Case Study: From 15+ Hours of Manual Data Entry to a Fully Automated Workflow

Every growing business eventually hits a wall. For many, that wall is built out of paperwork—specifically, purchase orders.

One of our recent clients, a successful B2B medical supply distributor, was facing this exact problem. Their success was ironically becoming their biggest bottleneck. Their team was spending over 15 hours every single week manually typing information from PDF purchase orders into their accounting and shipping software.

This wasn't just inefficient; it was costing them money in the form of data entry errors, shipping to the wrong addresses, and delayed invoicing. They knew they needed to automate, but the "out-of-the-box" solutions just weren't working for them.

This case study breaks down the exact system we built to solve their problem, giving them back hundreds of hours and creating a scalable foundation for their future growth.

The Problem: A Manual, Error-Prone Process

Before they came to us, the client's workflow looked like this:

• A new Purchase Order (PO) arrived as a PDF attachment in a shared Gmail inbox.
• An admin would open the PDF, then open QuickBooks Online.
• They would manually create a new customer (or find the existing one).
• They would manually create a new Invoice, typing in every single line item, quantity, and price.
• Then, they would open ShipStation and manually create a new shipping order, re-typing the customer's address.
• If they weren't interrupted, a single order could take 10-15 minutes to process. If an address was mistyped, the costs would skyrocket.

They had tried simple "PDF to text" tools, but they failed because their purchase orders came from dozens of different clients, each with their own unique PDF layout. They needed a system, not just a tool.

The OrderSync Pro Solution: Architecting a Hands-Free System

Our goal was to create a complete, "end-to-end" workflow that required zero daily intervention. We architected a multi-step automation using a best-in-class suite of modern tools.

Here is a visual overview of the system we built:

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of the solution:

• Step 1: The Trigger (Gmail)
  Our workflow begins the instant an email with a PDF attachment arrives in a specific inbox. We set up a filter so the automation only runs for emails containing purchase orders.
• Step 2: Intelligent Data Parsing (Parseur)
  This is the magic step. We use a powerful tool called Parseur, which is designed specifically for this task. We created templates for each of the client's different PDF layouts. Parseur acts like a highly-trained digital assistant, reading the PDF and instantly converting the unstructured data (company name, address, line items, SKUs) into clean, structured data that a computer can work with.
• Step 3: The Automation Engine (Make.com)
  This is the central brain of our operation. Make.com receives the clean data from Parseur and orchestrates all the subsequent actions. The advanced twist here was using Make.com's "Router" module to direct the data down different paths based on which PDF template was used. This allows one single, elegant workflow to seamlessly handle multiple, completely different PO layouts.
• Step 4: The Financial Hub (QuickBooks Online)
  The workflow connects to the client's QuickBooks account via their secure API. It automatically finds or creates the correct customer record and then generates a new, perfectly accurate invoice using the line items from the PDF. This step alone eliminated manual data entry and all financial errors.
• Step 5: The Fulfillment Queue (ShipStation)
  Simultaneously, the workflow connects to ShipStation. It creates a new order with the customer's name and shipping address flawlessly copied from the original purchase order. The fulfillment team no longer has to type a single address—they just need to print the label.
• Step 6: Real-Time Visibility (Slack)
  For peace of mind, the workflow sends a simple, clean message to the team's #orders Slack channel upon successful completion. Example: ✅ New Order #PO-12345 from Client ABC has been processed and is ready in QuickBooks and ShipStation.

The Results: A Complete Transformation

By implementing this automated system, the client experienced a dramatic and immediate return on their investment.

• ✅ 15+ Hours Saved Per Week: The time spent on manual order entry was reduced to zero.
• ✅ 100% Reduction in Data Entry Errors: Financial and shipping information is now perfectly accurate, every single time.
• ✅ Faster Fulfillment: Orders are ready to be shipped the moment they are received, often leading to a 24-hour improvement in fulfillment time.
• ✅ Scalable Operations: The client can now take on 10x the order volume without needing to hire additional administrative staff.