Technical project case study
A supplier-order workflow was built to turn warehouse backlog into correctly rounded order quantities, create controlled purchase orders and keep customer service and warehouse teams aligned.
01The operational problem
Supplier orders were driven by a backlog report but could not simply copy the backlog quantity. Products have supplier minimum multiples, so each line has to be rounded correctly. The resulting purchase order then needs to exist consistently in Sellercloud and Peoplevox and remain visible to the teams waiting for it.
There was also a consolidation problem. Several purchase orders for the same vendor, company and warehouse may be better handled as one replacement order, but consolidation must never mix incompatible records or leave the source orders appearing active.
02What was built
The Wicked Orders workflow reads a dedicated Peoplevox backlog report, treats the product attribute as the supplier multiple and calculates the order quantity by rounding backlog up to the next valid multiple. Operators can review the source backlog, multiple and proposed quantity before a live write.
Approved runs create a Sellercloud purchase order and submit matching header and line information to Peoplevox. A connected Slack workflow creates and tracks warehouse order cards, polls Peoplevox status and moves orders through Submitted, Receiving and Complete without manual status buttons.
03Technical design
- Order quantity formula: ceiling of backlog divided by supplier multiple, multiplied by that multiple.
- Sellercloud PO payloads use controlled company, vendor, warehouse and product structures.
- Peoplevox receives the matching purchase-order data so the backlog report accounts for quantities already ordered.
- Daily UK-time descriptions and sequences make related runs recognisable to operators.
- A consolidation workflow verifies common vendor, company and warehouse before proposing a replacement PO.
- Slack cards match their customer order reference to Peoplevox PurchaseOrderNumber and display observed status transitions.
04Controls, failure handling and operational safety
- Live creation is disabled unless a dedicated environment flag is enabled.
- The backlog report is downloaded again immediately before writing and must match the reviewed preview fingerprint.
- Dry-run mode records a proposal without changing either Sellercloud or Peoplevox.
- Test PO allowlists prevent development checks from touching unrelated purchase orders.
- Duplicate email confirmations update an existing Slack card rather than creating another order.
- Consolidated source cards follow the replacement PO and share one reminder chain.
05Why the design matters
The project gives the ordering team a transparent calculation and the warehouse a consistent reference. It reduces re-keying while retaining review at the point where supplier quantities and financial commitments are created.
Its real strength is the joined lifecycle. The calculation, purchase order, warehouse receipt and team notification are treated as one process, rather than four unrelated pieces of software.
06What this project demonstrates
- Supplier-specific ordering logic and purchase-order integration.
- Sellercloud, Peoplevox, Gmail and Slack orchestration.
- Stale-preview protection before consequential writes.
- Consolidation, status tracking and exception reminders designed around actual operating hours.
07Practical lessons for similar integrations
Any automated purchasing workflow needs a visible derivation for every quantity. Operators should be able to see the demand, the multiple and the final rounded result before a purchase order exists.
Cross-system identity matters as much as API access. A stable reference must follow the order from supplier confirmation to ERP, WMS and Slack, otherwise status automation becomes guesswork.