Order & Inventory Flow AutomationsPurpose
1. Automates purchase order creation whenever inventory hits reorder thresholds, ensuring seamless supply for dim sum operations.
2. Executes scheduled or triggered supplier price comparisons to optimize cost-efficiency and supplier relationships.
3. Reduces manual labor by streamlining order placement, price list retrieval, and approval routing.
4. Enables automated notifications and escalations for supply shortages or price anomalies.
5. Integrates inventory, supplier, finance, and procurement data for real-time reporting and compliance running in an automated loop.
Trigger Conditions
1. Low stock detected in inventory management system.
2. Scheduled review period (daily/weekly) for price comparison automation.
3. New menu item added requiring new supplier quotes.
4. Supplier price list updated or new supplier onboarded.
5. Approver response to automated PO approval workflow.
Platform Variants
1. Zapier
- Feature: Schedule/Inventory triggers; configure automated chain to generate POs and request supplier APIs.
2. Microsoft Power Automate
- Setting: Automated cloud flow; triggers from MS Excel inventory or Dynamics 365, emails PO PDFs, and fetches supplier price lists.
3. Google Apps Script
- Function: Automatedly reads Google Sheets, compares supplier data, sends PO emails or API calls.
4. Oracle NetSuite
- Feature: SuiteFlow; trigger purchase requisition, automate vendor price request, generate PO and send to suppliers.
5. SAP Business One
- Setting: Automation studio; automated purchase quotes and PO approval routing on inventory reorder.
6. QuickBooks Online
- Function: Automated PO creation based on thresholds using API; fetches supplier prices via integrated apps.
7. Shopify
- Feature: Inventory triggers via webhooks, automatedly generate orders via third-party apps to suppliers.
8. Odoo
- Setting: Automated procurement rules; compares vendor prices and issues automated purchase orders.
9. Xero
- Feature: Automated purchase orders via workflows and custom apps; supplier comparison via add-ons.
10. Slack
- Setting: Automated notifications through workflows when automator creates POs or finds better supplier prices.
11. Monday.com
- Feature: Automations triggering vendor RFQs, collecting price bids, automated creation of PO items.
12. Trello
- Setting: Automate card creation per PO, sync with supplier data, send price alerts autogeneratedly.
13. Airtable
- Feature: Inventory base automations; compare supplier prices, send PO forms or emails automatedly.
14. Jira
- Setting: Workflow automations, automated ticket creation for POs, supplier comparison review queues.
15. Freshservice
- Feature: Automated service requests for purchasing, PO approvals, embedded supplier price lookups.
16. Procurify
- Setting: Automated workflows for purchase requests, supplier quote comparisons, autogenerating POs.
17. Kissflow
- Feature: Automated procurement workflows; triggers, compares vendors, creates and routes POs for approval.
18. Pipefy
- Setting: Automates purchase workflow, automatedly compares quotes and generates order forms.
19. Coupa
- Feature: Automates procurement cycle, price/bid comparison modules, auto-generation of orders.
20. DocuSign
- Setting: Automated signing/approval flows for POs and supplier price quotes routed to stakeholders.
21. Email (SMTP API)
- Function: Automated email for PO delivery, batch sending to all supplier contacts for price comparison.
Benefits
1. Automates repetitive purchasing and quoting, reducing admin time.
2. Boosts accuracy by eliminating manual PO or supplier entry or errors.
3. Ensures best pricing via real-time, automated comparison.
4. Increases supply chain resilience by automating alerts and escalations.
5. Supports compliance and audit through centralized and automated records.
6. Accelerates procurement—automation cuts order-to-delivery lead time.
7. Frees staff to focus on value-added, non-automatable tasks.