From Email Attachments to Controlled Automation A PO to SO Transformation Story

Final Thought

This project wasn’t about automation alone. It was about making work easier, safer, and more predictable.

And sometimes, the best solution isn’t replacing systems It’s connecting them thoughtfully.

Let’s Start With a Question

Imagine a Monday morning at a growing industrial manufacturing company.

The operations team opens their inbox to find multiple Purchase Orders from SAP Ariba, each attached to an email and needing quick processing.

Who opens each email? Who validates every line item? Who ensures the right inventory is selected and who owns the mistake if something goes wrong?

This was the everyday reality before automation.

What Was Actually Happening on the Ground?

Each incoming PO triggered a fully manual process opening emails, navigating SAP Ariba, re‑entering data into QuickBooks Desktop, searching inventory from thousands of items, and deciding bin allocation outside the system.

The process was not only slow, but high‑risk. A single mistake could lead to rework, inventory mismatches, or delayed fulfillment.

The First Red Flag 🚩

As order volumes increased, the cracks became obvious:

• Experienced staff were overloaded
• New users struggled to understand the process
• Errors were caught late sometimes after orders were processed
• There was no clear answer to a simple question: “Which orders are pending and which are done?”

The systems weren’t the problem. The gap between the systems was.

So What Was Really Needed?

Not a replacement. Not a heavy ERP overhaul.

What the business truly needed was:

• A way to read Purchase Orders automatically
• A place to review them safely
• A way to prepare them before touching QuickBooks Desktop
• And a mechanism to track everything

In short a smart bridge.

Enter the Internal Employee Portal

The idea was simple but powerful:

Let the system handle repetition. Let humans handle decisions.

A custom internal employee portal was designed to sit between SAP Ariba and QuickBooks Desktop.

This portal would not blindly automate.

Instead, it would guide users step by step, making sure nothing moved forward unless it was truly ready.

Building the Solution: Controlled Automation

The first step was establishing control. A system level Super Admin and clear role‑based permissions ensured that sensitive actions like Sales Order creation were intentional and secure.

Next, the system took over the repetitive work. A dedicated inbox became the single source of truth.

Only approved SAP Ariba emails were processed, attachments were converted automatically, and Azure Document Intelligence extracted PO details.

Users no longer chased emails POs came to them.

For the first time, users had a single screen showing all incoming Purchase Orders with clear statuses and expandable line items.

The system itself decided whether a PO was ready or not ready, eliminating guesswork and accidental processing.

Inventory mapping was simplified by allowing users to map customer part numbers to QuickBooks items once.

The system remembered these mappings, making future orders faster and reducing repeated searches.

The solution respected real‑world inventory constraints. Partial and zero allocations were allowed with explicit confirmation, ensuring business operations were never blocked while maintaining accountability.

Only when all items were mapped and bins allocated did a PO become Ready for Processing. Sales Orders were then created in QuickBooks Desktop with clean, structured data.

Every action was logged who did what, when it happened, and the outcome. This built transparency, trust, and a reliable audit trail.

So… Did It Work?

Yes and visibly so.

• Manual work dropped sharply
• Processing time reduced
• Errors became rare
• Teams worked with confidence
• Managers finally had visibility

Most importantly, the solution scaled naturally as order volumes grew.

How the Organization Approached the Problem

From the beginning, the organization treated this initiative as more than just a technical integration.

The focus was clear:

• Understand how teams actually work on a daily basis
• Reduce dependency on individual expertise
• Introduce controls without slowing down operations

Business stakeholders, warehouse teams, and technology teams worked together to identify where automation would help and where human decision-making was essential.

Rather than pushing for full automation, the organization consciously chose a controlled automation approach allowing systems to handle repetitive work while keeping accountability and operational judgment with the teams.

This mindset shaped every design decision in the solution.

Technology Stack

• SAP Ariba
• Microsoft Azure Document Intelligence
• Custom Internal Web Portal
• QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
• QuickBooks Web Connector