Orders from emails into the ERP without retyping

Pain

Orders arrive as PDFs by email. Someone types the line items into the ERP, mixes up item numbers or files a change as a new order. In the reviewed scenario the AI classification steered nothing, special characters broke the order file and items without a match vanished silently. Errors surfaced at the customer.

Solution

• ◆Classify every email as order, change, query or spam and let only orders into processing.
• ◆Extract header and line data from PDF and email body into a fixed structure, with a confidence per field.
• ◆Match the customer and every line item against master data; without a confident hit the line gets a review flag instead of disappearing.
• ◆Build the order file structured and escaped so special characters cannot break the ERP import.
• ◆Run an error path that reports every abort instead of swallowing it.

How it works

1. 01
   Email intake

   Mailbox trigger collects the attachments, with a short wait for PDFs that arrive late.
2. 02
   Classify

   An LLM sorts the mail: order, change, query, spam. Only orders continue, everything else goes to the review path.
3. 03
   Extract

   Header and line data from PDF plus email body are turned into a fixed structure, with a confidence per field.
4. 04
   Match

   Customer and items against master data; uncertain hits carry the REVIEW flag.
5. 05
   Order file

   Generated structured and escaped, then stored for ERP takeover.
6. 06
   Error path

   Every abort raises a notification to the owner. No order is lost silently.

Outcome

The rebuild closes the three break points of the original scenario: the classification steers the flow, special characters no longer break the file, no item is dropped silently. What remains is a review path for the cases a human has to decide.

Why this stack

n8n

Error paths, retries and logging in one place, operable in-house.

LLM extraction

Reads order PDFs of varying formats and returns a confidence per field.

Master-data matching

The match against customer and item master decides what may enter the ERP.

ERP import

A structured order file instead of freely assembled text.