Email to business records
AI Email Parsing and Email-to-ERP Automation
Turn emailed change orders into checked business records.
ERP software holds a company's core business records, such as orders, costs, inventory, and accounting data.
We build workflows that read the message and its attachments, find the right project, check required details, route approval, and update Procore and QuickBooks.
Email and attachment
Change Order 184
- Project
- River Crossing
- Amount
- $12,480
- Attachment
- change-order-184.pdf
- ExtractRead the message and attachment.
- MatchFind the customer, project, and related records.
- CheckConfirm required details and approval state.
- ApproveApply the customer’s review rules.
More than parsing
A change order should not become three data-entry jobs.
Reading the email is only the first step. The workflow must connect each value to the correct customer, project, cost code, order, or other business record.
It then checks required details before it prepares an update for Procore, QuickBooks, or another supported system. See a worked example of this process in From Data Pipelines to Better Business Decisions.
From inbox to record
Check the request before business records change.
- 1. ReceiveCollect the email and its attachments.
- 2. ExtractIdentify the change, values, dates, and documents.
- 3. MatchFind the correct customer, project, items, and related records.
- 4. CheckConfirm required fields, allowed values, and approval state.
- 5. DecideApply customer-defined rules for approval or automatic processing.
- 6. UpdateSend the checked result to each supported destination.
Everyday operational inputs
Handle the messages and documents teams already receive.
Change orders and approvals
Read the request, match the project, check the amount, and confirm approval status.
Customer and purchase orders
Match customers, vendors, items, quantities, prices, and delivery details.
Invoices and shipping notices
Connect billing and delivery details to the correct order and business records.
Service requests
Identify the customer, location, requested work, urgency, and next step.
Materials and tools requests
Match a field request to the project, item, quantity, and required location.
Message text and attachments
The workflow can read the email body and supported PDFs, spreadsheets, documents, scans, or photos when the source quality is good enough.
Customer-controlled decisions
Set the rules before anything changes.
Process a low-risk record
Actions you have approved as routine run automatically.
Ask the sender
The workflow can reply with a focused question before it continues.
Send for employee review
An employee can correct the match, add missing details, or approve the proposed action.
The software that owns the record
Connect each checked result to its destination.
BusinessForward can build workflows for QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Enterprise, Procore, Asana, QR Inventory, and your ERP software — the system that holds your core business records, such as QuickBooks or a custom system.
Available APIs, imports, exports, files, and business rules determine what each workflow can create or update.
QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks EnterpriseProcoreAsanaQR InventoryCustom ERP work
Active custom-development service
Build around the customer’s real documents and rules.
BusinessForward offers email and attachment automation as an active custom-development service. We design and test each workflow against the customer’s messages, documents, records, software access, and approval rules.
QR Inventory is our own product, and its voice AI runs with real customers today. It understands spoken requests, finds matching records, checks the data, and prepares transactions inside QR Inventory.
QR Inventory also has conventional integrations with QuickBooks, Procore, and Asana that have run in production for years. We are now building a path for AI-prepared updates to move through those connections. No customer uses that AI-assisted connection yet.
The email and document features on this page are new work. We are building them now on the same approach that already runs in QR Inventory, and no customer is running them yet.
Choose the simplest reliable method
When the format never changes, a simple fixed rule is enough.
A parser — software that reads a fixed format the same way every time — may be enough when every message follows one stable format and no uncertain record matching is required.
Read how a focused AI workflow differs
A focused AI workflow helps when wording and layouts vary. It can extract the values, match them to existing records, check required details, and prepare a supported action.
File type, scan quality, layout, language, and system access determine what the workflow can do reliably. We review representative samples before selecting the method.
Questions operations teams ask
Check the input, rules, and destination.
Can the workflow read attachments as well as the email?
Yes. We can work with message text and supported attachments, such as PDF and spreadsheet files. During the review we confirm the formats your senders actually use.
What happens when information is missing?
The customer can choose whether the workflow asks the sender a focused question or sends the record to an employee.
Can low-risk records be processed automatically?
Yes. Actions you have approved as routine run automatically. Everything else waits for a person.
Can an employee approve a record first?
Yes. Review can be required for every action, selected actions, or only uncertain and higher-risk work.
Can one email update Procore and QuickBooks?
It can when both systems provide suitable access and the approved workflow defines what each destination receives.
Can you work with our ERP?
We build custom connections when the system provides a safe, practical access path. We confirm that access before choosing the design.
When is a standard parser enough?
Use one when the source format stays fixed, the values are clear, and no uncertain matching or judgment is needed.
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.