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Ops Copilot: SOP/Policy Q&A + Next-Best Action for Exceptions

A chat-based copilot that answers from approved SOPs and policies and guides exception resolution with next-best actions.

CORE PROMISE
AskRetrieveRecommendExecute/RouteTrack

(Fewer escalations, faster resolution)

Best For:
Supply chain ops
Vendor/Carrier Coordination
Warehouse Ops
Control Towers
Customer Ops

Common pain points we solve

A big percentage of supply-chain delays happen because documents are missing or wrong:

Searching SOPs, contracts, and policy documents

Asking senior team members "what do we do here?"

Delayed escalations due to unclear ownership

Inconsistent resolution paths across shifts/site

Repeated mistakes because root causes aren't captured

Where this fits

Ideal starting scope for a pilot implementation

Teams Involved

  • Supply chain ops/ control tower
  • Inbound logistics
  • Vendor Management
  • Warehouse Receiving

Channels

  • Web chart
  • Internal Portal
  • Teams/Slack

Ideal Pilot Scope

  • 1 exception domain (delays / appointment changes / shortages)
  • 20–50 SOP & policy documents
  • 8–12 decision playbooks ("what to do when X happens")

Inputs & Outputs

What goes in and what comes out

Inputs

  • User questions + context (PO, shipment, site, vendor, customer tier)

  • SOPs, playbooks, escalation policies, customer-specific rules

  • Optional system data (ETA, inventory, dock schedule)

Outputs

  • Source-backed answers from approved documents

  • Next-step checklist (actionable steps)

  • Auto actions (optional):

    - Ticket creation & routing - Draft emails - Escalation alerts

  • Reason-coded exception records

  • Analytics: top questions, resolution time, repeated exception

What it helps with (high-ROI supply chain exception categories)

Shortage / backorder

Allocation rules, substitute steps

Missing / failed compliance docs

What's required, who approves, next steps

Delay / ETA breach

Escalation thresholds, customer notifications

Dock appointment changes

Reschedule policies, cutoffs, penalties

Mismatch cases

Packing list vs PO tolerance rule

Dispute triage

Route to procurement vs ops vs finance

The Workflow

Step-by-step automation for exception resolution

Step 1

Ask

User types an exception question (e.g., "Carrier delayed by 2 days - what's our escalation path?")

Step 2

Retrieve

Copilot pulls relevant SOP and policy sections from approved sources.

Step 3

Validate Context

Asks clarifying questions such as site, customer priority, lane, and threshold.

Step 4

Recommend

Suggests next-best actions based on playbooks and rules (notify customer, reschedule dock, escalate if >48h).

Step 5

Execute / Route

Creates ticket, sends notifications, generates email templates, and updates exception record.

Step 6

Log

Captures decision, action taken, and reason codes for audit and consistency.

Step 7

Learn

Surfaces patterns like frequent reasons and SOP gaps for operational improvement.

What ApexIQ Delivers

Knowledge base setup (RAG)

Ingest approved SOP/policy documents

Copilot UI integration:

web widget or Teams/Slack integration

Continuous improvement

weekly review of “unknowns” and new SOP needs

Playbook framework

structured “if X then Y” resolution logic

Guardrails

answer-only-from-sources, confidence thresholds, safe fallback

Analytics dashboard

top intents, resolution time, playbook usage, gaps

Decision logging

reason codes + audit trail for actions

Action tools (optional)

ticket creation, notifications, email templates

Integrations & Data Sources

We integrate based on your stack

Knowledge sources

  • SOPs & Contracts
  • Escalation matrices
  • Customer policies

Ops System

  • ERP (SAP/Oracle)
  • WMS
  • TMS (contextual data & updates)

Workflow systems

  • Jira
  • Fresh desk/Zendesk
  • Service now

Collaboration Alerts

  • Teams
  • Slack
Background Overlay

Accuracy & Safety Controls

Built-in safeguards and quality measures

Answer only from approved sources (no free-form guessing)

Source linking (internal citations): show which SOP section was used

Confidence gating: if low confidence → ask clarifying question or escalate

Role-based access: user sees only what their role/site should see

Hard rules for sensitive actions: approvals required for high-impact steps

Audit trail: what was asked, what was suggested, what was executed

Honest positioning

it reduces time spent searching and standardizes decisions

It doesn’t “replace ops leaders,” it makes teams faster and more consistent.

Pilot Plan (2–4 Weeks)

A proven timeline to get you to production

W1Week 1

Scope + knowledge prep

  • Select exception domain (delays/appointments/shortages)
  • Collect approved SOPs + escalation policies
  • Define playbooks and decision steps (8–12 scenarios)
W2Week 2

Build copilot + guardrails

  • Implement RAG knowledge layer
  • Add clarification prompts + safe fallback
  • Add optional action tools (ticket + template generation)
W3Week 3

Shadow rollout

  • Launch to a small ops group or one site
  • Capture real questions + refine playbooks
  • Reduce “unknown” and improve retrieval quality
W4Week 4

Expand + operationalize

  • Add second exception domain or second site
  • Add analytics dashboard + runbooks
  • Define governance: who updates SOPs, review cadence

Pilot KPI Targets

Reduction in time-to-resolution for exceptions
Reduction in "ask a senior person" escalations
Copilot adoption (queries per user / week)
95% answers resolved from sources vs routed to human/SOP owner
Repeat exception reasons identified and reduced
Ticket routing accuracy (if actions enabled)

What We Need From You

Client checklist to kick off the pilot

1
Approved SOPs, escalation matrices, customer policies (20–50 docs)
2
Exception categories + current decision paths
3
8–12 playbook scenarios (we’ll help structure them)
4
Access to ticketing/workflow system (optional for action tools)
5
Pilot owner + SME reviewer for weekly tuning and governance

Want faster, consistent exception handling without tribal knowledge?

Book a consultation or request an assessment—we'll recommend the best first workflow to pilot.