Supply Chain Automation With SFTP and Docparser

Supply chain automation uses software and connected systems to reduce manual work across purchasing, inventory, fulfillment, and logistics. For teams that regularly exchange purchase orders, supplier invoices, delivery notes, and shipment files, automating how that information reaches the right system is a practical place to start.

When someone has to download each document, find the order number, and retype its line items, the goods can move faster than the information. Your next delivery might already be on the truck while its paperwork is still waiting in an inbox.

Here’s how you can use SFTP To Go, Docparser, and your existing business applications to receive supplier documents, extract their data, and process the results.

How data integration supports supply chain automation

Supply chain data integration connects information across suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, logistics providers, and business systems. It helps an incoming order or shipment document become a usable record in the application responsible for acting on it.

In this workflow, SFTP To Go receives and stores documents with controlled access, and Docparser extracts the fields and line items they contain. An integration then checks the extracted values against business rules and existing records before mapping approved data into the ERP, warehouse management system (WMS), or transportation management system (TMS).

Supply chain automation examples for orders and shipments

Supply chain automation software can support purchase order automation, invoice processing, and automated data entry. A document someone regularly opens and retypes is a handy first project when you know who owns the process, where the data belongs, and how to check it.

The fields you can extract depend on the document and parser configuration. For these examples to support receiving checks, invoice matching, or shipment updates, the destination application or integration also needs the corresponding business rules.

A practical workflow with SFTP and Docparser

The proposed workflow uses SFTP To Go for document intake, Docparser for extraction, and a configured integration for validation and business-system updates.

1 . Set up supplier access and upload folders

SFTP To Go's scoped access options and user separation allow you to give each supplier separate SFTP To Go credentials and a restricted upload location. Suppliers can send files through SFTP or FTPS, or use the HTTPS web portal for browser access, while Docparser retrieves documents through the SFTP connection described below.

For example, you could keep one supplier’s incoming documents under /suppliers/xxxx/incoming and create separate parser credentials restricted to its pickup folder. This gives each connection the access it needs without sharing an administrator’s credentials.

Virtual folders can expose a simple path such as /invoices while mapping it to a different location in storage, so the supplier needn't see your actual folder path. Each mapped folder has its own permissions, so an integration can reach specific locations without seeing their shared parent.

2. Archive originals before Docparser imports them

The configuration screenshot in Docparser’s import documentation states that it requires read/write access and deletes remote files once imported. Keep an original elsewhere so it remains available if extraction, invoice approval, or sales order creation fails after import.

Once uploads are complete, use one automation to copy each file to a unique archive path, then move it to Docparser’s pickup folder. Set the move source to the triggering file, disable overwriting, and leave Allow failure off so an archive-copy failure stops the sequence.

3. Configure document extraction in Docparser

Choose sample documents that represent the files you expect to receive, including multiple pages, different supplier layouts, and long line-item tables. Use the receiving application’s requirements to decide which fields the parser should extract.

Docparser supports rule-based parsing for purchase orders, invoices, and shipping or delivery notes. DocparserAI also offers AI-assisted extraction and rule creation, including a SmartAI Parser for varied document content.

Consistent document layouts may suit explicit parsing rules, while more variable documents may justify evaluating AI-assisted extraction. In either case, the integration should check product codes, quantities, dates, and totals before posting the results.

4. Connect Docparser to the SFTP pickup folder

In Docparser, the documented server-import route is under Integrations, through the FTP Server option, whose configuration screen supports FTP and SFTP URLs.

From the SFTP To Go Credentials, provide the SFTP To Go host, the dedicated username and password, and the folder path visible to those credentials. Paths are relative to the home directory when a credential is bound to one, or use the folder names you configured when it has virtual folders.

Docparser’s pages describe checks every 5–10 minutes or about 10 minutes, without guaranteeing a processing time. Use Save and Test and verify permissions and deletion behaviour with sample files before production.

5. Validate extracted data and send it to your ERP

Docparser’s export and integration options include structured downloads, APIs, and connections through integration platforms, so you can choose a format and route supported by the receiving system.

Before posting a record, the integration should check required fields, known supplier and product identifiers, duplicate references, and expected totals, with incomplete or inconsistent records sent to someone who can resolve them.

For example, data extracted from a customer’s purchase order can be used to prepare an ERP sales order after product mappings and delivery requirements have been checked. Supplier invoices may also need to be matched against purchase orders and goods receipts before approval.

Record the source file, parser document ID, status, and ERP record ID to trace processing. Before retrying a request, check for an existing destination record or use its supported idempotency mechanism.

Use native automations for supply chain file processing

Supplier documents often need some handling before they can be processed. Your team might preserve an original invoice, decrypt a delivery note, or organize incoming orders into the folders another application monitors. SFTP To Go’s native file automations let you combine these recurring tasks into a sequence.

Preserve documents before Docparser collects them

Configure an automation to copy each incoming document to a unique archive path, then move the original into Docparser’s pickup folder. Keep overwriting disabled and leave Allow failure off, so a failed archive copy stops the sequence. Set the move action’s source to the triggering file to retain the archived copy.

Encrypt outgoing files and decrypt incoming documents

For outbound orders or inventory reports, import the recipient’s public PGP key, encrypt the export, and move the encrypted result into their collection folder. For incoming encrypted documents, use the corresponding private key to decrypt them before moving the readable result to the parser. SFTP To Go stores PGP encryption keys separately from the automations that reference them.

Organize files and coordinate the next step

You can also rename documents, create folders or empty files, delete temporary copies, add delays, send notifications, and call a webhook. The examples below show where each action fits.

You can start an automation when a file is uploaded or at a scheduled time. For uploads, use filters to select the relevant files, such as PDFs arriving in a supplier’s folder. For scheduled runs, specify which files the actions should process. To archive a document and then move it to Docparser’s pickup folder, add both actions to the same automation. The archive copy won’t start a separate automation to perform the move.

SFTP To Go’s native file automations run file operations in sequence, triggered by file events or schedules. Scheduled file actions need a specified source path. PGP actions support individual files up to 100 MB and leave the source in place. Decryption doesn’t verify signatures.

Docparser extracts the document fields, while your configured integration validates the results and updates business records. See the file automations configuration guide for setup, failure handling, and execution history.

Connect document processing to your existing systems

Other document processing tools

• Parseur provides AI-based extraction from documents.
• Azure AI Document Intelligence offers an invoice model that returns structured fields and line items through an API.

Both can perform the extraction stage, though you’ll need to check their intake and output connections when replacing Docparser in the workflow.

Power Automate and SharePoint for internal review

Power Automate can copy supplier invoices into SharePoint for review, or send prepared shipping documents to a carrier’s collection folder in SFTP To Go. Explore our guides:

• Connect Power Automate to SFTP: Set up SFTP-SSH and check credential access.
• SFTP to SharePoint sync: Receive a webhook, retrieve the file, and create it in SharePoint.
• SharePoint to SFTP sync: Copy new files from a folder populated after your approval process into SFTP To Go.

Each guide covers a one-way flow, with additional logic needed for approvals, backfills, renames, and deletions. Docparser’s parsed-data trigger starts from extracted fields and uses a Premium connector.

ERP and EDI integration

Boomi supports application integration and B2B/EDI workflows, including mapping and coordination between systems. Integrate SFTP To Go with Boomi.

Existing ERP software, such as SAP or NetSuite, can remain the destination for orders and financial records, using the connector and operations supported by your implementation. Our guide to MFT middleware patterns for SFTP and iPaaS explains how file exchange fits around those systems.

When suppliers provide structured CSV, XML, or EDI data, the integration can validate and map it directly. OCR and PDF parsing are useful for documents whose contents need to be extracted before the receiving system can use them.

Keep supply chain data automation reliable

Decide how you’ll confirm that each document has reached its intended business record, including how failures between receipt, parsing, and ERP acceptance will be handled.

• Prevent duplicates: Check for existing transactions before retries and use destination-supported idempotency controls where available.
• Handle exceptions: Assign someone to review rejected records and missing fields, with the original document available for checking.
• Control access and retention: Restrict each credential, protect stored connection secrets, and retain originals and extracted data according to your requirements.
• Measure the whole workflow: Monitor time to an accepted business record, manual corrections, failed handoffs, and records awaiting review.

SFTP To Go’s audit logs record admin, file and access activity, which you can combine with parser and ERP records to follow a document through processing. Use the ERP’s response to confirm acceptance rather than treating a file download as proof that posting succeeded.

Plan your first supply chain automation workflow

Choose one recurring exchange where manual document handling is delaying your team, then agree on the required fields, validation rules, and response to errors before expanding the process.

SFTP To Go gives manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and logistics teams managed file exchange and storage, with controlled supplier access and native file automation. Docparser or another extraction tool can turn incoming documents into data your existing applications can use.

Frequently asked questions