Email to business records
AI Email Parsing and Email-to-ERP Automation
Turn email requests and text messages into clean database records - the lightweight email-to-ERP system built for mid-size construction and warehouse operations.
Stop manually retyping purchase orders, field change requests, and material requisitions into your backend software.
BusinessForward's managed software automates text-to-ERP workflows by using AI to extract structured data from emails and text messages, create structured JSON payloads, and send the data to your ERP or WMS via API.
A web-based system configured specifically for your data and backend software API.
Inbound Email Message
Re: Change Order #184 - River Crossing Job #402
- From
- mike.s@apexbuild.com
- Body
- "Hey team, approving CO #184 for $12,480.00 to cover the extra site grading on River Crossing. Please add this to Procore under Cost Code 02-220."
- ParseParse the message to extract structured data
- VerifyVerify extracted data: CO #: 184, Project: 402, Amount: $12,480.00, Cost Code: 02-220
- Create JSONJSON Output: { "co_number": 184, "project_id": "402", "amount": 12480.00, "cost_code": "02-220", "status": "approved" }
- SendSend JSON to backend software via API
Our Approach
Email-to-ERP Middleware: Built Like a Product, Configured Like a Custom Solution
Most email parsing tools give you a choice between paying $50k+ for custom software development that takes months to build, and buying an off-the-shelf system that forces you into fixed templates. BusinessForward combines a pre-built text AI parsing pipeline with a done-for-you configuration service - delivering an automated email-to-ERP workflow tailored to your data and backend systems in weeks, not months.
Real-World Email-to-ERP Automation Examples
How AI Parsing Turns Unstructured Messages Into Clean ERP Data
Here are several real-life examples of how free-form emails and text messages are transformed into structured API payloads for your backend software.
See more info on text-to-ERP process in the From Data Pipelines to Better Business Decisions article.
Email-to-ERP Data Pipeline
Automated Data Extraction with Human-in-the-Loop Safeguards
- 1. Ingest Capture emails, field SMS, attachments, or text pasted into the web software.
- 2. Extract Identify line items, amounts, cost codes, and job details.
- 3. Match Cross-reference vendor shorthand against master SKUs and job IDs.
- 4. Check Confirm extracted data based on the confidence score and your preferences.
- 5. Update Push validated JSON payloads directly into backend software using API endpoints.
Email-to-ERP Workflow
From Unstructured Text Input To Verified ERP Records
BusinessForward operates as a managed middleware layer between your inbound communications, your business validation logic, and your backend ERP endpoints.
Stage 1: Unstructured Text Input
Every Unstructured Format Your Operations Team Handles Daily
Change Order Requests & Approvals
Extract scope adjustments, cost codes, line items, and pricing from email bodies or thread replies.
Email Purchase Orders
Parse inline tables to extract line items, SKUs, quantities, unit prices, and ship-to addresses automatically.
Field Reports & Daily Logs
Extract job site progress notes, site conditions, equipment hours, and weather updates from e-mails, text messages or voice input into structured daily log records.
Field Dispatch Requests
Convert informal text messages from field technicians into structured work orders and material requisitions.
Material & Tool Requisitions
Extract line items and map non-standard field item names to your exact warehouse master inventory SKUs.
Email Attachments & Scans
Ingest attached PDFs, CSVs, Excel spreadsheets, and digital receipts alongside the primary email body text.
Stage 2: Verification & Rules
Set Rules For Human-In-The-Loop Control
Straight-Through Processing
Routine purchase orders or approved material requests that meet all pricing tolerances and field validation checks post to your ERP automatically.
Automated Sender Exception Prompt
A missing required field or low-confidence match to your records can trigger a focused email to the sender for clarification.
Human-in-the-Loop Review
High-value change orders, field inventory requests or purchase orders can be flagged for one-click human review and approval prior to live ERP entry.
Stage 3: Structured ERP Output
Connect Validated Output to Your Existing Software Stack
Extracted and verified data are converted into structured JSON payloads based on your software’s REST API documentation or database connectors.
Whether the destination is project management software like Procore or an accounting backend like NetSuite or QuickBooks, records are posted without altering your existing business logic.
Procore
Sage 100/300 CRE
QuickBooks Enterprise
NetSuite
Buildertrend
Viewpoint
Simpro
BuildOps
Other REST APIs
Built on Production-Tested AI Logic
Proven Extraction & Matching Logic Applied to Email-to-ERP Workflows
The core extraction and data-matching capabilities behind our email parsing applications are already active in production within QR Inventory - our mobile platform for field and warehouse inventory management.
In QR Inventory, the engine interprets free-form input, identifies transaction intent and key entities, resolves informal item and location descriptions against structured records, validates the results, and executes the appropriate workflow. In an email-to-ERP application, the same core logic is applied to incoming emails, attachments, and messages before validated records are formatted and sent to backend business software.
Email-to-ERP Q&A
Q&A on Email to ERP Automation
How can we automatically enter purchase orders and change orders from email into our ERP or project management software?
BusinessForward configures an email-to-ERP pipeline that captures incoming emails, extracts relevant fields such as project numbers, line items, quantities, cost codes, and amounts, validates the extracted data, and sends structured records to your ERP, project management, accounting, or warehouse software through its API.
Can the AI extract line items from email bodies, PDF attachments, and text messages?
Yes. The application can process free-form email text, text messages, and digital PDF attachments and extract structured fields such as customer or project information, SKUs, item descriptions, quantities, prices, dates, and job-site locations. Data from the message and its attachments can be combined into a single structured record.
Does AI email parsing require fixed templates or standardized email formats?
No. The extraction engine is designed for free-form business communication and varying document layouts rather than rigid templates. It can identify the relevant fields even when customers, vendors, or field employees describe the same information differently.
How are extracted descriptions matched to our SKUs, job IDs, cost codes, or customer records?
The application cross-references extracted information against your existing ERP, CRM, inventory, or project data. Entity resolution and fuzzy matching can map informal descriptions, shorthand product names, customer names, locations, and other values to the corresponding records in your business system.
Can employees review extracted data before it is entered into our ERP?
Yes. Human review can be incorporated into the workflow based on your business rules. High-confidence records can be processed automatically, while ambiguous matches, missing information, or selected transaction types can be held for employee review and approval before they are posted.
Is BusinessForward an off-the-shelf email parser or a managed custom solution?
BusinessForward provides managed software configured around your specific workflow, terminology, business rules, database records, and backend software APIs. The underlying extraction and integration components are pre-built, while the application is configured for the way your organization receives, validates, and records business information.
Related solutions
Match the input, then move the checked result.
Start with one real email
What does your team still read and enter by hand?
Show us a representative message, its attachments, the records used to check it, and the systems that need the result.