Client profile
A UK manufacturer and distributor of safety footwear and workwear, selling to trade customers who place orders by email, often as PDF purchase orders in their own formats, with operations spread across several units and an OrderWise ERP migration to cloud on the horizon.
The challenge
Every order was keyed into OrderWise by hand from an email or attachment. Customer documents came in every format imaginable. Product codes were the hardest part: customers describe a product their own way, in their own shorthand for a model and a size, and someone had to interpret it and look up the internal SKU. Errors and delays followed, capacity was the constraint at peak, there was no structured way to handle exceptions and no visibility of throughput. Any mistake at intake became a delivery problem later.
What we did
We started with a four-week fixed-cost proof of concept on the client's real purchase orders and SKU data, using UiPath Community and partner NFR licensing so there was no license commitment until value was demonstrated. The proof of concept extracted data from sample orders with UiPath IXP, normalised SKU variants and simulated posting to OrderWise.
The production build on UiPath Platform Standard automates the full flow:
- Email listener monitors the Outlook orders inbox and triggers on arrival.
- UiPath IXP performs generative document extraction on PDF attachments and email bodies for customer, delivery address, product codes and quantities, handling varied formats without template training.
- SKU normalisation in UiPath AI Center matches customer descriptions to internal codes using historical mappings, retraining on exceptions so accuracy improves over time.
- Validation routes low-confidence extractions or ambiguous SKUs to Action Center for human review, with an optional clarification email to the customer.
- Order creation posts structured data to OrderWise via API with logging and error handling.
- Monitoring in Orchestrator and Insights tracks processed orders, exceptions and performance for operational and executive reporting.
Two further phases were scoped: enablement for an incoming internal IT hire (Studio, Orchestrator, AI Center training) so the client owns the platform long term, and modularising the OrderWise integration so the automation survives the planned cloud migration with minimal rework. We also proposed a change and adoption stream, because efficiency gains only turn into a lower cost base when roles, process ownership and reporting are redesigned around the automation, and an optional managed service for running the platform.
What we delivered
- Proof of concept on live purchase orders with baseline metrics for ROI tracking
- Production email-to-OrderWise order processing automation
- AI Center SKU normalisation model with continuous retraining
- Action Center review queue and customer clarification workflow
- Secure OrderWise API integration with error handling
- Orchestrator and Insights performance and exception dashboards
- Enablement plan for internal IT ownership and a migration-ready integration design
Results
- Proof of concept validated on live purchase orders and SKU data within 4 weeks, before any license commitment
- Production email-to-OrderWise automation live, removing manual order entry from the intake process
- Customer SKU descriptions matched to internal product codes by an AI Center model that retrains on exceptions
- Ambiguous orders routed to Action Center rather than guessed, with clarification emails to customers where needed
- Peak-period volume handled without adding staff, with throughput and exceptions tracked in UiPath Insights
- Internal IT enabled to own the platform, with the integration modularised for the planned OrderWise cloud migration