Manufacturing workflow glossary

Plain-English definitions of AI, ERP, order, AP, procurement, and Sabhya product terms used on sabhyatech.com.

AI and automation

How Sabhya uses AI with human approval before anything reaches your ERP or your customer.

HITL — Human-in-the-loop

A workflow where AI prepares the work but a person approves it before it takes effect. In Sabhya products, no order, invoice, or customer reply reaches your ERP or your customer without someone clicking approve — unless you explicitly turn that off.

STP — Straight-through processing

Fully automated processing with no human touch on that transaction. OrderFlow often labels this STP; APFlow reports the same idea as touchless rate. Both mean the document went from intake to ERP post without a reviewer intervening. Confidence alone is not STP — blocking exceptions still force review.

Confidence score

A numeric estimate of how sure the extraction or match step is about a field or document. High confidence can prioritize or auto-approve only when your policy allows it. Confidence is not measured accuracy against ground truth — treat it as a routing signal, not a guarantee.

Guardrails

Rules that stop or flag unsafe AI output before it posts — for example missing required fields, price sanity checks, or over-report limits on shop-floor quantities. Guardrails sit beside human review, not instead of it.

Extraction

Reading structured fields (customer, part, quantity, price, dates) from emails, PDFs, images, or other documents so they can be matched to ERP master data and reviewed.

Agent

Software that runs a multi-step operational workflow — intake, extract, match, draft, wait for approval, then post — rather than a free-form chatbot. Sabhya agents are scoped to a workflow module and your ERP connectors.

Embeddings

Numeric representations of text used for similarity search (for example matching a customer part description to your item master). They support retrieval and matching; they do not replace ERP lookups or human approval.

Eval — Evaluation

Measuring AI output against labeled ground truth (field-level accuracy, correction rate) so you can raise auto-approve thresholds responsibly. Distinct from model confidence scores shown in the UI.

Manufacturing and ERP

Enterprise systems, master data, and shop-floor terms used across our products.

ERP — Enterprise resource planning

The system of record for inventory, jobs, customers, vendors, and financials — Epicor Kinetic, NetSuite, Odoo, ERPNext, Cetec, Quantum Control, and similar. Sabhya automates workflows on top of your ERP; it does not replace it.

System of record — SoR

The authoritative system for a given fact — usually your ERP for orders, inventory, and financials, or HubSpot for CRM in ProspectAI. Sabhya drafts and posts into the system of record; it is not a second source of truth.

MES — Manufacturing execution system

Software that coordinates production execution on the shop floor (jobs, reporting, sometimes OEE). ShopFlow is thin ERP job coordination with controlled write-back — not a full MES replacement.

QMS — Quality management system

The system of record for quality procedures, inspections, and nonconformances. Sabhya may reference quality documents in workflows; your QMS remains authoritative for compliance records.

MRP — Material requirements planning

Planning logic that explodes demand into material and production needs inside the ERP. Sabhya order and shop-floor workflows feed ERP transactions; they do not replace MRP math.

APS — Advanced planning and scheduling

Finite-capacity scheduling and planning beyond basic MRP. Out of scope for Sabhya's first workflow modules — your ERP or APS remains the planning engine.

ATP — Available to promise

How much inventory (or capacity) you can commit to a customer date. Soft ATP warns when requested quantity exceeds available; hard ATP blocks approval until resolved. Soft vs hard is a Sabhya policy setting on top of the ERP quantity.

Item master

Your ERP catalog of parts — part numbers, descriptions, units of measure, revisions, and pricing. Order automation matches customer documents to this master (often via part aliases).

Customer master

ERP records for sold-to and ship-to customers — IDs, addresses, credit status, and pricing agreements. Unknown or low-confidence customer matches stop auto-post until a person selects the right account.

BOM — Bill of materials

The structured list of components that make up a finished or intermediate part. BOM Intelligence parses and reconciles BOM spreadsheets against ERP item data.

SKU — Stock keeping unit

A unique identifier for a sellable or stocked item. Customer documents may use a different part number; Sabhya maps those to your ERP SKU via aliases and review.

UOM — Unit of measure

How quantity is counted — each, box, pound, meter, and so on. A document UOM that disagrees with the ERP item master is a blocking exception until accepted or corrected.

MOQ — Minimum order quantity

The smallest quantity a supplier or your price list will accept. Quote and order workflows may flag MOQ violations for buyer review.

Revision

The engineering or drawing version of a part. A customer PO that cites a different revision than your ERP can block posting until someone accepts the ERP revision or updates the order.

Credit hold

ERP status that blocks new sales activity for a customer over limit or past due. OrderFlow surfaces credit hold as a blocking exception requiring an explicit override before approve.

Lead time

Calendar time from order or release to availability or shipment. Used in quote comparison and promised dates; not invented by the AI when the ERP already stores it.

Traveler

The packet (paper or digital) of work instructions that travels with a job on the floor. ShopFlow's later digital traveler is an operation-scoped checklist on the ERP job — not a claim for day-one availability.

WIP — Work in process

Inventory or jobs currently being manufactured, not yet finished goods. Shop-floor reporting updates WIP status in the ERP.

OEE — Overall equipment effectiveness

A productivity metric combining availability, performance, and quality for equipment. Full MES/PLC OEE is a non-goal for ShopFlow v1.

PLC — Programmable logic controller

Industrial controllers that run machine logic. Sabhya shop-floor workflows target operator reporting into ERP, not direct PLC/IoT OEE collection in v1.

MRO — Maintenance, repair, and operations

Indirect materials and services that keep the plant running (as opposed to production BOM parts). Relevant for some procurement and spare-parts use cases.

CTO / ETO — Configure-to-order / Engineer-to-order

Order models where the product is configured from options (CTO) or engineered per order (ETO), rather than pure make-to-stock. Common in industrial equipment manufacturing.

EDI — Electronic data interchange

Structured B2B document exchange (orders, ASNs, invoices) between trading partners. Sabhya focuses heavily on non-EDI email and PDF channels that still dominate many mid-market plants.

ERP agent

An on-premises connector that talks to your ERP (often behind the firewall) and relays commands securely to the cloud control plane. Used when the ERP cannot be reached by public APIs alone.

Quality

Inspection, nonconformance, and certification terms common in discrete manufacturing.

FAI — First article inspection

Documented verification that the first produced article meets drawing and specification requirements — especially common in aerospace (AS9100).

NCR — Nonconformance report

A quality record for material or process that does not meet specification. Often tied to disposition, rework, or scrap in the QMS.

CoC — Certificate of conformance

A supplier or manufacturer statement that product meets stated requirements. Cert retrieval for customer service is a later ServiceFlow capability, not day-one WISMO scope.

AS9100

Aerospace quality management standard based on ISO 9001 with additional aviation, space, and defense requirements. Drives traceability and FAI expectations for aerospace suppliers.

Orders

Purchase orders, sales orders, and the human review path in OrderFlow.

PO — Purchase order

The buyer's commercial document authorizing purchase. In OrderFlow, inbound customer POs (email/PDF) become draft sales orders in your ERP after match and review.

SO — Sales order

Your ERP sales order — the fulfillment commitment. OrderFlow creates a draft sales order from the customer PO; approve posts it to the ERP.

WO / MO — Work order / manufacturing order

ERP production jobs that authorize shop-floor work. ShopFlow syncs open jobs to operators and writes completions back with audit.

Order draft

The proposed sales order held in Sabhya after extraction and matching, before ERP post. Reviewers correct fields and resolve exceptions on the draft.

Review queue

The human review screen where source documents sit beside the proposed ERP draft. Marketing sometimes calls this the review board; the OrderFlow app nav labels it Review Queue — same concept.

Exception

A named problem that blocks or warns before approve — unknown customer, unknown part, price mismatch, duplicate PO, credit hold, UOM or revision conflict, and similar. Each type should have a clear one-click resolution.

Duplicate PO

The same customer purchase-order number already exists in the system. Treated as a blocking exception until a person confirms it is intentional.

Part alias

A lasting map from the customer's part number to your ERP item. Created when reviewers resolve unknown-SKU exceptions so the next order matches automatically.

CSR — Customer service representative

The person who answers order-status and related customer questions. ServiceFlow aims to draft ERP-grounded replies for CSRs rather than invent answers from a FAQ bot.

Accounts payable

Invoice matching, coding, and touchless processing in APFlow.

AP — Accounts payable

The finance function that processes supplier invoices through to payment. APFlow automates invoice intake, matching, coding, and voucher posting — distinct from OrderFlow's sales-order path.

2-way match

Comparing invoice to purchase order (amount and lines) without requiring a receipt. Used when goods receipt is not part of the control design.

3-way match — Three-way match

Comparing invoice, purchase order, and goods receipt before payment. The classic AP control that APFlow automates with human review on mismatches.

Touchless rate

Share of invoices that post with no human intervention. Same idea as OrderFlow's straight-through processing (STP), measured for AP volume.

GL coding — General ledger coding

Assigning invoice lines to the correct general-ledger accounts, cost centers, and tax codes before the voucher posts to the ERP.

Voucher

The ERP accounts-payable document created from an approved invoice — ready for payment processing in Epicor, NetSuite, Dynamics, or similar.

Aging

Buckets of open invoices by how long they have been outstanding (for example 0–30, 31–60 days). Used in AP analytics and cash planning.

Procurement

Requisitions, quotes, and purchase-order workflows in ProcurementFlow.

RFQ — Request for quotation

A buyer request asking suppliers to price specified items. ProcurementFlow runs RFQ → quote compare → spend approval → purchase order in the ERP.

Requisition

An internal request to buy goods or services, before a purchase order is issued. Intake for ProcurementFlow often starts here.

Quote comparison

Side-by-side evaluation of supplier quotes on price, lead time, MOQ, and risk before award. Human-in-the-loop before the purchase order writes to the ERP.

Spend approval

Policy-driven approval of purchase amount or category before the PO is released. Sabhya keeps award and ERP write behind human approval in ProcurementFlow.

P2P — Procure-to-pay

The end-to-end process from requisition through payment. ProcurementFlow covers requisition to PO; invoice match and voucher stay with APFlow.

Customer operations

Order-status and reply workflows in ServiceFlow.

WISMO — Where is my order

The most common customer service question: status and promised dates for an existing order. ServiceFlow classifies these asks first, reads sales-order facts from the ERP, drafts a reply, and sends only after human approval.

Intent classification

Labeling an inbound email or ticket by what the customer wants (order status, certificate request, change order, and so on) so the right workflow runs. WISMO is prioritized first in ServiceFlow.

Draft reply

A suggested customer response grounded in ERP fields the agent looked up, shown to a CSR for edit and send. Not an autonomous customer email.

Sales and GTM

Go-to-market terms used in ProspectAI.

ICP — Ideal customer profile

The firmographic and qualitative definition of accounts you want to sell to. ProspectAI scores and filters signals against your ICP.

Buying signal

An observable event that suggests purchase interest — hiring, expansion, tech change, and similar. ProspectAI collects and ranks signals for human review before outreach.

DNC — Do not contact

A hard stop on outreach for a company or person. ProspectAI blocks approve/send when DNC is marked.

TAM — Total addressable market

The universe of accounts in scope for your GTM motion — often synced from HubSpot or similar CRM in ProspectAI.

Persona

A target buyer role (title and responsibilities) used to tailor outreach. ProspectAI matches personas from contact titles at generate time.

Waterfall enrichment

Trying data providers in sequence until contact or company fields are filled, typically charging credits only on successful hits.

Sequence

A multi-step outreach cadence. In ProspectAI, drafts are human-gated — HubSpot remains the CRM system of record; there is no autonomous SDR send.

Sabhya product terms

Names we use for screens, packaging, and platform concepts — defined here so they are not left unexplained.

Workflow module

Sabhya's packaging unit for an operational workflow — OrderFlow, APFlow, ProcurementFlow, ServiceFlow, ShopFlow, and similar — sold as a monthly module fee on the shared platform, scaled by operational volume (orders, invoices), not AI tokens or seats.

Control plane

The multi-tenant cloud layer for authentication, bots, channels, orchestration, and policy. Distinct from on-prem ERP agents that read and write your system of record.

Over-report guardrails

ShopFlow controls that catch operator quantity or completion reports outside tolerance and require supervisor approval before the ERP write-back.

Exception control tower

Sabhya's name for the operations view that ranks and tracks open exceptions across orders or invoices — priority, type, and recommended resolution — rather than a scattered inbox.

Named recommendation

A one-click resolution for a typed exception — for example accept ERP price, map customer part to ERP part, or override credit hold. Applying a recommendation updates the draft; ERP post still requires explicit approve.

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Frequently asked questions

What does HITL mean?

HITL means human-in-the-loop: AI prepares the work, but a person approves before anything posts to your ERP or goes to a customer. Sabhya defaults to this gate unless you explicitly enable auto-post.

What is WISMO?

WISMO stands for where-is-my-order — the most common customer status question. ServiceFlow classifies these asks, reads sales-order facts from your ERP, drafts a reply, and sends only after human approval.

What is a workflow module?

A workflow module is Sabhya's packaging unit for an operational workflow — OrderFlow, APFlow, ProcurementFlow, and others — priced as a monthly module fee on the shared platform, scaled by operational volume, not AI tokens or seats.