Skillforce

AI Purchasing & Supplier Administrator · Australia

The order went out. Then it went quiet.

Otto prepares the orders, chases every acknowledgement and keeps the backorder register current—while you decide what to buy and your approver signs each one.

Book the Purchasing Load Audit Read the job boundaries
  • Human approval
  • You decide what to buy and from whom
  • Read-only connections
WORKER / ORDERS-01 AVAILABLE FOR AUDIT
Purchasing & supplier administrator

Otto

Order-desk capacity for the owner who decides what to buy, from whom, and at what price.

ON OTTO'S SHIFT
06:30

Triage overnight supplier replies; list the orders still unconfirmed

CHECK
09:45

Prepare purchase orders from your approved requisitions

APPROVE
13:30

Chase acknowledgements and slipped dates; update the backorder register

APPROVE
16:15

Log delivery discrepancies and hand the day's exceptions to your approver

HANDOFF
MODE HUMAN APPROVALCOMMITMENT ESCALATE

[ RECOGNISE THE CHASE? ]

Orders go quiet.
Dates slip unnoticed.

Otto is built for the administration that follows a buying decision—preparing the order, chasing the acknowledgement, tracking the date, logging what arrived short—not the decision itself. What to buy, how much, from whom and at what price stays with you, every time.

Australian Industry Group research finding, not a Skillforce promise: 47% of Australian industrials reported active supply-chain disruption in August 2025, up 12% on nine months earlier, with increased risk to delivery commitments named as a direct consequence. That is the condition that makes chasing orders a weekly job; your own order book is the only measure used here.

01

Purchase order preparation

Produce the PO document from your approved requisition—correct supplier, parts, quantities and your own terms—ready for your approver to issue.

02

Acknowledgement chasing

Track which orders the supplier has confirmed, which are still silent, and what needs your decision this week.

03

ETA tracking

Re-confirm delivery dates, flag the ones that have slipped, and keep the promised-date record current.

04

Open-order & backorder register

Maintain what is outstanding, how aged, and against which supplier—so nothing goes quiet unnoticed.

05

Discrepancy logging

Record short deliveries, wrong items and damage as a documented exception for your approver to act on.

06

Invoice matching & handover

Match the supplier invoice to its order and delivery, then hand the matched pack—or the exception—to your bookkeeper.

[ START WITH ONE SUPPLIER GROUP ]

Choose one order workflow.
Define what “chased” means.

Otto does not take over your buying. Start with one supplier group, one named approver and one visible completion state.

WORKFLOW / 01ORDERS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Order preparation and confirmation

Prepare purchase orders from your approved requisitions and chase every acknowledgement—so you know what is confirmed and what is still silent.

START
Your approved requisition and PO template
DONE
Order prepared for issue; acknowledgement received or escalated
HUMAN
Every purchase order before it is issued
WORKFLOW / 02ETAS & BACKORDERS

Delivery date and backorder tracking

Re-confirm delivery dates, flag the ones that have slipped and keep the open-order and backorder register current and aged.

START
Your open orders and supplier correspondence
DONE
Register current; slipped dates surfaced for your decision
HUMAN
Every outbound message to a supplier
WORKFLOW / 03DISCREPANCIES & MATCHING

Discrepancy logging and invoice matching

Log short deliveries and wrong items as documented exceptions, and match supplier invoices to order and delivery for your bookkeeper.

START
Your delivery records and supplier invoices
DONE
Exceptions logged; matched pack handed to your bookkeeper
HUMAN
Every claim, credit request or dispute with a supplier

Connects read-only to email, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (Excel, Sheets, Word, Docs, Drive) and your SME accounting or inventory system. Supplier portals vary in how open they are, so Otto works deliverable-first: the purchase order, the register, the discrepancy log and the matched invoice pack are produced as files and email drafts and delivered to you. Your approver issues the order and your bookkeeper posts the invoice—Otto does neither.

A managed system, not a rotating seat: audited approval boundaries and no seat handover to manage. Otto works the order book between your buying decision and your bookkeeper's ledger—preparing, chasing, registering and matching—while every purchasing, supplier, pricing and payment decision stays with you.

[ A JOB DESCRIPTION, NOT A PROMPT ]

What Otto can own.
What Otto must hand back.

Draft-and-approve, always. You decide what to buy, how much, and from whom. Your approver signs every order. Nothing is committed to a supplier without you.

GREEN

Administrative work

Configured, tested and measured within one bounded workflow.

  • Prepare purchase orders from your approved requisitions, using your template and your own terms
  • Chase and log order acknowledgements—what is confirmed, what is still silent
  • Re-confirm delivery dates and flag every slipped ETA against the promised date
  • Maintain the open-order and backorder register, aged and by supplier
  • Log short deliveries, wrong items and damage as documented exceptions
  • Keep supplier records current—contacts, lead times, and part or price-list versions exactly as the supplier supplied them
  • Match supplier invoices to purchase order and delivery, and prepare the matched pack for your bookkeeper
  • Produce the weekly purchasing summary: raised, confirmed, outstanding, aged, and what needs a decision
AMBER

Human approval

Prepared by Otto; released or confirmed by your named approver.

  • Any purchase order before it is issued
  • Any variation to price, quantity or supplier on an existing order
  • Any outbound message to a supplier, including every chase
  • Any order cancellation or amendment
  • New or ambiguous supplier situations
  • Changes to your approved templates, wording or escalation rules
RED

Human only

Outside the worker's authority by design.

  • Purchasing decisions — what to buy, how much, when, or from whom is your call, always
  • Supplier selection, negotiation or price agreement — prices and terms are recorded as supplied, never agreed
  • Payment approval, payment release or ledger posting — Otto hands the matched pack over and stops there
  • Contract terms, claims or disputes — a discrepancy is logged as an exception, not argued
  • Customs, import compliance or dangerous-goods determinations — regulatory judgements stay with licensed parties
  • Stock-level or reorder-point decisions — Otto reports what is open and aged; you decide what to order
  • Any commitment to a supplier of any kind without your named approver

[ MINIMUM ACCESS BEFORE AUTOMATION ]

Your order book is not a demo input.

The load audit starts with your order volumes, your supplier list and your PO template—not your banking details or payment credentials, which the audit does not ask for. Live access follows a written map of purpose, minimum fields, human approval, retention and escalation.

Otto reads your order records, supplier correspondence and templates through read-only connections, so nothing is written back into your accounting or inventory system. Your approver signs every purchase order before it is issued and every message before it is sent.

  1. 01

    Audit without credentials

    Bring order volumes, your supplier list, your PO template and a sample of recent supplier correspondence. Remove banking details and payment credentials—the audit does not need them.

  2. 02

    Map minimum access

    Consider only the mailboxes, folders, templates and order records required for the approved workflow, and connect them read-only.

  3. 03

    Test synthetic cases

    Cover an order preparation, an acknowledgement chase, a slipped ETA, a short delivery and a price-change escalation using invented suppliers and invented part numbers.

  4. 04

    Name the human owner

    Your named approver signs every order and every supplier message, and receives every exception.

[ AN OPERATING SPECIFICATION ]

The chasing is visible.
The buying stays yours.

Turnaround is set during onboarding to match your order cadence and your business hours—an importer waiting on overnight supplier mail and a local distributor do not need the same clock. Start with one bounded workflow—orders and acknowledgements, ETAs and backorders, or discrepancies and matching—and widen only after the pilot evidence supports it. Anything that touches a price, a quantity, a supplier change, a payment or a dispute is flagged when logged and never waits in the standard queue.

Purchase orders
Prepared from your approved requisitions, ready for your approver to issue
Acknowledgements
Confirmed and outstanding orders listed, with the silent ones surfaced
Open orders & backorders
Register current and aged, by supplier
Exceptions
Short deliveries, wrong items and slipped dates logged for your decision
Your baseline
Purchasing-admin hours returned, measured against your own figures
CONTROL / 01APPROVAL

No silent sends

Every purchase order, supplier message, chase and cancellation stays in draft until your named approver releases it.

CONTROL / 02COMMITMENT

No buying from Otto

What to buy, how much, from whom and at what price is your decision. Otto prepares the order that follows it and never places one.

CONTROL / 03ESCALATION

Changes leave the queue

Any change to price, quantity or supplier—and any payment, claim or dispute—leaves the standard queue immediately for your approver.

CONTROL / 04MEASUREMENT

Use your own numbers

Track orders raised, acknowledgements outstanding, ETAs confirmed, backorder age, discrepancies logged and admin hours returned against your own baseline—never a promised figure.

Capacity is scoped per workflow during onboarding, not sold as a flat seat. Otto's queue is sized to the order, supplier and invoice volumes agreed in the load audit. If your order book grows past that load—a seasonal peak, a new supplier group, a second site—the scope is reviewed before expansion rather than quietly absorbed.

[ FREE PURCHASING LOAD AUDIT ]

Measure your own chasing workload.

Bring your order volumes, supplier list and PO template. Map the hours exposure, the approval boundaries and one workflow worth testing.

Book the Purchasing Load Audit No banking details or payment credentials required.

[ FROM LOAD AUDIT TO CONTROLLED WORK ]

One supplier group.
Proof before expansion.

STEP 1

Free load audit

Use your own order, supplier and invoice volumes to baseline the workload and choose one workflow. No banking details or payment credentials are required.

STEP 2

Map minimum access

Define the mailboxes, folders, templates and order records Otto needs read-only, plus your approver's signing rules.

STEP 3

Test synthetic cases

Exercise an order preparation, an acknowledgement chase, a slipped ETA, a short delivery and a price-change escalation with invented suppliers.

STEP 4

Run one workflow

Start in approval mode. The first useful order pack is ready once synthetic-case testing passes and your approver is confirmed; exact timing is set during the load audit.

[ BEFORE THE AUDIT ]

Questions a careful buyer should ask.

Does Otto decide what we buy?

No. What to buy, how much, when, and from whom is your decision, every time. Otto prepares the purchase order that follows your approved requisition and chases it once your approver has issued it.

Can Otto place or send an order on its own?

No. Every purchase order, variation, cancellation and supplier message stays in draft until your named approver releases it. Nothing is committed to a supplier without you.

Can Otto negotiate with suppliers or agree a price?

No. Supplier selection, negotiation and price agreement stay with you. Otto records prices, lead times and terms exactly as the supplier supplied them, and any change to price, quantity or supplier escalates to your approver.

Does Otto pay suppliers or post to our accounts?

No. Otto matches the supplier invoice to its purchase order and delivery, then hands the matched pack—or the exception—to your bookkeeper. Payment approval, payment release and ledger posting stay human.

Does the load audit need our banking or payment logins?

No. Start with order volumes, your supplier list, your PO template and a sample of supplier correspondence. The audit does not ask for banking details or payment credentials.

Will Otto log into our suppliers' portals?

Not autonomously. Supplier portals vary in how open they are, so Otto works deliverable-first: orders, registers and matched packs are produced as files and email drafts for your team to issue and upload.

What happens when a delivery arrives short or damaged?

It is logged as a documented exception with the order, the delivery record and what is missing, and handed to your approver. Otto does not lodge a claim, request a credit or argue a discrepancy with a supplier.

What result do we measure?

Track orders raised, acknowledgements outstanding, ETAs confirmed, backorder age, discrepancies logged and purchasing-admin hours returned against your own baseline.

How is Otto different from your accounts or claims workers?

Otto works the buy side—orders out, and chasing what you ordered. Nora works your money in and the ledger; Iris handles warranty claims against a manufacturer or supplier. Otto handles ordinary supply orders and stops at the bookkeeper's desk.

[ START WITH YOUR OWN BASELINE ]

Bring the chasing.
Keep the buying.

Map one approval-ready order workflow and test whether careful purchasing administration keeps your order book current without a new hire.

Book the Purchasing Load Audit No generic sales demo · Direct with the founder