Vendor Onboarding Automation in Dynamics 365 | Distillery Case Study by BaffleSol

A leading distillery and beverage manufacturing company operating across three plants in India, managing over 1,200 active vendors for packaging, ingredients, logistics, and maintenance services. The client uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain for core ERP but relied heavily on manual processes for vendor registration, validation, and compliance tracking.

Problem Statement

The procurement team faced increasing delays and audit exceptions due to manual vendor onboarding.
Each new vendor registration required repetitive document checks, tax validation, and approvals across multiple departments.
Key issues included:

• Inconsistent data in vendor master across entities.
• Compliance lapses due to missing PAN, GST, or Udhyam validation.
• Long onboarding cycles (averaging 10–12 days).
• Audit non-conformance, with incomplete vendor files and untraceable approvals.

The organization sought a digital-first solution embedded within their existing ERP — one that would automate validations, approvals, and compliance workflows without depending on external portals.

Solution: BaffleSol’s Vendor Onboarding Automation (Built on Dynamics 365 + Copilot)

BaffleSol deployed the Vendor Onboarding Automation solution within the client’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain environment.
The system digitized the entire onboarding process — from vendor self-registration to activation — while embedding AI-driven Copilot intelligence to detect errors, validate compliance data, and summarize approvals.

Key AI and Copilot Use Cases:

• Copilot Validation Assistant auto-checked PAN, GST, and Udhyam data against government APIs and flagged inconsistencies in real time.
• Copilot Approval Summaries provided procurement managers with quick overviews of pending tasks, reducing email back-and-forth.
• AI-based Vendor Scoring analyzed submission accuracy, document completeness, and response time to rate vendor reliability.
• Predictive Analytics via Power BI identified vendors at risk of compliance delays and suggested proactive actions.

What We Did

1. Automated Vendor Registration Portal – Built a guided registration interface directly in Dynamics 365 for vendors to upload statutory documents and profile details.
2. Integrated Validation APIs – Linked GSTIN, PAN, and Udhyam APIs through Azure Logic Apps, performing real-time authentication.
3. Dynamic Approval Workflows – Configured Power Automate workflows routing vendor profiles to procurement, finance, and compliance for review.
4. Role-Based Access & Dashboards – Created Power BI dashboards for management to track cycle time, rejection reasons, and compliance KPIs.
5. AI-Enhanced Alerts – Copilot surfaced anomalies such as duplicate vendor records or mismatched banking information for immediate correction.

Impact & Results

✅ Onboarding time reduced from 12 days to under 3 days.
✅ 99.6% accuracy in vendor data validation and master record creation.
✅ Zero audit non-conformance in the subsequent two quarters.
✅ 25% reduction in procurement administration workload.
✅ Faster procurement cycle, with materials sourced more quickly for production continuity.

By integrating Copilot and automation within Dynamics 365, the client achieved end-to-end vendor transparency, compliance assurance, and accelerated procurement efficiency—all while maintaining Microsoft-native control and security.

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