Automating purchase order confirmations in SAP with Lisa AI
By Titus Lottig, Founder and Managing Director of Recall Space GmbH
Suppliers send purchase order confirmations as EDI messages, by email, as PDF or Excel files, and through portals. What matters to purchasing teams is that the confirmed items, quantities, prices and dates are checked against the purchase order and that the relevant information reaches SAP.
Recall Space automates this process with its purchasing agent, Lisa AI. Lisa reads supplier confirmations, matches them to purchase orders, checks for discrepancies and involves buyers when a decision is needed. For its SAP integration, Recall Space uses an established integration route: Results from the connected non-EDI channels that have been approved for posting are passed to SAP as an SAP IDoc with message type ORDRSP. This connects the processing of PDF and email confirmations with existing SAP processes for electronic purchase order confirmations.
This article covers incoming supplier confirmations for purchase orders.
Why purchase order confirmations need attention
Purchase order follow-up begins as soon as an order is sent. The supplier may confirm a different date, a smaller quantity or a higher price. Partial quantities arrive at different times. A subsequent correction may replace an earlier statement. For other orders, no response arrives at first.
This information is often spread across inboxes, attachments, portals and EDI connections. It needs to be matched to the correct purchase order, validated against business requirements and taken into account in subsequent processing. In day-to-day operations, this work competes with urgent supply issues and other pressing tasks.
If confirmations remain unprocessed, replenishment planning may rely on outdated dates. Quantity discrepancies become apparent too late, and price changes are only identified during invoice verification. Systematic processing provides a more up-to-date basis for purchase order follow-up and planning.
How Lisa AI checks purchase order confirmations
The automation connects the extraction of information from a supplier response with business validation and the transfer to SAP. The cases that may be processed automatically are defined for each implementation.
- Capture supplier responses. Lisa processes confirmations from connected channels, such as email, PDF, Excel and portals. Existing EDI connections are taken into account in the integration design.
- Extract information. The agent captures the purchase order reference, line items, material numbers, quantities, prices and dates. Relevant information in email text or free-text fields is also included.
- Match the confirmation to the purchase order. The confirmation is linked to the corresponding purchase order and its line items. Different supplier material numbers or packaging details must be resolved unambiguously. Unclear matches require clarification before they can be processed automatically.
- Check the content. Lisa compares the confirmed information with the purchase order. This includes, in particular, the item, quantity, price and delivery date. Additional checks depend on the agreed scope and the available data. Partial confirmations and subsequent changes are assessed in the context of the purchase order.
- Apply rules or involve people. Approved tolerances and procedures determine which cases are handled automatically. Discrepancies outside these rules are presented to the responsible buyer, together with the relevant information, for a decision. Missing confirmations can be followed up with the supplier according to the configured rules.
- Pass approved results to SAP. Lisa prepares the information intended for posting as an ORDRSP IDoc. Processing in SAP takes place through the configured inbound process.
The company can refine its business rules based on recurring cases. At the same time, a one-off exception can remain an individual decision. This allows the scope of automation to expand while the company retains control over its business rules.
SAP integration via ORDRSP IDocs
An IDoc is a structured message format from SAP. Here, message type ORDRSP is used to transmit a purchase order confirmation. Recall Space uses this route to pass results from previously unstructured supplier responses to SAP as well.
The transfer takes place after business validation and processing. Lisa sends the confirmation data approved for posting in the agreed IDoc structure. SAP processes the message according to its configuration.
This allows different incoming channels to feed into the same standardised route for passing information to SAP. A supplier does not need to establish its own EDI connection for PDF confirmations. The receiving company needs a suitable SAP connection.
If suitable ORDRSP inbound processing is already in place, the integration can build on this infrastructure. This can reduce the effort required to establish a new connection. Additional suppliers and document formats can be connected through the same transfer route; their respective content and specific characteristics must still be processed reliably. This provides an important basis for scaling.
What information reaches SAP
The approved confirmation data is passed to SAP for the relevant purchase order line item. This includes, in particular, confirmed quantities and dates. Confirmation control defines which confirmations are expected and how they are taken into account in subsequent processing. Depending on the configuration, confirmed quantities and dates may also be relevant to material planning. SAP describes the basics under Confirmations from the Purchasing Viewpoint.
Confirmation lines and purchase order schedule lines are different objects. Whether the original purchase order schedule lines are also adjusted, in addition to the confirmations, is defined for the specific process.
Checking a confirmed price and changing purchase order conditions are also separate activities. A higher supplier price therefore does not automatically lead to a purchase order adjustment. The agreed approval rules and the configured SAP process determine what happens.
What needs to be clarified before integration
The standard route provides a concrete basis for planning the integration. In particular, the following questions need to be addressed for implementation:
- How are the required purchase order data and changes made available for comparison?
- Is suitable ORDRSP inbound processing configured, and what technical access is available?
- What information may be passed automatically, and when is approval required?
- How is successful processing in SAP verified, and how are posting errors handled?
Transferring a message and successfully processing it in SAP are two different steps. This distinction is part of the overall process design. The configuration effort therefore depends on the existing SAP landscape, interfaces and business requirements.
Example of a partial confirmation with a delivery date discrepancy
The following simplified example illustrates the process and is not an analysis of a customer project.
A company orders 100 units of an item for 20 November. The supplier sends a PDF confirming 60 units for the requested date and another 40 units for 27 November. The price matches the purchase order.
Lisa matches the confirmation to the purchase order line item and identifies the split and the later date for the remaining quantity. In this example, the company's rule requires a buyer's decision for this delivery date discrepancy. The buyer receives the ordered and confirmed quantities, both dates and the supplier document for review.
If the buyer accepts the split, the approved quantities and dates are passed to SAP through the agreed ORDRSP IDoc process. They are recorded there according to the configured confirmation logic. If the date first needs to be clarified with the supplier, the decision remains open.
How EDI and document processing work together
EDI, document recognition and AI-supported process handling perform different tasks. They can complement one another, and their capabilities depend on the individual solution.
SAP also offers functions for monitoring and issuing reminders for outstanding purchase order confirmations. Recall Space complements this environment by handling supplier communication through the connected channels and processing its content according to business requirements. Existing SAP functions and Lisa need to be coordinated within the overall process.
Experience from deployment at Henry Schein
Henry Schein uses Lisa AI to process purchase order confirmations. The focus is on matching supplier responses to purchase orders, handling exceptions and transferring results to the ERP system.
Loreta Žemaitytė, Director Supply ChainPerformance EMEA at Henry Schein, describes the deployment in her customer testimonial:
“The system handles the full cycle of analysis, exception management and ERP booking automatically, at high precision, including edge cases that used to fallthrough the cracks.”
Frequently asked questions about SAP integration
Do our suppliers need to use EDI?
Lisa AI does not require the individual supplier to have an EDI connection in order to process email or PDF confirmations. Recall Space generates the structured message for SAP after processing. Existing EDI connections can continue to be used within the agreed process.
What about SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA?
Suitable ORDRSP IDoc inbound processing is essential for the integration route described here. Whether and how this route can be used in a particular SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA environment is assessed based on the system version, deployment model and available interfaces. The functionality is defined for each integration.
Who decides on discrepancies in dates or prices?
The company defines which discrepancies may be handled automatically within approved rules. When a decision is required, the responsible buyer is involved. Examples include an unacceptable delivery date or a higher price outside the approved tolerance.
How are partial confirmations and subsequent changes handled?
Confirmed partial quantities and dates are checked in the context of the purchase order line item. Subsequent supplier changes must be reassessed. The confirmation data then updated in SAP depends on the approval and the configured process.
How quickly can the integration be implemented?
Existing ORDRSP processing can make it easier to get started. The actual effort depends on technical access, the available purchase order data, the SAP configuration and the required decision rules. These prerequisites are reviewed together at the outset.
Assess SAP integration using a real confirmation
A specific supplier confirmation and its corresponding SAP purchase order provide a good starting point for an integration discussion. They can be used to show what information Lisa processes, which decisions can be automated and what data is passed to SAP via ORDRSP.
Arrange a demo with Recall Space and discuss the automation of purchase order confirmations in your SAP environment.
