// Food and beverage · Order entry
Grocery and distributor POs into sales orders, by the case and the pallet.
AI reads the POs your customers send outside EDI, converts them to your items and units, checks the ship window and drafts the sales order for your reviewer to compare with the one your team entered. A free proof of concept, run on copies of POs your team already entered, 20 to 30 of them. Nothing connects to your ERP.
- Old retailer POs
- 20 to 30
- ERP or EDI access
- None
- Signed first
- NDA
// The one job
A grocery PO in. An order your warehouse can ship.
A regional chain emails a PDF for six items going to two distribution centers. A distributor's buyer sends a spreadsheet. An independent store sends a photo of a handwritten order form. Someone in customer service reads each one, works out which of your items it means and how many cases that really is, checks the dates, and enters the order.
In the proof of concept, AI does the same reading on POs your team already entered. It drafts each sales order and notes every line it had to convert, question or hold. Nothing goes into your ERP. Your reviewer checks each draft against the order that actually shipped.
and drafted
// What makes it hard
Cases, pallets and dates, not just line items
Cases, layers and pallets. A grocery buyer may order in eaches when you only ship full cases, or order a 12-count case of an item you also pack as a 6-count. The draft converts each line with your case pack and flags any quantity that isn't a whole case instead of rounding it. Pallet orders turn on your TI and HI, the cases per layer and the layers per pallet: three pallets of one item is a fixed number of cases, and an order that breaks a layer gets flagged. Some customers also set the pallet itself, such as block pallets from a pooling company like CHEP or PECO, and that belongs in the order notes before the warehouse builds the load.
Which item it means. One product can arrive as the retailer's item number, the distributor's code, your own item number, the 12-digit UPC on the unit or the 14-digit GTIN on the case. An EDI 850 line can carry several of these, each behind its own qualifier, and each retailer's EDI guide decides which ones it sends; a PDF usually shows one. The draft matches through your customer item cross-reference and names any line it couldn't place, such as a new item the cross-reference doesn't have yet.
Windows and destinations. A chain may send one PO per distribution center, each with its own DC number, ship date and cancel date. Walmart prints a must-arrive-by date on its POs and scores suppliers on-time and in-full against it. Some orders are customer pickup, where the buyer's carrier collects from your dock and the price may carry a pickup allowance; others are delivered. The draft carries the window and the freight terms from the PO, and flags an order whose window has already closed.
Promotional cost on the PO. The order desk is where next month's pricing deductions start. While a promotion runs, the PO cost may already reflect an off-invoice allowance. Enter the order at list and the gap tends to come back as a short payment. The draft compares each line's cost with your price list and the deal in effect and shows any difference instead of choosing a price.
What your reviewer watches. The reviewer is whoever knows your order desk best, usually the customer service or order management lead. They look hardest at the mistakes that cost a load or a fine: units read as cases, a cancel date read as a ship date, an order sent to the wrong DC, and a promoted item entered at full price.
// What you send
What the proof of concept needs from customer service
20 to 30 old POs and their orders
POs from regional chains, independents and distributors, each with the sales order your team entered. Include the awkward ones: split DCs, eaches, promotions.
Your item cross-reference
The list that maps customer item numbers and UPCs to your items, with case packs and TI and HI. A spreadsheet export is fine.
Price list and deals in effect
Your list prices and any promotions running during those POs, so the draft can check cost line by line.
NDA first, nothing connected
The NDA is signed before any PO moves. The proof of concept never logs in to your ERP, EDI or email. If retailer documents can't leave, we build look-alikes with your reviewer.
// Before it starts
Settled with the owner first
The owner agrees these with us before the first PO is sent.
- Reviewer
- Named by the owner. Usually whoever runs customer service.
- Success criteria
- Agreed in writing, line by line
- POs
- Chosen by your reviewer, across customers
- Price
- A range for the live job
- NDA
- Signed first
// How the test is judged
Each draft beside the order that shipped
| On the same 20 to 30 POs | Your team's orders | The proof of concept |
|---|---|---|
| Each line on the right item and case count | From your POs | From your POs |
| DC, ship date and cancel date right | From your POs | From your POs |
| Cost checked against price list and promotion | From your POs | From your POs |
| Orders flagged for a person, and why | From your POs | From your POs |
| Questions that needed the buyer | From your POs | From your POs |
| Time to enter one PO | From your POs | From your POs |
// After a yes
About 30 days on new POs
A yes from your reviewer starts about 30 days on incoming non-EDI POs.
Each draft waits for someone in customer service to approve it before it becomes an order in your ERP, and anything flagged stays with a person. The reviewer keeps the same line-by-line check against what ships.
No other job is added during those 30 days.
// What could follow
Other jobs, once orders run
- 01Next
Deductions management
Short payments matched to the promotion, delivery or invoice behind them, then marked valid or disputable.
- 02Then
Order changes and cancellations
Buyer changes to quantity, date or DC drafted against the open order, for a person to accept.
- 03After that
Promotion claims before payment
Billback and scan claims compared with the agreed deal and its dates.
// By system
This job in the software you run
// One hard limit
The proof of concept never touches your ERP or your EDI.
It reads copies of old POs and writes draft orders to a sheet your reviewer checks. It sends no acknowledgment to a customer, changes nothing in your EDI setup and enters nothing in your ERP. Only a live run you say yes to posts orders, and then a person approves each one.
Each job has its own price: a range before the proof of concept, a fixed price before signing.
What moves the range: how many non-EDI POs arrive a month, how many customers send them, and how complete your item cross-reference is.
// Questions
Order desk questions from food makers
Our biggest customers are on EDI. What is left to test?
Can it handle orders in eaches when we sell by the case?
What about handwritten order forms from independent stores?
Does it check promotional pricing on the PO?
Rob Eason, founder
// Book a call with Rob
Test it on POs you already shipped.
Thirty minutes with Rob. Tell him your company and role, that order entry is the job, and roughly how many POs arrive outside EDI each month. Please wait for the NDA before sending anything.
- Co-owned a 60-employee financial services firm and sold his share to his partner.
- Ran GOSO Technologies, a Boston solar company rated 5/5 across 24 Google reviews.
- 5/5 across 83 reviews in HighLevel's Certified Admin Directory.
- 4.3/5 from 6 Google reviews of Massmarket AI.
- Every directory and Google review, critical ones included, is shown word for word at massmarket.ai/reviews.
- Takes every proof-of-concept call himself.