Order-entry agent for machinery manufacturers
Orders reach the ERP without anyone keying them in. How it works at a machinery manufacturer with 240 employees.
The target values we set for this process during the assessment and track in the monthly report:
Where it gets stuck, what we build and what usually gets in the way
Tools and platforms: Microsoft Foundry, Azure Container Apps, Microsoft Fabric, proALPHA, Entra ID, Microsoft Purview.
Where it gets stuck
Monday morning in the order office of a family business. Around 60 orders are waiting in the inbox: PDFs, emails, sometimes a photo of a printed form. Two clerks key them into the ERP line by line. There is no IT department, just an outside provider who looks after the servers. Now and then a customer puts down a different price from the one in the quote, and it is usually only spotted later by the colleague preparing the order confirmation. When a query has to go back to the customer, it takes two days on average to reach them.
How we build it
The agent reads the order inbox as it is, with every format and all the free text. For each order it finds the matching quote and framework agreement in the ERP, compares items, prices and dates, and creates a pre-filled sales order. If something doesn't match, or the order is above the value limit, the case lands on a clerk's desk, with a note from the agent explaining why it chose not to complete it itself. The logic runs in Microsoft Foundry and Azure Container Apps; master data comes from a Fabric Lakehouse. The agent has its own identity in Entra, and every action it takes is logged with its source and confidence. Anyone who wants to stop it only has to press one button.
What usually gets in the way
In many orders, the customer's item numbers don't match your own master data, and a mapping table rarely exists. It only gets built during the project. Without it, the agent would be stuck on one order in seven.
Will we have to let people go? And what do we tell the works council?"
No, and that isn't the point. Your team handles the orders that need some thought, and the customers who phone in. We bring the works council in during the first week, along with the log that shows what the agent does and what it doesn't.
Shall we talk about your first process?
In a Short Assessment we sit down with your business team and IT and look at one process together. You leave with a clear target design and an effort estimate we stand behind. Free of charge.
