Quote extraction workflow
A production-safe workflow for converting vendor quote PDFs into structured line items without losing auditability. Deterministic-first, explicit fallbacks, review queues, and approval gating for commitments.
Ingest quote documents
Store vendor quote PDFs as evidence and link them to the RFQ or vendor quote record. Evidence should be immutable and referenced by downstream drafts.
Deterministic-first extraction
Prefer deterministic extraction when structure is strong. Validate totals and enforce minimum structure checks before accepting outputs.
Explicit fallback for messy PDFs
When deterministic parsing fails (scans, inconsistent tables), fall back explicitly and label uncertainty. Budget guards prevent runaway OCR/vision usage.
Review queue for exceptions
Route low-confidence fields, missing units, and ambiguous lines to a review queue. Review should show evidence next to extracted fields for fast validation.
Quote comparison (like-for-like)
Use structured line items to compare quotes across vendors. Surface mismatches and missing evidence without forcing spreadsheet re-entry.
Approval-gated commitments
Award decisions and PO issuance are commitments. Keep these behind explicit approvals with an audit trail tied to an action identifier (ai_task_id).
Design checks
Use these checks to spot fragile “AI demo” designs before they hit production.
- Can operators re-run extraction without duplicating records?
- Is uncertainty explicit, and does it route to review?
- Do approvals cover commitments (award, PO issuance, payments)?
- Is evidence attached at the point of decision (not just stored somewhere)?