“In its first version, order capture reads English text on WhatsApp and PDF, XLS and XLSX purchase orders. It does not take voice notes, other languages, or scanned and handwritten documents, and it never confirms an order by itself.”
6 things.
And what each one is for.
WhatsApp orders in plain words
A customer writes "20 ctn of the 5kg rice and 12 btl soy sauce for Thursday" the way they always have. The items, quantities, units and requested date are picked out and a draft order is built. Reactions, delivery receipts and message types it cannot read never become orders.
Benefit Your customers do not have to learn a portal or fill in a form.
Covers: English text · items · quantities · units · requested date
Purchase orders as PDF, XLS and XLSX
Upload the file, or let it arrive as a WhatsApp attachment. Machine-readable PDF and Excel purchase orders go through the same reading and land in the same draft as a message. Every file is checked before it is opened: its real type, its size and a security scan. Formulas, macros and hidden rows never run and never become order lines.
Benefit Each customer's own purchase order layout stops being your problem.
Covers: PDF · XLS · XLSX · type check · security scan · nothing executes
It knows who sent it
The sender is matched to a customer record in Customers. A number your team has already confirmed goes straight to that customer. A new number, or one shared by two contacts, waits for a person to pick the right customer. It never creates a customer on its own.
Benefit Orders land on the right account, not on the nearest guess.
Covers: Confirmed number · single match · review when unsure · no customers auto-created
Every line shows where it came from
Each line on the draft sits next to the words or the spreadsheet row it was read from, with how it was matched. Checking a draft takes a glance at the source, not a search through a chat.
Benefit A reviewer can see why the draft says what it says.
Covers: Source text beside each line · match shown · link to the original
Duplicates are flagged, never thrown away
The same message delivered twice is stored once. The same order sent twice, or a purchase order number you already have for that customer, is marked as a possible duplicate and linked to the earlier order, so a person decides.
Benefit No double delivery, and no order quietly dropped.
Covers: Stored once · possible duplicate warning · linked to the earlier order
When it cannot read something, it says so
A corrupt, password-protected or scanned-only file, or a product it cannot match, is flagged with the reason. Your team can still open a manual draft that keeps the link to the original message or file.
Benefit A problem is visible on the desk, not lost in a queue.
Covers: Reason shown · manual draft · source link kept
Four steps, in this order, every time.
- 01
Receive
The message or file arrives and is stored once.
- 02
Read
Items, quantities, units and dates are picked out.
- 03
Match
Sender, products and units are matched to your records.
- 04
Hand over
The draft waits on the order desk for a person.
Thirty minutes, and you leave with three answers.
Whether a pilot fits the way your orders arrive, what we would set up, and what it would cost. Written down, so you can put it in front of a partner or a board.
Bring three things
- A few real orders, as they arrive today.
- Your product and price list, in whatever form it is in.
- Who takes and confirms orders now.
Leave with three answers
- Whether the pilot fits.
- What we would set up, and how.
- What it would cost, written down.