Office supplies ordering from your phone

Ordering from a photo

A photo goes to the search tools the same way a sentence does. Photos are sent from the browser app, not from WhatsApp or Slack. Here's the coffee case there.

Sam, in the browser: (photo of an empty coffee bag) We're nearly out. Same again?

Atta: Found it at your coffee supplier: 2 x 1 kg whole bean, $38.00. It arrives Thursday. Order it?

Sam: Order it

Atta: Ordered. $38.00 is committed against the Office budget.

Sam: Put it on the monthly office list too

Atta: Done. Each month it opens a request for you to approve. It never orders on its own.

The composer downscales the photo on the device and sends it as part of the message. The chat refuses too many photos, a photo that's too large, or a file that isn't an image. It doesn't trim.

What the policy does with a small order

$38 is under what Sam's role may approve alone, so Sam's yes in the chat is the approval. If the workspace's rules put a lower limit on Sam's role, the request goes to an approver instead and Sam gets told who has it. The agent doesn't decide that. A policy function does, from the amount, Sam's role and the budget left.

When it goes ahead, checkout reserves the $38 against the Office budget. It counts as spent when the store confirms payment. If the order is cancelled, the reservation is released.

Regular items

A list has lines with a quantity and an optional price. Set it to recur weekly or monthly, and on the schedule the received lines go back to wanted and a request opens for the list's creator.

• The list opens a request. It never places an order.
• The request goes through the same approval rules as anything else.
• A line with no price makes the request's amount empty, and an empty amount resumes under a limit of zero. Nothing is approved to spend until someone sets a figure.

Put prices on lines you buy often, so the request has a total to approve.

Same asks, one request

Three people ask for the same cables over a few days. Atta groups open requests for the same product (or the same title) within 30 days and shows "3 similar requests, combine?" above the requests table. Combining opens one new request with every original's lines and cancels the originals. Approvals aren't carried over, so the combined request is approved fresh.

Where it runs

WhatsApp and Slack both work as the front door for text requests. A phone number or a Slack user acts as the member who linked it, and every link emails that member a one-click revoke. See WhatsApp and Slack for setup. The same chat works in the browser.

What you set up

• The store or stores the agent may buy from, and any brands or stores it must never suggest.
• A budget per team, so an order reserves against something.
• A card program if you want the agent to pay. Without one, it hands you the checkout link.

Atta is in invite-only beta and free during the beta.