How it works
Purchase orders at the centre, people in charge
Flowtor brings the information around each international purchase order into one place, helps your team see what is missing or at risk, and takes on routine coordination step by step as you gain confidence.
The order journey
From placement to delivery, by air and sea
Each purchase order becomes a record that follows the goods: supplier confirmation, production and cargo readiness, booking, transport and delivery. Shipping orders, shipments and documents link back to the purchase orders they belong to. Flowtor covers air and sea freight, both LCL and FCL.
Milestones and deadlines
Agreed milestones per order and shipment make it visible what should have happened by when.
Documents in context
Commercial documents and shipping documents are kept with the order or shipment they belong to.
Exceptions in one list
Delays, missing data and inconsistencies are collected so they can be worked through and closed.
Where consolidation fits. When purchase orders from several suppliers can share a shipment, Flowtor helps identify the opportunity. It is one benefit of coordinating the order flow well.
What Flowtor does
The workflows we offer
Each customer starts with the workflows that matter most in their order flow. We deliver them through the software, configuration for your milestones, documents and partners, and operational support from our team while the work is set up.
Purchase order intake
Purchase orders from PDF and Excel files are structured into order records and checked before they become live.
One record per order
Orders, shipping orders, shipments, milestones, documents and exceptions connected, for air and sea, LCL and FCL.
Order emails connected
Emails in a dedicated order mailbox are linked to the right order, with proposed updates for your team to confirm.
Missing information and exceptions
Orders are checked against the milestones and deadlines agreed for your flow, and gaps are collected in one list to work through.
Follow-ups to suppliers and forwarders
Follow-ups are drafted from the order context, for a person to review and send.
Suppliers and partners in the loop
Suppliers, factories and forwarders take part through email and simple links, each seeing only its own orders. Flowtor also shows orders that could ship together, and people decide.
Possible applications to explore together: predicting delivery risk from order history, and connections to further systems such as your ERP. We look at these per project rather than promising them up front.
How we agree the scope
- Pick the starting point. A defined use case or a focused pilot: which order flow, which partners and what should improve. If you first need a clear picture of how the flow runs, we recommend an Operations Scan.
- Choose the workflows. Which of the workflows above you start with, and which updates and actions need approval.
- Set up and support. We configure milestones, documents and participants with your team and support the work while it settles in.
- Review and extend. Results are measured against the starting point before more orders, partners or tasks are added.
You stay in control
You decide which updates and actions need approval. Proposed changes to an order and actions with consequences, such as a message to a supplier, go to a person where you agree they should. As confidence grows, you hand over more of the routine work.
Scope, setup and ongoing use are agreed with you before work starts.
Participants
Suppliers and partners take part without another heavy tool
Suppliers, factories and forwarders are participants in the order process, not separate software customers. They can contribute through familiar channels such as email and simple links, and each party sees only what it needs for its part of the order.
The importer stays in control of which information is shared with whom.
Your existing systems
Alongside what you already use
Flowtor does not ask you to replace your ERP or spreadsheets on day one. Today, purchase orders come in through PDF or Excel files and order emails through a dedicated mailbox. Further connections to your systems are agreed per project, based on what the order flow actually needs.
See whether it fits your order flow
A 45-minute conversation about your order flow and a sensible next step: a defined use case, a focused pilot or an Operations Scan.