Supplier2ERP
User Guide – Getting Purchase Orders Updated Without Retyping Confirmations
🎯 The 3-Tier Extraction System
Supplier2ERP tries the cheapest, most reliable method first and only reaches for AI when it genuinely needs it. Every document goes through the same three tiers, in order.
| Tier | What it does | When it runs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Code Anchoring — finds your product codes in the document by matching against your own ERP item catalogue. | Always tried first. No templates needed — works from day one, on any supplier’s layout. |
| 2 | Pattern Learning — extraction rules saved automatically after a supplier’s format has been processed once. | Used automatically once a supplier’s layout has been seen before — faster, and without AI. |
| 3 | AI Verification — reads the email and attachments to extract or confirm the data. | Only when code anchoring and learned patterns are not enough. |
🔄 How Supplier2ERP Works – Visual Flow
Arrives
Found
Dates Read
Purchase Order
Report
Codes are always found relative to your own item catalogue, so quantities and prices are read from the lines around each code rather than from a fixed column position — this is what lets Supplier2ERP work on a supplier’s very first email, before any template exists for them.
⚖️ Difference Validation – Your Safety Net
Every extracted quantity, price and date is compared against your purchase order before anything is written. A small, expected difference — the kind that happens every day — can be auto-accepted. Anything larger is flagged for you and the purchase order is left untouched until you review it.
Extracted values are also sanity-checked on their own terms: a negative quantity or an absurd price never reaches your ERP, confirmation or no confirmation.
🚀 Getting Started
Supplier2ERP is currently being rolled out to new accounts; this guide describes the behaviour it ships with.
- Connect your mailbox on the dashboard. Supplier2ERP monitors it for incoming supplier confirmations.
- Switch Supplier2ERP on. It starts in Demo Mode — sample supplier documents only, no ERP connection needed.
- Set your tolerance thresholds — how big a price or quantity difference can be auto-accepted before it is flagged.
- Connect your ERP in Preview Mode: real confirmations are matched to real purchase orders, but nothing is written.
- Review a few reports. What you see is exactly what would change once you go live.
- Switch to Automation Mode. From that moment, confirmed quantities, prices and dates update your purchase orders automatically.
⚙️ Dashboard Settings Reference
Core features
| Setting | Plan | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ERP Matching | Personal | Matches extracted supplier data with existing purchase orders using order numbers, product codes and supplier information. |
| Email Reports | Personal | Sends a detailed report for each processed supplier email — extraction results, matched items, any errors. |
| ERP Updates | Family | Writes confirmed quantities and prices back to your ERP. Off means Preview Mode — read-only. |
| Template Extraction | Family | Uses templates learned from previous emails from the same supplier for faster, more accurate extraction. |
| Delayed Deliveries Report | Family | Adds full-ERP discovery to the daily delay sweep — open purchase orders are watched even when the supplier never sent a confirmation. |
| Pre-processing | Business | Reads from a hidden queue folder managed by AutoSPAM instead of your INBOX. Requires AutoSPAM with Pre-processing enabled. |
| AI Extraction Fallback | Business | When code anchoring and learned patterns find no products, AI reads the email and attachments as a last resort (billed per use). |
| Auto-Update Quantities | Business | Lets confirmed quantity differences be written automatically. Off means differences are reported but never applied. |
| Auto-Update Prices | Enterprise | Lets confirmed price differences be written automatically. Off means differences are reported but never applied. |
| Automatic Repurchase | Enterprise | Refused, cut or overdue quantities are proposed as a draft order from an alternative supplier of the same product. |
| Repurchase Live Ordering | Enterprise | Actually creates the repurchase draft orders in your ERP instead of only reporting them. Has no effect unless Automatic Repurchase is also on. |
Tolerance and reporting knobs
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Max Item Differences | 5 items | How many order lines can differ from the confirmation before the whole order is flagged for manual review instead of being auto-updated. |
| Max Price/Quantity Change | 15% | The largest acceptable change, in percent, for any single line’s price or quantity. Anything bigger is flagged for review. |
| Delivery At-Risk Horizon | 7 days | A confirmed delivery date inside this many days counts as at risk and appears in the delay report before it is actually late. |
| Delay Report Lookback | 90 days | Purchase orders older than this are not watched by the delayed-deliveries report. |
| Send delay reports to | system mailbox only | Extra recipients for the delayed-deliveries and repurchase reports, on top of the system mailbox. Comma-separated. |
🛡️ Access Modes
Three modes let you test at your own pace, each one giving Supplier2ERP a little more access than the last.
| Mode | Access | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Demo Mode | None | Sample supplier documents only, at BOTS4.me/demo. No ERP connection needed. |
| Preview Mode | Mailbox + ERP read | Real confirmations are matched to real purchase orders. Nothing is written — reports show exactly what would change. |
| Automation Mode | Mailbox + ERP read & write | Full automation: confirmations are processed and purchase orders updated automatically. |
⌛ Delayed Deliveries & Automatic Repurchase
Two features look beyond the confirmation you just received, at the purchase orders still waiting on one.
Delayed Deliveries Report
One daily email lists every purchase order line that is overdue, or about to miss its confirmed delivery date within your at-risk horizon — including orders whose supplier never emailed a confirmation at all. Late deliveries surface before they reach your production line.
Automatic Repurchase
When a supplier refuses or cuts a confirmed quantity, or a delivery goes overdue, the missing amount can be proposed as a draft purchase order from an alternative supplier of the same product. This starts in simulation mode: the proposal is only reported by email. Turning on Repurchase Live Ordering creates the draft order in your ERP for your review — it is never confirmed automatically.
📊 Reading the Report
✅ Success
Confirmations fully matched and, in Automation Mode, already applied to your purchase order.
⚠️ Partial
Some lines matched, others differed beyond your tolerance or could not be read — flagged for your review.
❌ Failed / Skipped
Nothing usable was extracted, or the email was not a supplier confirmation at all — left untouched in your INBOX.
❓ Troubleshooting
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A confirmation was not matched to any purchase order | Code anchoring found no product codes it recognised from your ERP catalogue — check the codes in the document actually exist in your ERP. |
| A quantity or price change was reported but not applied | Either Auto-Update Quantities / Auto-Update Prices is off, or the change is larger than your Max Price/Quantity Change threshold. |
| The whole order was flagged instead of just one line | More lines differed than your Max Item Differences setting allows. |
| A repurchase order was reported but never created | That is Repurchase Live Ordering being off — Automatic Repurchase defaults to simulation only. |
| A supplier’s format is still going through AI every time | Pattern learning saves a template after a format is seen once; if it keeps missing, the layout may be varying enough between emails that no stable pattern is found. |
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What document formats are supported?
PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), HTML, email body text, and images via OCR — virtually any format a supplier sends.
What ERPs does it work with?
OFFERIS, Odoo, SAP Business One, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks and Xero, each with its own update strategy — batch, full rewrite, or individual item.
How does it find my product codes without a template?
Code anchoring searches the document for codes that exist in your own ERP catalogue, then reads the quantity and price around each one it finds. No template is needed for a supplier’s first email.
What if prices or quantities differ from my order?
Small differences inside your tolerance can be auto-accepted; larger ones are flagged and the update is skipped until you review it. The confirmation email stays unread in your INBOX so the pending review is visible at a glance.
Does it learn a supplier’s format?
Yes. After processing a supplier’s layout once, extraction rules are saved. Future documents from the same supplier process faster, without needing AI.
Where do flagged or failed emails go?
They stay unread in your INBOX so you don’t miss them. Successfully processed confirmations are filed into _Supplier2ERP/PROCESSED.
Can I test without affecting my ERP?
Yes. Preview Mode reads your purchase orders but writes nothing, with full reports showing what would change. First month free.
Does it work with Mail2ERP?
Yes. Mail2ERP handles incoming customer orders on the sales side; Supplier2ERP handles incoming supplier confirmations on the procurement side. Both watch your mailbox.
Does this use AI? We are not allowed to.
Set AI Mode to Off and no language model is called and no document is sent to an AI provider. Confirmations that list your product codes with quantities in a readable table are read normally, by matching against your ERP catalogue. Scanned or unusual layouts are passed to you for manual entry instead of being guessed. If your compliance team needs it in writing, ask us and we will confirm it for your file.
🔒 What Supplier2ERP Will Never Do
- Write to your ERP while in Demo Mode or Preview Mode.
- Create a live repurchase order unless Repurchase Live Ordering is switched on — the default is a report only.
- Match a document to a purchase order without checking the product codes against your own catalogue first.
- Apply a price or quantity change beyond the tolerance you set without flagging it for review.
- Confirm a repurchase order on your behalf — it is always created as a draft.
- Hide a flagged or unreadable confirmation from you — it stays unread in your INBOX.