How to automate email for SYSPRO
Short answer
Read shared inboxes through Microsoft Graph or IMAP, classify each email, extract structured fields from the body and attachments, match them to SYSPRO customers, suppliers and items, and create draft transactions through e.net business objects for a person to review before posting.
In many SYSPRO companies the real order entry system is an inbox. Customer POs arrive as PDFs, suppliers send acknowledgements in the email body, and AP receives invoices from a dozen formats. Staff retype them into sales order entry, purchase order maintenance and AP invoice posting.
Email automation is the place to be careful: the input is untrusted, formats vary, and a wrong automated posting costs more than a slow manual one. The pattern that works is classify, extract, match, draft, review.
What teams use it for
Customer PO to sales order draft
Detect a PO email, extract customer, PO number, lines and requested dates, match item codes or customer part numbers, and create a draft sales order with exceptions flagged.
Supplier acknowledgement to PO update
Read acknowledgements, match the PO number and lines, and propose updated due dates or price differences for a buyer to approve.
RFQ intake
Identify requests for quote, extract the parts and quantities, and open a quote draft with the customer and item matches, plus a list of unknown parts.
Invoice intake for AP
Capture supplier invoices from a shared mailbox, match to purchase orders and goods received, and queue discrepancies for AP review.
Order change and cancellation requests
Detect emails asking to change a quantity or date, find the open order lines, and create a change request instead of an automatic edit.
SYSPRO integration surface
- SYSPRO e.net business objects for sales order entry, quotations, purchase order maintenance and AP invoice posting. Object names and fields vary by version, so check your release documentation.
- SQL Server company databases for matching: customers (ArCustomer), suppliers (ApSupplier), stock codes (InvMaster), customer part numbers and open orders and POs.
- SYSPRO's own email sending options, such as SRS-based report delivery or workflow email actions, for outbound acknowledgements, where licensed.
- SYSPRO Document Flow Manager or an attachment store, where used, to file the original email and PDF against the transaction.
- A mailbox source outside SYSPRO: Microsoft Graph for Microsoft 365, Gmail API, or IMAP for on-prem Exchange and other servers.
How it works
- 1
Connect the mailbox
Use a service mailbox with application-scoped access, such as a Graph app limited to one mailbox, rather than a user's full account.
- 2
Classify and filter
Separate POs, RFQs, acknowledgements, invoices and everything else. Quarantine unknown senders and handle spam and auto-replies before extraction.
- 3
Extract structured data
Pull fields from the body and attachments using templates, rules or a language model with a fixed output schema. Return a confidence score per field.
- 4
Match to SYSPRO masters
Resolve customer, supplier and stock code using SQL lookups, including customer part number cross references and fuzzy description matches, and flag unmatched items.
- 5
Create drafts, not postings
Use a business object to create the order, quote or invoice in a held or draft state where possible, with the email reference stored in a comment or document field.
- 6
Review queue and feedback
Show the email, the extracted data and the proposed document side by side. Corrections feed rules so the same supplier format improves over time.
Example flows
PO email to reviewed sales order
Trigger: An email arrives in the orders mailbox with a PDF PO.
- The classifier tags it as a customer PO and finds the sender's customer.
- Lines are extracted and customer part numbers are mapped to stock codes.
- A draft sales order is created via the sales order business object.
- An order-desk user reviews flagged lines and releases the order.
Result: Order entry becomes review work, and the original email is attached to the order.
Supplier acknowledgement with date change
Trigger: A supplier replies with new delivery dates.
- The PO number is matched to the open purchase order lines.
- Dates and any price changes are extracted and compared to the PO.
- A change proposal appears in the buyer's queue with differences highlighted.
- On approval the PO lines are updated through the business object.
Result: Promise dates in SYSPRO reflect supplier commitments, improving MRP accuracy.
Keeping data on-prem
Order and invoice content is commercially sensitive, so many SYSPRO customers prefer to keep extraction inside their network. Run the mailbox reader, the document parser and an open-weight language model on a server near SYSPRO and SQL Server, and keep only the mailbox connection external. Scanned attachments can be processed with a local OCR engine. Store the extracted data and original email in your own storage, and send nothing to a third-party AI service. The review queue then runs entirely on your infrastructure.
Security checklist
- Treat email content as untrusted; never let extracted text become a command or a SQL fragment.
- Scan attachments for malware before parsing.
- Use application-scoped mailbox access limited to the service mailbox.
- Verify sender identity for bank detail changes and never auto-apply them.
- Log source email, extracted values, reviewer and resulting SYSPRO document.
Ways to get it done
Workflow tool with rules and templates
Effort: Weeks per format family.
A few stable customers or suppliers with consistent formats.
In-house parser plus e.net drafts
Effort: One to three months including matching and review screens.
Your team can maintain extraction logic and a review UI.
Partner build with Netray
Effort: Scoped by document type, with a pilot on one mailbox first.
Mixed formats, many customers, and a need for local models and a clear review queue.
Pitfalls
- !Auto-posting orders without review turns a misread quantity into a shipped error.
- !Customer part numbers are inconsistent, so maintain a cross reference and feed corrections back.
- !Reply-chain quoting duplicates lines if you parse the whole thread.
- !Ignoring unit of measure and currency differences between the email and SYSPRO master data.
- !Prompt injection through email text if a model has tools; keep extraction separate from action.
Frequently asked questions
Can SYSPRO read incoming emails by itself?
SYSPRO is good at sending email from reports and workflows, but reading and understanding inbound email normally requires a separate component. That component reads the mailbox, extracts data, and creates transactions through e.net business objects. Check your edition and partner add-ons before building.
Should orders be created automatically?
Start with drafts and a review queue. Once a customer's format produces consistently correct results over a meaningful period, you can reduce review for that customer and keep thresholds, such as value limits, that force a human check.
How accurate is AI extraction on POs?
It depends on the layout, scan quality and your master data. Clean digital PDFs perform well; poor scans and unusual layouts need review. Use per-field confidence, validate against SYSPRO data, and track correction rates by sender rather than trusting a single figure.
Does this work with on-prem Exchange?
Yes. Use IMAP or Exchange Web Services where permitted, or Graph if you are hybrid. The parser and SYSPRO adapter can remain internal. Confirm authentication methods your mail administrators allow, since basic authentication is often disabled.
Where does the original email go?
File it against the SYSPRO transaction using attachments or Document Flow Manager if you use it, or an external store referenced by a comment on the order. The aim is that anyone opening the order can see the exact source document.
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