# Intelligent workflows for orders, quotations and exceptions.

> Distribution operations involve a high volume of structured records arriving through very unstructured channels. Quotations, orders, substitutions, supplier notices and customer-specific terms create work between the systems of record.

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## The decision

What must be resolved before a document becomes an order?

Reading the order is only the start. A PDF may name the wrong item, use boxes where stock is priced per unit or request a price the contract does not allow. Check those details against the enterprise resource planning system (ERP), and send unresolved differences to a person before creating an order.

## The request and the order record do not yet agree

A customer sends a multi-line order as a PDF while the enterprise resource planning system (ERP) holds product IDs, inventory, contract pricing and delivery commitments. A team reconciles the request, resolves unavailable items and re-enters approved data.

## Reading the document is only the first check

Extraction alone does not verify pricing, substitutions, units of measure or changes. A wrong record can affect fulfillment and customer trust.

## Check, review and submit the approved order

Identify the incoming document formats and the ERP’s rules for reading and changing records. Extract a proposed order, then check it against defined product, quantity and pricing rules. Send differences to a review queue. Submit only approved records, record the ERP’s response and make retries safe so an uncertain response does not create a second order.

## Possible order and quotation workflows

- Purchase order and quote intake workflows.
- Product matching and exception handling with human review.
- Connections to the ERP, warehouse system and customer relationship management system (CRM).
- Operational monitoring and audit history.


## Extend useful order software

Many distributors already have useful ERP and order software. Extend rather than replace where possible.

## Test the differences that cause costly mistakes

Test ambiguous product codes (SKUs), box-to-unit conversions, duplicate orders, price exceptions and corrections. Include a submission where one system accepts the change but the response fails: the next attempt must check what happened before creating another record.

## Choose one order type and its difficult cases

Choose one type of order. Record the manual corrections it needs today, and collect examples of the differences staff must resolve.

## Related reading

- [Your systems may work. The workflow between them may not.](https://marmation.com/solutions/intelligent-business-systems/)
- [A document is not a record until the information is understood.](https://marmation.com/solutions/ai-document-intelligence/)
- [Integration is a product decision, not just an API connection.](https://marmation.com/solutions/enterprise-integration/)