Supplier email loop

The supplier email loop is the Decision Intelligence loop applied to a concrete workflow. A signal (overdue PO, supplier silence past expected response window) triggers a decision (which supplier to contact, what to say, what to offer); the decision drives an action (drafted email, sent on approval); the action's outcome feeds back (supplier reply captured, commitment recorded); and the platform learns (supplier reliability score updated). One workflow, one audit trail, end-to-end.

This is the flagship use case in these docs because it shows the full loop in a workflow planners run hundreds of times a year. Use this structure as the template when writing your own org-specific use cases.

Cast

Role	Feature	Persona
Spotter	Executive Pulse → Today's Focus	Business Analyst
Diagnostician	Account Health side panel	Procurement Planner
Drafter	Athena Thread	Procurement Planner
Approver	Co-Pilot Approvals	Procurement Planner
Closer	Auto	Procurement Planner

Prerequisites

• ERP connection live (Sage Intacct, NetSuite, Acumatica, Fishbowl, QuickBooks, or Xero).
• An "Open POs aging" subject area configured.
• Procurement Planner role with Co-Pilot approval permission.
• A Storyboard pinned to the morning meeting (optional but useful).

Walkthrough

1. Spot the SKU on Pulse

Pulse surfaces SKUs at stockout risk in the Today's Focus panel. Click any one to open the side panel.

2. Read the account health

The side panel shows current open POs, last contact, and the supplier's typical response time. If the loop is overdue, the panel flags it red.

3. Draft with Athena

Click Draft email. Athena composes a message, citing the open PO numbers and the agreed lead times. The citation rail expands so you can verify the data before approving.

4. Approve in Co-Pilot

The draft lands in the Co-Pilot queue. Approve, edit, or reject. On approve, Co-Pilot sends the email and registers a follow-up.

5. Loop closed

When the supplier replies, Auto parses the new commit date and writes it back to the open PO. A calendar event for the new ETA is created automatically.

Audit trail

Every step writes to the audit log. A typical entry:

{
  "id": "evt_018f6c2a-...",
  "ts": "2026-05-06T14:32:11Z",
  "actor": "user:athena@conversight.ai",
  "action": "copilot.email.approved",
  "resource": "po:PO-44218",
  "channel": "email",
  "payload": {
    "supplier": "Aqua Industries",
    "draft_id": "draft_018f6c1f-...",
    "edits_made": false
  }
}

What "done" looks like

After 30 days of running this loop, expect:

Metric	Baseline	After loop
Median time-to-supplier-reply	4.2 days	1.9 days
Stockouts caused by missed POs	6 / month	1 / month
Hours/week on supplier email	8	2

ERP variations

ERP	PO field used	Reply parser	Notes
Sage Intacct	pomain.docno	strict	Reliable, supplier email lives on vendor record
NetSuite	tranid	strict	Webhook-based reply ingest available
Acumatica	OrderNbr	tolerant	Free-text supplier email; verify mapping
Fishbowl	PO Number	tolerant	Smaller deployments — rate limit emails
QuickBooks Online	RefNumber	tolerant	Limited custom fields
Xero	PurchaseOrderNumber	tolerant	Use the contact email on the PO header

Channel variations

The same loop works across channels:

• Email (default).
• SMS — for suppliers who reply faster on text.
• CRM task — when the supplier relationship is owned by sales.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Drafts queue but never send	Co-Pilot send permission disabled	Settings → Co-Pilot → enable "send on approve"
Replies not parsed back to PO	Subject line edited mid-thread	Configure tolerant parser, or pin PO# to the body
Calendar event not created	Calendar connection not authorized	Re-auth in Settings → Connections → Calendar

Related

• Persona hub (with learning sequence + cert): Business Analyst
• Cert section directly: BA/PM — Business Analyst