AS400 Integration: invoices, delivery notes and orders posted into your IBM i ERP without data entry
With Data Alchemy, supplier invoices, delivery notes and customer orders reach your AS400-based ERP already read by the AI and checked, ready to be picked up. The ERP stays the same: users keep working in it and only review the exceptions that are flagged.
AS400 and IDP: why connect your IBM i ERP to an AI reading engine
Many Italian companies, particularly in manufacturing, distribution and agri-food, run their ERP on IBM i, the platform everyone still calls AS400. It is often software built or customised over the years, reliable and hard to replace: which is exactly why supplier invoices, delivery notes and customer orders are still re-keyed by hand into its screens.
Data Alchemy's AS400 integration removes that step without asking you to change ERP: the Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) engine, software that reads documents with AI and extracts structured data, reads the document, extracts the fields, checks them and hands the result to your AS400 ERP as text files. It is invoice, delivery note and order data extraction designed for companies running on IBM i.
This direct link between Data Alchemy and your system is what we mean by native integration: the full explanation, including the available connection methods, is on the dedicated page.
Two ways to connect Data Alchemy to your AS400 ERP
With AS400 the main channel is the AI agent, installed at your premises: it generates text files in a shared folder, from which the AS400 system picks them up. Alternatively, your IT team can build the integration on the AS400 side on Data Alchemy's REST API and webhooks, included in every licence.
AI agent
The AI agent is installed at your premises and connects to Data Alchemy over websocket and APIs. With AS400 it receives the extracted, validated data, including orders with header and lines, and writes it as text files in a shared folder, from which the AS400 system picks them up. Everything stays in your perimeter. It is included in the Enterprise licence and available as a separately quoted add-on on Business.
Data Alchemy REST API and webhooks
If your IT team prefers to build the integration on the AS400 side: submit documents through the REST API and receive the structured JSON via webhook, signed with HMAC SHA-256, or with a GET. Your own integration handles posting into the ERP. The APIs are included in every licence.
No changes to accept external calls
Your AS400 ERP does not need to be adapted to receive data through calls from outside: it reads the text files placed in the shared folder. How to set up the hand-off on your environment is agreed during the analysis.
Checks against master data
Before the data reaches the ERP, Data Alchemy matches it against the master data the AI agent makes available: suppliers, customers, item codes, orders. This is done by remote validation, which checks individual values (for example that an item code exists, or the customer code found from the VAT number), and by external fields, which compare the document with the data it refers to. Both are included from the Business licence.
From document to your AS400 ERP in four steps
The same flow applies to supplier invoices, delivery notes and customer orders: the document goes in, structured data comes out inside your IBM i ERP.
Acquisition
The document arrives via email (business mailboxes, via the on-premise Mail service, from the Business licence), upload or API.
AI extraction
An LLM dedicated to the document model extracts the fields, line items included, with no templates or per-layout rules.
Validation
Data is checked against the ERP's master data, with anomalies flagged for review.
Hand-off to AS400
The AI agent installed at your premises writes the validated data as text files in the shared folder and the AS400 system picks them up; alternatively, your IT team's integration on the REST API handles it.
What changes with Data Alchemy's AS400 integration
Zero data entry
Invoices, delivery notes and orders enter the ERP with no manual typing: the office moves from copying to reviewing exceptions.
Your ERP stays put
No need to migrate away from AS400 or adapt it to accept external calls: the data arrives as text files in a shared folder.
Orders with header and lines
Customer orders arrive complete with header and lines, not just as totals.
Master-data consistency
Checks on suppliers, customers and items reduce wrong codes and items not found.
Credentials in your perimeter
The AI agent works at your premises: the files for AS400 are generated inside your perimeter, in a shared folder on your network.
Defined start-up time
With the AI agent, integration takes 2–5 working days without custom integrations; customisations require an estimate.
Other integrations and resources
Data Alchemy's AI agent
How the agent installed at your premises connects Data Alchemy to your ERP.
Learn more →APIDeveloper API
REST API and signed webhooks for teams building the integration on the AS400 side.
Learn more →ERP integrationHow ERP integration works
The ways to connect any ERP, explained on one page.
Learn more →Frequently asked questions about AS400 integration
Get your documents into your AS400 ERP, without data entry
Show us a sample of your documents: we'll demonstrate extraction, the master-data checks and the files the AI agent prepares for your IBM i ERP.
Plan a call with a demo on your own documents