap in your ERP and the steps stay the same.
Customer PO to a sales order in Epicor Prophet 21
- Outlook
- Microsoft Teams
Customer PO in the Outlook orders inbox
message received · orders
Output variables
- po_pdf
- sender_email
Read the PO
Input variables
- po_pdf
Output
- customer
- po_number
- po_lines
- requested_date
Check the customer's prices in Epicor Prophet 21
Input variables
- customer
- po_lines
Extracted variables
- price_differences
Do the prices match?
Input variables
- price_differences
Paths
- If any line's price differs from the customer's price listThen: Send it to customer service in Microsoft Teams
- OtherwiseThen: Enter the sales order in Epicor Prophet 21
Send it to customer service in Microsoft Teams
Input variables
- po_number
- price_differences
Enter the sales order in Epicor Prophet 21
Input variables
- customer
- po_number
- po_lines
- requested_date
Output
- sales_order_number
Send the customer a confirmation
Input variables
- sender_email
- sales_order_number
Drag to explore · pinch to zoom
Step by step
- The PO comes inThe customer emails their PO to the orders inbox. That email starts the run.
- AI reads the POThe AI card pulls the customer, PO number, every line with its part number, quantity, and price, and the requested date.
- Each price gets checkedStepwork looks up each part on the customer's price list in Epicor Prophet 21 and notes any line that doesn't match.
- The rule catches price problemsAny mismatch takes the top path. Matching POs go on to the ERP.
- If a price is offSend it to customer service in Microsoft Teams
- If they matchEnter the sales order in Epicor Prophet 21
- Mismatches go to a personOnly when a price is off: customer service gets the PO and the lines that differ in Microsoft Teams, before an order ships at the wrong price.Only on this path: If a price is off
- The sales order goes inThe recorded flow enters the sales order in Epicor Prophet 21, line by line, and hands back the order number.Only on this path: If they match
- The customer gets a confirmationStepwork replies with your sales order number.Only on this path: If they match
Watch it run
Field map
| From | To |
|---|---|
| OutlookPO: customer and PO number | Epicor Prophet 21Sales order: customer, customer PO |
| OutlookPO: part numbers and quantities | Epicor Prophet 21Sales order: linesPrices checked against the price list first |
| OutlookPO: requested date | Epicor Prophet 21Sales order: requested ship date |
Supplier ship dates into open POs in Epicor Prophet 21
- Supplier portal
- Microsoft Teams
Step by step
- Open POs come outStepwork reads every open PO due in the next 30 days from Epicor Prophet 21. Each PO is one pass through the loop.
- It checks the supplierInside the dashed frame, Stepwork reads the latest ship date from the supplier's portal or their last confirmation.Repeats: For each open PO due in 30 days · 80 POs
- The rule spots moved datesA date that changed takes the top path. Unchanged POs need nothing.
- If the date movedUpdate the promise date in Epicor Prophet 21
- If unchangedNothing to update
Repeats: For each open PO due in 30 days · 80 POs - The ERP gets the new dateOnly when it moved: the recorded flow updates the PO's promise date in Epicor Prophet 21, so planning works from the real date.Only on this path: If the date movedRepeats: For each open PO due in 30 days · 80 POs
- The changes get listedAfter the last PO, the Summary card lists every date that moved and by how much.Only on this path: If the date moved
- Buyers get one messageThe list lands in Microsoft Teams on Monday morning.Only on this path: If the date moved
Watch it run
Flows
The flows behind these procedures
Each flow is one job recorded once in one system, on your own screens.
- Epicor Prophet 21
Enter a sales order
Creates a sales order with the customer PO and every line. - Epicor Prophet 21
Look up a customer's price
Reads the customer's contract price for a part number. - IBM i (AS/400)
Update a PO promise date
Changes the promise date on an open purchase order line. - Supplier portal
Read a supplier's ship date
Finds the latest ship date for a PO on a supplier's site.
Why Stepwork
No ERP upgrade, no integration project
Stepwork keys orders the way your order desk does, through the ERP's own screens. A rule holds any PO with a price that doesn't match for a person, and every run records which PO came in and which sales order it became.
FAQ