AI Workflow Automation Developer for Order Processing and Operations

Project Overview We are a wholesale distribution company processing orders from email, spreadsheets, our website, and several sales partners. Our operations team currently reviews each request manually, enters data into multiple systems, checks inventory, confirms pricing, and follows up with customers when information is missing. We want to automate this process using structured workflows supported by an AI agent. The goal is to reduce repetitive data entry, shorten order-processing time, and prevent errors before orders reach fulfillment. What Needs to Be Built The system should monitor incoming order requests, extract the relevant information, validate it against our business rules, and coordinate the next steps across our existing tools. The AI agent should be able to: - Read orders and attachments from shared email inboxes - Extract customer, product, quantity, pricing, and delivery details - Detect missing or conflicting information - Check inventory and customer records through API integrations - Create draft orders in our ERP or CRM - Request human approval for exceptions - Draft follow-up emails when clarification is required - Update Slack or Microsoft Teams with order status - Maintain an audit trail of every automated action The agent should support the workflow, not make uncontrolled decisions. We need clear approval rules, reliable fallbacks, and visibility into failed automations. Architecture and Integrations We are open to using Python, FastAPI, n8n, Make, LangGraph, OpenAI, Claude, PostgreSQL, webhooks, or similar technologies. The final architecture should be modular and make it easy to add new workflows, integrations, and approval steps later. Experience with document extraction, structured LLM outputs, workflow automation, API authentication, logging, and cloud deployment is required. Deliverables - Workflow and system architecture - Initial production-ready automation - AI agent with human-in-the-loop controls - ERP, email, and communication-tool integrations - Monitoring and error-handling setup - Source code and technical documentation Proposal Requirements Please provide examples of workflow automation or AI agent systems you have built. Include your recommended stack, estimated timeline, availability, and whether you work solo or with a team. Also answer: How would you prevent duplicate orders and ensure the automation can safely recover when an external API fails?