Follow a fictional email inquiry through uncertain SKU matches, approved price sources, stock checks and quote-version review, without sending a formal quotation.
Interactive concept with fictional sample data. No live integrations. Nothing is sent, booked, purchased, published or saved. The checks shown here illustrate a proposed workflow, not verified production capability.
01 / Inquiry
Keep the customer’s words beside the extracted lines.
Fictional customer C-01 asks for “20 of the old blue valve, preferably next week; an alternative is fine.” Extract quantity 20 and the requested timing, but treat the product name and substitution as unresolved.
Inquiry INQ-07 · quantity 20 · product unresolved · requested timing is not a promise
02 / Match
Present candidates, not a silent substitution.
Catalog DEMO-CAT v4 contains VAL-A and VAL-B under similar names. Show both source entries and mark the match uncertain. Do not invent a confidence percentage or choose an alternative without sales review.
Assume sales has selected VAL-A. Draft v3 cites customer price list PL-C01 v2 in USD, minimum quantity 10, and no extra discount approved. Tax and freight remain unconfirmed. A stock snapshot shows 30 on hand, 18 reserved, only 12 available; another eight need supplier confirmation.
Draft v3 · PL-C01 v2 · 12 available / 20 requested · taxes, freight and delivery pending
04 / Sales review
Approve the review packet, not an unverified promise.
In the clear example, assume the latest stock snapshot has been checked and unresolved fields are explicitly marked. If the snapshot is stale, block approval. Any quantity-tier rule, substitution, discount or delivery promise needs an authorized decision and source.
The stock source is stale. Refresh availability and review the current version before making any commitment.
Awaiting human review.Demo approval recorded locally. No real action was taken.
05 / Handover
Trace the accepted version before releasing an order.
Draft v2 is superseded by v3. Record who approved each revision and which version the customer accepts. Warehouse preparation should reference that version; a new revision invalidates earlier approval until reviewed again. Customer acceptance is still pending in this demo.
v2 superseded → v3 internally reviewed → customer acceptance pending → no order released
Draft packet not approved. No formal quotation or order handover is authorized.
Demo v3 packet approved for further internal review. Customer acceptance, supplier timing, tax and freight remain pending; nothing was sent or ordered.
02 / WORK WITH WHAT YOU USE
Confirm the connection before promising it.
These are options to assess, not a verified compatibility list. We are not claiming ready-made connections to any particular platform. Account tiers, official access rules, data quality and a scoped test determine what is feasible.
Connection discovery checklist
Tool category
Possible approach
Confirm first
Email and product catalog
Approved inquiry exports and versioned product dictionaries.
Aliases, customer codes, units, uncertain matches and who confirms replacements.
Price lists and order tools
Read-only approved price rules and quote-version references.
Customer-specific rates, tiers, currencies, taxes, minimums and discount authority.
Warehouse and suppliers
Timestamped availability records and attributable supplier confirmations.
On-hand versus reserved stock, freshness, partial fulfillment and conflicting lead times.
03 / AGREE BEFORE CONNECTING
Set boundaries that fit this business.
These are discovery questions, not agreed hosting, retention, training-use or service-level commitments. Confirm the answers in project documents with the contracting business and named lead before using real records.
Illustrative flow to confirm
Authorized source records→Scoped workspace and access rules→AI draft, only if agreed→Human review and next task
Map any external providers, logs and backups separately. Storage location, model reuse or training terms, access and deletion must be confirmed for each part.
Scope commercial visibility
Set separate access for sales, managers, warehouse staff and service providers. Customer pricing, margins and negotiation notes must not become visible simply because a person can see order status.
Preserve the approval trail
Keep quote versions, approved rules, approver identity, customer confirmation and changes together. Confirm which source wins when records conflict; never silently replace the accepted version.
Agree AI reuse and departure handling
Document whether email or price data reaches external models, any training or reuse terms, subcontractor access, leaver revocation and authorized exports on exit.
Name the delivery and data owners
Write down the contracting business, project lead, acceptance criteria, access permissions and incident contact. Agree confidentiality, deliverable ownership, support hours and escalation responsibilities.
Agree retention, export and deletion
Set retention for source records, AI inputs and outputs, activity logs and backups separately. Define authorized export formats, access revocation, deletion requests, backup expiry and evidence of completion.
04 / A SMALL START
Test one useful change before expanding.
Limit the pilot to one product family and one customer type. Use redacted or fictional inquiries to test extraction and catalog matching first. Measure correction time, wrong SKU matches, quote rework and the effort to verify stock; leave formal quotes and order writes outside the first stage.
05 / FIVE USEFUL READS
Read with your first workflow in mind.
Read in this order. These are editorial guides, not industry credentials or customer-result claims.
Describe where the work gets stuck, who needs to review it and how you handle it today. Use fictional examples; do not include real customer, staff, payment or commercially sensitive records in the initial inquiry.