User change guide
PO Acknowledgement Automation
Purchase-order email replies can now be matched, reviewed, and recorded in POS, while the PO Tracker explains how each order was acknowledged and which replies still need a buyer.
What changed
The normal purchasing process stays familiar: create a PO, send it to the vendor, and work exceptions in PO Tracker. The difference is that POS can now retain the email thread, recognize vendor replies, show the acknowledgement source, and separate “the vendor saw the PO” from “a buyer still owes an answer.”
The existing Ack'd column now explains acknowledgement, buyer-action, and review states.
POS stores the outbound Message-ID and matches replies to the correct PO thread.
A vendor's price, specification, availability, payment, revision, or cancellation question proves awareness while remaining actionable.
AutoQuotes, manual acknowledgement, the vendor form, LBMX, and historical records continue to appear with their own source descriptions.
Eligible POs can receive one controlled follow-up using the established subject and wording, with the original message displayed inline.
The tracker now uses targeted stock and receipt lookups instead of scanning every location's complete stock and receipt history.
What buyers do day to day
Buyers continue sending and tracking purchase orders in POS. The new information is designed to reduce mailbox hunting and make exceptions easier to recognize.
Use the normal POS email action. The configured purchasing mailbox and standard template are used.
POS matches a genuine reply to the stored outbound thread without marking the mailbox message read.
The reply becomes acknowledged, action needed, review required, ignored, or a delivery failure.
Use PO Tracker chips, the review KPI, and the evidence dialog to respond or decide uncertain cases.
For most clear replies
- A clear vendor acknowledgement can update the PO without extra buyer data entry once automatic application is approved for the location.
- A vendor question can suppress an unnecessary chase while remaining visible as buyer work.
- A source label and acknowledgement time explain why the Ack'd state is present.
When a reply needs judgment
- Open PO Tracker.
- Select Vendor Replies Needing Buyer Review, or click the acknowledgement chip on the PO.
- Review the sender, message time, redacted evidence, confidence, warnings, and proposed result.
- Respond to the vendor when the state is Action needed.
- If authorized, accept or reject a pending acknowledgement result. Rejection requires confirmation.
The acknowledgement paths
POS does not treat every acknowledgement as an AI email result. The dialog uses the recorded or safely derived source so users can see which business process acknowledged the PO.
A reply matches a POS-sent email thread. Local text and, when useful, document/image review determine acknowledgement and buyer action independently.
The established AutoQuotes process records the acknowledgement. POS labels it as AutoQuotes instead of implying email evidence exists.
An authorized POS user marks the PO acknowledged. New records retain the acting user's identity for the dialog.
The vendor uses the acknowledgement link included with the PO. POS identifies the vendor-form channel.
An acknowledgement arrives through the existing LBMX import path and is labeled accordingly.
Older acknowledgements without reliable provenance stay acknowledged but are honestly labeled instead of assigning a source that cannot be proven.
How common email outcomes are treated
| Vendor message | Acknowledged? | Buyer action? | Follow-up effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Received,” “confirmed,” or an in-progress/ETA response | Yes | Only when the content needs a response | Suppresses SECOND REQUEST |
| Price, specification, availability, payment, revision, or cancellation question about the PO | Yes | Yes | Suppresses SECOND REQUEST; remains visible to the buyer |
| Automatic vacation or generic mailbox reply | No | No | Ignored; does not prove a human saw the PO |
| Delivery failure or bounce | No | Yes | Requires buyer attention and does not falsely suppress a chase |
| Ambiguous, untrusted, incomplete, or technically unreadable reply | Pending review | As indicated by the evidence | Fails closed to review rather than guessing |
| Unrelated mailbox message | No | No | Discarded from the PO workflow |
More meaning in the existing Ack'd column
There is no extra tracker column to manage. The Ack'd cell now uses a compact state chip, and clicking it opens the acknowledgement detail.
No qualifying acknowledgement is recorded. Normal follow-up rules may still apply.
The PO is acknowledged and no unresolved buyer-action or review state is being highlighted.
The vendor has acknowledged the PO, but the reply contains a question or issue for purchasing.
POS retained the reply but needs a person to accept or reject the proposed acknowledgement.
One controlled SECOND REQUEST
When enabled after rollout, POS can send one follow-up for an eligible, unacknowledged PO. It follows the established mail format so vendors and buyers are not surprised by a new-looking message.
The configurable delay counts Monday through Friday in the location's time zone.
A database safeguard prevents competing jobs from sending more than one active or successful chase.
The complete original subject is preserved and “SECOND REQUEST” is appended.
The original email appears in the body. It is not sent as an unfamiliar .eml attachment.
The original PO PDF remains a normal attachment when it was part of the stored message.
Location controls, vendor/PO opt-outs, buyer/status exclusions, acknowledgement, and prior chase state are checked before sending.
When POS will not send
- The follow-up rollout switch is off or the required shadow/cutover approvals are incomplete.
- The PO has a genuine acknowledgement, has already received its follow-up, or is excluded.
- The original message, recipients, or subject cannot be reconstructed safely.
- Mailbox delivery fails before SMTP success.
Mailbox, templates, summaries, and rollout
Entity Settings → Purchasing contains the location-facing controls. Shared connection details are kept out of the everyday purchasing form unless an administrator opens mailbox setup.
Mailbox setup
- Select an enabled shared purchasing mailbox for the location, or create one when none exists.
- Credentials are encrypted and write-only. Existing passwords are never displayed back to the browser.
- The connection test authenticates and checks the configured folder without sending email.
- A configured but disabled mailbox fails with a clear setup error instead of silently sending from another account.
Email templates
- The standard initial and follow-up subject/body wording is visible in the settings.
- Customized templates may use the supported placeholders; unknown placeholders and subject line breaks are rejected.
- A restore-standard action returns customized wording to the established defaults.
Summaries and notifications
- Morning acknowledgement summaries can list newly applied acknowledgements and identify buyer-action replies.
- SECOND REQUEST digest recipients are configured separately.
- The existing PO Acknowledged notification preference remains the ordinary salesperson/claimant alert; no duplicate preference was added.
Rollout controls
| Control | What it permits | Default rollout posture |
|---|---|---|
| Mailbox intake | Read and retain candidate replies for classification and shadow review. | Off until the mailbox and folder are approved. |
| Automatic application | Allow trusted, qualifying replies to set acknowledgement provenance automatically. | Off until human-labeled shadow results are accepted. |
| POS follow-up | Allow the scheduled one-chase SECOND REQUEST workflow. | Off until ownership and cutover gates are recorded. |
What happens behind the scenes
Most of this project is deliberately backend work: reliable mail history, restart-safe intake, local document review, audit evidence, and safeguards that keep uncertain automation away from live PO fields.
Each initial send, resend, and follow-up receives its own Message-ID and stored original MIME.
The PO email timestamp is recorded only after SMTP succeeds.
Folder UID progress and message fingerprints prevent duplicate processing without changing read/unread state.
Configured local text and vision services classify replies. There is no cloud auto-ack fallback.
Useful PDF pages are converted to images for vision review; irrelevant logos and oversized noise are excluded.
Trust failures, unavailable AI/document services, unsupported content, and exhausted retries create review work instead of guessing.
Acknowledgement, buyer action, and chase suppression are stored separately so one result cannot hide another obligation.
Sender, timestamps, redacted evidence, confidence, model metadata, warnings, reviewer decisions, and application state remain available.
What this project does not change
- It does not add a generic purchasing workflow or pipeline.
- It does not attempt AI line-item acknowledgement.
- It does not backfill reliable Message-IDs for historically sent POs.
- It does not automatically turn off n8n or enable production follow-ups.
- It does not treat a purchaser's own quoted question as vendor evidence.