Finance ops · 8 months live

Invoice processing — email inbox to ERP, zero manual entry

The problem

Manually creating client records and invoices for every order — pure double data entry, hours each day, 5% error rate from copy-paste mistakes.

First attempt

First attempt used a rules-based extraction engine — broke immediately on non-standard invoice layouts. Claude API handled layout variation reliably from day one.

Workflow diagram · grounded in source
1
Email inbox
Trigger
2
N8n
Orchestration
3
Claude API
AI extraction
4
Postgres
Deduplication
5
ERP API
Output
Reported outcome

200+ invoices/day processed unattended.
Replaced a €900/mo contractor. Setup took 3 days. Running 8 months without a single manual intervention. Error rate dropped from 5% to near zero.

Reported metrics
Time saved4 hrs/day
Volume200 invoices/week
Running sinceAug 2024
Reported stack
Email inboxn8nClaude APIPostgresERP API
Source
n8n workflow template: Extract invoice data from email using AI
Read source ↗

Frequently asked questions

What did this team achieve with this AI workflow?

200+ invoices/day processed unattended.

What tools did this team use?

Email inbox, n8n, Claude API, Postgres, ERP API.

What results were reported?

Time saved: 4 hrs/day; Volume: 200 invoices/week; Running since: Aug 2024 (source-reported, not independently verified).

What failed first in this deployment?

First attempt used a rules-based extraction engine — broke immediately on non-standard invoice layouts.

How is this finance ops AI workflow structured?

Email inbox → N8n → Claude API → Postgres → ERP API.