Deployment timelines from kickoff to first process live in production run at 50 days on customised SAP estates. The scoping session at the start of the engagement maps the specific document types in scope, the validation logic held in the function, and the SAP integration pattern that applies to the customer's environment, and produces a defensible timeline against those variables.

The primary write path is direct integration with SAP, most commonly through OData against S/4HANA. Read and write operations cover supplier master data, material specifications, goods receipts and quality records. Adjacent connections include the QMS where the function runs one, supplier portals for outbound response, and the shared inboxes where documents arrive today. The integration is scoped to the estate the function actually runs, not a generic SAP configuration.

Cases that fall outside the configured confidence threshold, or that fail validation against internal specification or SAP master data, are routed to the quality team with the extraction, the applied specification, the specific deviation and the corresponding SAP context already assembled. The reviewer sees what was extracted, what was expected and where the mismatch sits, and the decision they take is captured in the same audit log as the automated cases.

Yes. The process is built around the function's document catalogue, and each document type carries its own field set, its own validation logic and its own SAP destination. Certificates of analysis, control plans, measurement reports, test certificates, inspection records, PPAP artifacts and 8D responses run in parallel through the same intake layer, with the routing logic determined by the document type identified at classification.

The team sees the exception queue and the audit trail. Documents that pass validation are written to SAP without further intervention, and the team sees the closed case in the log. Documents that fall outside the threshold reach the reviewer with the full investigation context attached: the document itself, the extracted fields, the specification against which each field was validated, the deviation, and the corresponding SAP record. The reviewer's decision closes the case and posts to SAP through the same integration.

No. The conformity outcome on any case that falls outside the configured confidence threshold is decided by the quality reviewer, not by an AI system. Within the confidence threshold, the process applies the internal specification and the validation rules held by the function; the specification and the rules are configured by the function and are the decision logic. The AI layer handles extraction and interpretation of the inbound document. The determination is deterministic against the configured rules.

The platform runs inside the customer's own infrastructure, typically on a VM inside the customer's environment. Data does not leave the customer's estate. The integration with SAP is scoped to the permissions the customer grants, and every action against SAP runs under those permissions and is logged. The platform holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and GDPR Article 28 certifications, and the deployment architecture is designed to pass an enterprise IT and security review as a standard step of the initial engagement.

The commercial model is a platform licence with the documentation volume, the number of document types in scope and the deployment complexity as the primary variables. The first engagement typically includes the deployment engineering to get the initial process live on the customer's SAP estate. Subsequent processes deployed on the same infrastructure carry predominantly platform spend, and the economics improve structurally as further processes across the quality function are brought onto the same environment.

Generic document AI reads documents and extracts fields; the keying into SAP, the validation against internal specification and the audit reconstruction still fall to the team. RPA workflows break on document variation, on supplier format changes and on any validation step outside the defined scope, and the maintenance overhead has historically absorbed the savings. QMS platforms hold specifications but do not extend into a customised SAP estate for write-back. Supplier quality documentation management is a continuous process across dozens of document types, hundreds of suppliers and a customised SAP configuration, and the software required to run it end to end is the one that operates against the SAP estate the function actually runs, holds the audit chain as architectural foundation, and configures to the process rather than requiring the process to change.

OCR and RPA tools extract fields from supplier documents, but the output lands in a spreadsheet or review queue outside SAP. The validation against internal specification, the keying into the correct goods receipt, and the audit chain reconstruction remain manual. When a supplier changes format or a new document type arrives, the tool stops. A supplier quality assurance process that runs end to end requires document classification, field extraction, specification validation, SAP write-back and audit trail assembly in one workflow, on the SAP estate the function operates, with exceptions surfaced to the quality team alongside the full investigation context rather than sitting in a queue waiting for manual review.