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Friend runs manufacturing shop. Processes 40 purchase orders monthly. Last month approved one where vendor miscalculated the line item total. Line item said: 47 units at $23.50 each equals $1,105.00 Real math: 47 × $23.50 = $1,104.50 Fifty cent error. Small right? Multiply that across multiple vendors over months? His exact words: "Holy shit, this adds up." THE N8N WORKFLOW Built 9-node workflow watching his procurement inbox automatically. Gmail trigger fires when new PO email arrives → Downloads attachment file → Extracts structured data → Validates all calculations → Checks budget threshold → Logs to Google Sheets → Routes to Slack appropriately Over $10K budget? Sends approval request with full financial breakdown to manager Under $10K budget? Auto-approves with confirmation notification to team Math doesn't check out? Rejects immediately with specific errors listed WHAT IT VALIDATES Line item math checking: quantity times unit price equals listed total amount? Subtotal accuracy verification: sum of all line item totals matches subtotal? Final total calculation: subtotal plus tax equals final total on PO? Budget compliance check: total amount under threshold limit? Date logic validation: delivery date comes after order date? System flags anything wrong immediately with specific error details. THE PROCESSING RESULTS Processing 40 POs monthly now. Takes 30 seconds automated validation versus 15 minutes manual checking before. Four month statistics tracked: 160 POs validated automatically without human intervention 11 math errors caught before approval went through 48 over-budget items flagged correctly for manager approval Zero calculation errors reached accounting department Complete audit trail maintained in Google Sheets Google Sheets database tracks everything comprehensively. PO details with vendor information. Complete line items breakdown. Validation results with pass/fail status. Submitter identification. Processing timestamp for audits. Slack notifications keep entire team informed real-time. Approval requests show full context with budget comparison. Auto-approvals confirm within-budget status clearly. Everyone knows PO status immediately.