How to Automate Email, PDF & Fax Orders in Xentral ERP (Complete Guide)

Are you tired of manually typing orders from emails, PDF attachments, and fax documents into your Xentral ERP system? Most SMEs waste 3-5 hours daily on manual order entry, with error rates hitting 4-5%. During peak seasons, these delays can cost you customers and create inventory nightmares.

The good news? Xentral ERP order automation can eliminate up to 90% of manual data entry, turning your chaotic order management into a smooth, touchless workflow. This guide shows you exactly how to automate email orders, PDF order automation, and even fax-to-ERP conversion using Xentral’s built-in tools.

Whether you’re a B2B distributor drowning in supplier emails or an e-commerce retailer juggling multiple sales channels, this practical Xentral order automation guide will walk you through every step.

Why Manual Order Processing Is Costing You More Than You Think

Before diving into automation, let’s understand what’s at stake.

The Real Costs of Manual Order Entry:

• Error Rate: 4-5% of manually entered orders contain mistakes (wrong SKUs, pricing errors, shipping address typos)
• Time Drain: Processing one order manually takes 5-8 minutes; automation reduces this to under 30 seconds
• Peak Season Chaos: Black Friday or wholesale rush periods can overwhelm teams, causing fulfillment delays
• Hidden Expenses: Fixing errors, managing customer complaints, and overtime pay add up quickly

What Xentral Order Automation Delivers:

• 90% faster processing: Automate email, PDF, and fax orders into your system instantly
• Near-zero errors: AI-powered OCR and validation catch mistakes before they hit your warehouse
• Scalability: Handle 10x order volume without hiring more staff
• Real-time visibility: Xentral’s traffic-light system shows order status at a glance

Understanding Xentral Order Basics

Before you automate, you need to understand how Xentral ERP order processing works. Think of it as learning to drive before buying a sports car.

How Xentral Orders Work

Every order in Xentral follows a simple lifecycle:

1. Draft: Order created but not confirmed (yellow light)
2. Released: Approved and ready for fulfillment (green light)
3. Picked: Items pulled from the warehouse
4. Shipped: Out for delivery
5. Invoiced: Payment processed

The Traffic-Light System

Xentral uses color-coded indicators to show order health:

• Green: All good, order flowing smoothly
• Red: Problem detected (missing inventory, pricing mismatch, address error)
• Yellow: Needs review or approval

This visual system makes Xentral order import automation powerful because you can spot issues instantly without opening every order.

Master Data Auto-Fill Magic

When you set up customers, suppliers, and products correctly in Xentral, the system auto-populates orders with:

• Default pricing and discounts
• Shipping addresses and preferences
• Payment terms
• Product descriptions and SKUs

Automating PDF and Fax Orders: Handling Unstructured Data

PDF order automation and fax-to-ERP conversion are trickier because formats vary wildly. Here’s how Xentral handles the chaos.

Why PDFs and Faxes Are Different

Unlike structured emails, PDFs can be:

• Scanned images (low OCR quality)
• Custom layouts from hundreds of suppliers
• Handwritten notes (yes, some B2B suppliers still do this)

Faxes add another layer of complexity with poor resolution and noise.

Setting Up OCR for PDF/Fax Order Automation

Xentral’s OCR capabilities (or third-party integrations like Parseur, Zapier) can extract order data:

Step-by-Step Setup:

1. Upload Sample PDFs: Feed Xentral 20-30 PDFs from your top suppliers
2. Train Templates: Highlight where order numbers, line items, and totals appear
3. Set Confidence Levels: Only auto-import orders with 90%+ OCR confidence
4. Manual Review Queue: Send low-confidence extractions to staff for quick verification

For Fax Orders:

• Use a fax-to-email service (eFax, RingCentral) to convert faxes to PDFs
• Route PDFs through your Xentral OCR workflow
• Expect slightly lower accuracy (85-90%) due to fax quality

Supplier Matching and Data Validation

The biggest PDF automation challenge? Make sure “ABC Corp” in the PDF matches “ABC Corporation” in your Xentral database.

Xentral Best Practices:

• Maintain supplier aliases in master data (ABC Corp = ABC Corporation = ABC Co.)
• Use fuzzy matching algorithms (90% name similarity = same customer)
• Flag new suppliers automatically for manual review

Exception Handling with Traffic Lights

Xentral’s traffic-light system shines here. When OCR detects issues:

• Red Light: Missing SKU, price mismatch over 10%, or unknown customer
• Yellow Light: Low OCR confidence (85-89%), needs quick human check
• Green Light: All validated, auto-released to fulfillment

Advanced Workflows: End-to-End Xentral ERP Order Automation

Once email, PDF, and fax orders flow into Xentral automatically, you can automate downstream processes for true touchless order processing.

Auto-Shipping and Fulfillment

Connect Xentral to your warehouse and shipping carriers:

• Inventory Check: Auto-flag orders if stock is low (red light)
• Pick List Generation: Send picking instructions to warehouse staff or robots
• Label Printing: Auto-generate shipping labels via DHL, FedEx, UPS integrations
• Tracking Updates: Sync tracking numbers back to customers automatically

Auto-Invoicing

Why invoice manually when Xentral can do it?

• Trigger invoice creation when order status = “Shipped.”
• Apply payment terms from the customer master data
• Send PDF invoices via email automatically
• Sync to accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, DATEV)

Omnichannel Integration

For e-commerce businesses, extend automation to all sales channels:

• Shopify/WooCommerce: Orders sync to Xentral in real-time
• Amazon/eBay: Marketplace orders auto-import daily
• B2B Portal: Customer self-service orders flow into Xentral instantly

Project-Based Workflows for Complex Orders

B2B distributors often have project-specific pricing or bundled products. Xentral’s project module ties orders to customer agreements:

• Auto-apply project discounts
• Track multi-order projects (e.g., construction supply contracts)
• Generate project-level reports

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Skipping Master Data Cleanup: Poor data = poor automation
2. Over-Automating Too Fast: Start with your top 3 suppliers (80% of volume), then expand
3. Ignoring Edge Cases: That one weird customer format will break your workflow, build exception handling
4. No Staff Training: Automation shifts roles from data entry to problem-solving; train accordingly

Real Results

Case Study 1: B2B Distributor (50 Employees)

• Before: 200 daily orders, 3 staff, 6 hours processing time, 5% error rate
• After Xentral Automation: 95% touchless, 1 staff member monitors exceptions, 30-minute processing, <2% errors
• ROI: $120K annual savings in labor + error costs

Future-Proofing Your Order Automation

Technology evolves fast. Here’s how to stay ahead with your Xentral ERP order processing:

AI and Machine Learning Upgrades

Xentral and third-party tools are adding:

• Predictive OCR: Learns from corrections to improve accuracy
• Natural Language Processing: Understands “rush order” or “hold until Friday” in emails
• Anomaly Detection: Auto-flags unusual orders (10x normal quantity = potential fraud)

Scaling to Omnichannel Excellence

As you grow, add:

• EDI Connections: For enterprise customers with EDI requirements
• Voice Orders: Integrate with Alexa for Business or Google Assistant
• Mobile Apps: Sales reps create orders on the go, synced to Xentral

Continuous Improvement

Every quarter:

• Review automation metrics and identify bottlenecks
• Survey staff on pain points (what still needs manual work?)
• Test new Xentral features or integrations
• Update parsing rules as supplier formats change

Conclusion

Xentral order automation isn’t just about saving time; it’s about scaling your business without scaling headaches. By automating email, PDF, and fax orders, you free your team to focus on growth, not data entry.

Implementing Xentral ERP order automation can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re stuck on OCR configuration, need custom integrations, or want a hands-off implementation, 2Hats Logic specializes in Xentral automation for SMEs.