How can you automate purchasing in EBMS ERP?

Lancaster Agentic automates purchasing in EBMS ERP by Koble (formerly Eagle Business Software): it reads your sales history, stock and open purchase orders, works out what each item needs, and drafts the purchase orders for you. Your team asks for a reorder in Slack, ChatGPT or Claude, reviews the Excel workbook, and tells it to create the POs, and they are saved in EBMS without anything going to a vendor.

What does Lancaster Agentic read in EBMS?

Lancaster Agentic reads your EBMS data through read-only database access for its analysis. It does not edit item records, prices or stock counts.

• Three years of sales history per item
• Stock on hand by warehouse
• Open purchase orders, so it does not order what is already coming
• Vendors, each item's primary vendor and the vendor lead time stored in EBMS
• The EBMS Minimum (used only if you turn Minimums on) and the order increment on each item

You can scope a run by vendor, warehouse, product folder or single item.

How does Lancaster Agentic decide what and how much to order?

For each item, Lancaster Agentic forecasts demand over the vendor lead time plus your safety-stock days, adds the EBMS Minimum if you turn Minimums on, and rounds up to the order increment. Minimums are off by default. If EBMS Advanced Inventory Management sets an item's Minimum from its sales projection, leave Minimums off for that item: Lancaster Agentic's forecast already covers that demand, and adding the Minimum would count it twice. That target is checked against what you have and what is already on order.

The forecast is picked per item from three years of monthly sales. Items that sell most months get a trailing average, 12 months by default. Items that sell only now and then get a method built for intermittent demand, and keep at least one typical order in reserve. The default is a flat rate; seasonal methods are available as a setting.

Safety stock is measured in days of cover. The company default is 60 days, and you can set different rules per vendor. Lead time is chosen in this order:

1. A one-time override you give for this run
2. Your rule for that vendor and warehouse
3. Your rule for that vendor
4. The vendor lead time in EBMS

These rules are saved on the Lancaster Agentic side. Lancaster Agentic does not write reorder points, minimums or maximums back into EBMS.

What is in the Excel workbook?

Every run produces an Excel workbook your buyer can check before anything is saved.

• Order Recommendations: each item's forecast, safety stock, lead time, stockout date and suggested PO quantity
• Incoming Purchase Orders: what is already on order
• Forecast Methods: a plain explanation of each method used
• Container Plan: only when a container plan exists

The summary shows inventory value and overstock value. If a vendor has no lead time in EBMS, the Lead Time cell is left blank and shown in red, so the gap is easy to fix.

How are purchase orders created in EBMS?

When your team tells it to, Lancaster Agentic creates the purchase orders and saves them in EBMS through the EBMS API. EBMS assigns the PO number unless you give one.

Before saving, it checks units and refuses blocked vendors. Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it.

Can it run in Slack, ChatGPT and Claude?

Yes. EBMS is the one ERP Lancaster Agentic supports in Slack as well as in ChatGPT and Claude today.

In Slack, buyers ask in the purchasing channel, for example "What should we order from Ironwell Tools this week?" Employees can set up a scheduled weekly reorder or a daily stock check that posts to the channel. A scheduled run can also save the POs in EBMS if you set it up that way, and they still go nowhere until your team sends them. In ChatGPT or Claude, you can ask the same questions in a chat. Lancaster Agentic is coming to the ChatGPT Plugin directory.

How does Lancaster Agentic relate to EBMS's built-in purchasing tools?

Lancaster Agentic works alongside EBMS's own purchasing tools and uses your EBMS settings as inputs. It does not replace or change them.

EBMS keeps a Minimum, Maximum and Reorder Increment on each item's Count tab. Its Inventory Purchasing page has a Default Orders button that suggests quantities when net ordered stock falls below the Minimum. A standard utility calculates minimums and maximums from past sales or purchases. Sales forecasting is a separate, optional Advanced Inventory Management module, with Average, Linear, Seasonal and Best Fit projections. Our guide on how to set reorder points in EBMS walks through each one.

If your min/max values are current and a buyer is happy working the purchasing page, EBMS may be enough. Lancaster Agentic helps when you want the forecast, lead time and safety stock worked out on every run, explained in a workbook, and turned into POs from a question in Slack, ChatGPT or Claude.

Lancaster Agentic is not the only way to use AI with EBMS. Koble publishes an open-source connector that lets AI assistants such as Claude work with EBMS data, including purchase orders. Lancaster Agentic is a ready-made purchasing agent: it forecasts every item, flags overstock, explains each line in a workbook, and runs in Slack, ChatGPT and Claude.

How do you set it up?

Book a call. Our team sets up Lancaster Agentic for EBMS with you.

Setup needs read-only access to your EBMS database for analysis, plus EBMS API access so Lancaster Agentic can save purchase orders. Lancaster Agentic runs in production for EBMS companies today.

Where can you learn more about EBMS purchasing?

• How to automate purchasing in EBMS
• The EBMS purchasing page explained
• A weekly reorder routine for EBMS
• How to set reorder points in EBMS

Frequently asked questions

Does Lancaster Agentic send purchase orders to vendors?

No. It creates purchase orders in EBMS when your team tells it to. Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it.

Does Lancaster Agentic change my EBMS minimums or maximums?

No. It reads the EBMS minimum and order increment as inputs. Safety-stock days and lead-time rules are saved on the Lancaster Agentic side, not in EBMS item records.

What happens if a vendor has no lead time in EBMS?

The workbook leaves that item's Lead Time cell blank and marks it red, so you can add the lead time in EBMS or set a vendor rule.

Can I schedule a weekly reorder in Slack?

Yes. Employees can set up a weekly reorder or a daily stock check that posts to your Slack channel. Scheduled runs can save POs in EBMS if you set them up to.

What access does Lancaster Agentic need to EBMS?

Read-only database access for analysis, plus EBMS API access to save purchase orders. Our team sets this up with you.

Sources

1. Creating Purchasing Parameters, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
2. Create Purchase Orders from the Purchasing Page, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
3. Stock Level Settings, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
4. Inventory Forecasting Management, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
5. koble-mcp, Koble Systems on GitHub, accessed 2026-10-01
6. EBMS connector reference, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01