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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly check deliveries against purchase orders.

Most people should hand this to a purpose-built tool.

Can you do it?

15 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ita colleague

What the alternative costsA goods-in process run by a colleague is the alternative, and no price for it is supplied in the available tool data.

If this goes wrong: you accept missing or damaged stock, pay an incorrect invoice or put inaccurate quantities into your stock records.

What to actually do

  1. Use a tool built for this

    The route this page recommends

  2. Do it yourself

    Second choice

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the purchase order and delivery note, then save clear scans or photographs with the supplier name, order number and document pages visible.
    2. Ask the goods-in colleague to count the delivered units and record item codes, packaging units, damage, substitutions and anything not inspected.
    3. Paste the purchase order, delivery note and inspection notes into a chatbot using the prompt above, keeping each source under its labelled heading.
    4. Copy the resulting comparison table into the receiving record and compare every quantity, item code and price against the original documents.
    5. Take each SHORT, OVER, WRONG ITEM, DAMAGED, PRICE DIFFERENCE or NEEDS HUMAN CHECK line back to the goods-in colleague and record the agreed action.
    6. Only after the colleague confirms the exceptions, update the stock or receiving system and send any shortage, damage or price dispute to the supplier.

    Prompt

    Compare the purchase order and delivery documents below. Extract the relevant fields into a table with these columns: line number, item code, item description, ordered quantity, delivered quantity, unit of measure, unit price, expected delivery date, actual delivery date, and status. Mark each line as MATCH, SHORT, OVER, WRONG ITEM, PRICE DIFFERENCE, DAMAGED, or NEEDS HUMAN CHECK. Do not infer that similar descriptions or different packaging are the same item. Do not approve receipt, payment or stock updates. List every missing, unreadable, contradictory or ambiguous field separately, and explain which document supports each result. At the end, give a short list of questions for the goods-in colleague to answer about physical quantity, damage, substitutions and delivery condition. Use only the documents and notes supplied here. Invent nothing.

Purchase order:
[PASTE PURCHASE ORDER]

Delivery note or supplier paperwork:
[PASTE DELIVERY DOCUMENT]

Notes from the physical inspection:
[PASTE WHAT WAS COUNTED, DAMAGED, SUBSTITUTED OR NOT CHECKED]

Current receiving rules, if any:
[PASTE YOUR ACCEPTANCE RULES]

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

  3. Hand it to a person

    The distant third

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot see whether cartons are damaged, seals are broken or the delivered quantity matches the paperwork unless someone records the inspection.
  • AI cannot decide whether a substitute item is acceptable under your purchasing rules.
  • AI can treat different units, pack sizes or similar item descriptions as equivalent when they are not.
  • AI cannot take responsibility for accepting stock, updating inventory or disputing a supplier invoice.
  • AI does not replace the audit trail linking the final decision to the physical check and the responsible colleague.

What caps this at PARTLY: physical presence, judgement under ambiguity and stakes of error.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output2
Inputs1
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta1
Total6 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can AI match a delivery note to a purchase order?
Yes, it can extract fields and compare ordered quantities, delivered quantities, item codes and prices. A colleague still needs to confirm what physically arrived and resolve substitutions, damage and unclear descriptions.
Can AI check deliveries automatically?
It can automate document reading and flag likely mismatches, but it cannot independently confirm the physical delivery. Do not let it approve receipt, stock changes or payment without a human exception check.
Can AI spot missing items in a delivery?
It can identify a shortage when the purchase order and delivery note clearly state comparable quantities and units. It cannot know whether an item was hidden in another carton, supplied under a different pack size or omitted from the paperwork without a physical check.
What is the best AI tool for checking purchase orders and deliveries?
Nanonets is a suitable purpose-built option because it processes invoices, receipts and forms, which can support extracting purchase order and delivery note data. You would still need a receiving workflow for physical checks, exception decisions and approval.

Nearby answers

All Inventory & stock rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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